The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, Schools of Visual Arts offers a practice-based and highly specialized art education with the aim of educating the most important artists of our time. Kunsthal Charlottenborg, which is part of the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, exhibits Danish and international visual art for the benefit of cultural life and the public.
Organization
The Academy of Fine Arts organization
The Academy of Fine Arts' Schools of Visual Arts educates bachelors and masters in the visual arts.
The programs combine practice and theory, providing students with professional knowledge, artistic methods and professional skills to work as independent visual artists and to solve both artistic and communication tasks.
The Academy also runs Kunsthal Charlottenborg, one of Denmark's most prominent exhibition venues for contemporary art.
The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts also hosts research projects at PhD and postdoc level in collaboration with external partners.
The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts Schools of Visual Arts is a state educational institution under the Ministry of Culture and is regulated by the legislation on higher artistic education.
Education programs
The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts offers a bachelor's and a master's program - and a number of laboratories and workshops are attached to them. In 2024, the programs have a capacity of 167 students.
Bachelor's program
The Academy of Fine Arts' bachelor's program lasts three years. The program is led by a director of studies who, together with a number of associate professors, is responsible for the primary teaching on the bachelor's program.
Master's program
The Master's program also lasts three years and has four practice-based, media-specific directions, commonly called schools or professor schools:
- School of Media Arts
- School of Painting and Image-based Practices
- School of Sculpture
- School of Conceptual and Contextual Practices
Each school is led by a professor.
Laboratories and workshops
The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts has 13 practice- and media-specific laboratories and workshops run by associate professors or teaching assistants.
Management/Board of Directors
The Academy's management consists of a seven-member Board of Directors - four external members appointed by the Minister of Culture and three internal members elected by the Academy's Schools of Visual Arts among students and staff.
The Board is responsible for strategic management and has overall responsibility for the Academy's operations and strategy, including the institution's finances and development.
Day-to-day management is handled by the Academy's Rector within the framework set by the Board of Directors in a Rector Instruction.
The other managers at the Academy of Fine Arts carry out their tasks as authorized by the Rector.
In addition to the Rector, the day-to-day management consists of the Pro-Rector, the Kunsthal Director and the Head of Administration.
Kunsthal Charlottenborg
The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts' Schools of Visual Arts operates Kunsthal Charlottenborg in the exhibition building at Charlottenborg Palace.
Kunsthal Charlottenborg functions as an exhibition venue for Danish and international art from recent times, and the Kunsthal is a meeting place for events and educational activities related to Danish and international contemporary art.
Academy of Fine Arts Administration
To serve students, staff and management, the Academy of Fine Arts Schools of Visual Arts has an administrative unit that includes Student Administration, Education Organization, Finance & Payroll, HR & Law, IT and Communication.
The Academy's operations unit
The operations unit's tasks range from building management, access control, technical installations and minor interior maintenance tasks, fire safety, cleanup and the organization of various events.
Councils, boards and committees
The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts Schools of Visual Arts has a number of bodies that support the involvement of staff and students in the ongoing development of the institution and the education, including study boards, cooperation committees and student councils.
Buildings
The Schools of Visual Arts' building complex includes Charlottenborg Castle at Kgs. Nytorv 1, the Exhibition Building in Nyhavn 2 and Peder Skrams Gade 2 (commonly known as Hirschsprung), which is an apartment building behind the palace.