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California Institute of the Arts

Welcome to the School of Critical Studies

The discursive center for the entire CalArts community, the School of Critical Studies brings together internationally recognized writers, poets, scholars, and thinkers working in both new and traditional forms across a wide variety of disciplines, extending from narrative fiction, performance, and multimedia to cultural criticism and political theory.

A critical studies class
  • 4:1 student-faculty ratio

    in the school of Critical Studies programs

  • #1 Student Fulbright producer
  • 20% international students

    in the School of Critical Studies

This is where new ideas are generated through interaction and discussion with a diverse cross-section of practitioners and creative metiers. It’s a place to acquire key intellectual skills and to interrogate what one might define as a “thinking practice.”

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Offering master’s-degree programs in Creative Writing and Aesthetics and Politics, the School of Critical Studies is also home to the general education curriculum for all CalArts BFA students.

The emphasis on the close relationship between liberal arts and studio practice at CalArts reflects the visionary commitment to cross-disciplinary study on which the Institute was founded. As such, our undergraduate general education curriculum—which we call Critical Studies—is designed to provoke the consideration of aesthetic questions within larger sociocultural, ethical, and political contexts.

Students in the MFA Creative Writing and the MA Aesthetics and Politics programs develop and refine advanced creative writing and sophisticated critical scholarship in a distinctive multidisciplinary arts environment dedicated to experimentation and innovation. Unlike most liberal arts colleges or traditional art schools or conservatories, CalArts links creative and critical practice in profound and generative ways.

Programs

Two graduate-level degrees are offered through the School of Critical Studies.

Reading and Lecture Series

Augmenting the diverse expertise of our acclaimed faculty, visiting authors, scholars and writers-in-residence are a constant presence at CalArts. 

  • Writing Now

    Reading series

    Writing Now offers inspiring points of contact and critical conversation about writing process and practice among visiting writers, students, and local audiences.

  • Next Words

    Readings & publication

    This reading series and publication introduce new MFA Creative Writing graduates to the literary community through events organized across Los Angeles.

  • This annual residency brings an influential writer to CalArts for a lecture, reading, and intimate workshops with MFA students.

Places to read, places to think

How will CalArts legendary campus inspire you?

CalArts’ tranquil, park-like setting and bustling, 24/7 studio culture come together to create the backdrop for students in both the Creative Writing and Aesthetics and Politics graduate programs, who are free to utilize spaces across the Institute to foster both their individual and collaborative creative processes. 

Photo of bookshelves inside the CalArts Library

Center for Discursive Inquiry

The Center for Discursive Inquiry (CDI), housed within the School of Critical Studies, serves as a dynamic hub for research and intellectual engagement. The CDI is dedicated to fostering an ambitious and sustained environment for both long- and short-term research projects. It actively supports publications and hosts events that explore intersections between critical and creative writing, artistic practices, and other systematic fields of inquiry.

drawing of a human head with words coming out in every direction

By Johann Lindner, Leipzig, 1472-1472. Wellcome MS 55, f.93.

Critical Studies Events

See all CalArts events

Interested in applying to the School of Critical Studies?

View our step-by-step application guide to learn more.

Start your application