The Independent Study Program (ISP) consists of four interrelated parts: Studio Program, Curatorial Program, Critical Studies Program, and Architecture and Urban Studies Program. The ISP provides a setting within which students pursuing art practice, curatorial work, art historical and architectural scholarship, and critical writing engage in ongoing discussions and debates that examine the historical, social, and intellectual conditions of artistic production. The program encourages the theoretical and critical study of the practices, institutions, and discourses that constitute the field of culture.

Each year twelve students are selected to participate in the Studio Program, four in the Curatorial Program, six in the Critical Studies Program, and five in the Architecture and Urban Studies Program. The ten students participating in the Curatorial and Critical Studies Programs each year are designated as Helena Rubinstein Fellows in recognition of the substantial support provided by the Helena Rubinstein Foundation. The program begins in early September and concludes at the end of the following May.

Many of the participants are enrolled at universities and art schools and receive academic credit for their participation, while others have recently completed their formal studies.