Sustainability in arts and design education: graduate students’ motivations, practices and future visions

Purpose This study aims to examine the motivations and perspectives of graduate students in arts and design disciplines in engaging with sustainability within their academic and creative practices, explore how institutional frameworks and pedagogies influence their engagement and highlight related challenges and opportunities and investigate how students envision the long-term impact of sustainability practices on their future careers and the broader field of art and design. Design/methodology/approach This study adopts a qualitative research approach which involved semi-structured in-depth interviews with arts and design graduate students at a land-grant university in the USA. Participants were recruited through the university’s sustainability fellows program and sustainability events. Findings The findings revealed an evolving engagement with sustainability shaped by students’ personal backgrounds, interdisciplinary perspectives and institutional influences. Participants viewed sustainability as a holistic, interdisciplinary responsibility connected to social justice, personal experiences and professional aspirations. Despite challenges such as cost barriers, limited resources and institutional gaps, they expressed a strong commitment to advancing sustainability within their creative, academic and professional practices. Originality/value This study highlights the need for strengthening faculty development, expanding interdisciplinary coursework and providing hands-on learning opportunities to better support sustainability engagement in creative disciplines. It also emphasizes the importance of institutional reforms that embed sustainability across art and design programs, particularly through integrating the Sustainable Development Goals as a unified framework for addressing global challenges.