[3][4] VSW ran a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) program through SUNY Buffalo until 1981, and then through State University of New York at Brockport until 2022.

Today, a group of seven faculty members and eighty students are working in an environment they hope may eventually serve as "a model of possibilities" for society at large.

[14] A diverse range of artists have taught at, published through, and stayed in-residence at VSW, including Jacki Apple, Ulises Carrión, Robert Frank,[15] Eikoh Hosoe,[16] Nam June Paik, Keith A. Smith,[17] Buzz Spector, Carrie Mae Weems,[18] and many others.

[6] The Society for Photographic Education (SPE) Northeast Chapter Conference was held at VSW in 2012 in conjunction with the opening of an exhibition by Hank Willis Thomas.

VSW maintains both archival and research collections of photography, independent film and video, electronic imaging, visual books and the publication arts.

The Research Center hosts the Independent Press Archive which is one of the largest collections of artists’ books in the northeast with around 27,000 prints from 19th century vernacular images to contemporary experimental works.

[20][21] Portable Channel supported community access to video equipment and training, and produced Homemade TV, which aired on WXXI-TV from 1972 through 1975.

In American artists' books, VSW Press has had a tremendous influence, with work by figures who made major contributions to the field having spun off from its graduate program or been directly produced under its auspices.

VSW then began employing professionals to run a Heidelberg offset press to produce publications that artists, staff, and students had constructed.