A nationwide study was undertaken to gain insight into the process of instructional innovation within higher education visual arts programs. Existing theory provides little insight into the innovation process within arts programs offered at the college/university level. Moreover, the economic pressures facing higher education and a demographically changing student population make it mandatory that instructional programs in art be receptive to change as a means of ensuring their survival. Fifteen factors related to individual attitudes and demographic attributes were identified as the independent variables of the study. The single dependent variable was the individual faculty member's attitude towards innovation. A questionnaire based on the 15 factors was developed and distributed to a random sample of art faculty in 33 American colleges and universities. Respondents (N=201) indicated their familiarity and experience with as well as future plans for four instructional innovations: (1) team teaching; (2) contract learning; (3) mastery learning; and (4) computer-assisted instruction. Results indicate that a predisposition toward instructional innovation is most likely to occur with art faculty who have favorable attitudes towards innovation, are tenured, see themselves as knowledgeable about innovation, perceive their classroom role as a facilitator rather than as an authority figure, and describe themselves as educators first and artists second. (LP)