Dean's introduction

The School of Critical Studies serves all CalArts students by incorporating intellectually rigorous methods of inquiry and reflection into the creative process. Our aim is to generate as much enthusiasm for reading, writing and critical thinking as for artmaking.

To meet these goals, we offer two graduate programs: the Master of Fine Arts (MFA) Writing Program and the Master of Arts (MA) Aesthetics and Politics Program. In addition, the School of Critical Studies provides a robust liberal arts education for every Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) candidate at the CalArts Schools of Art, Dance, Film/Video, Music and Theater.

Our MFA Writing Program allows advanced writers to pursue a variety of traditional and new forms, ranging from narrative fiction to experimental criticism, from poetry to hypertext.

Led by a superb and artistically eclectic faculty, this challenging program sets high standards for both creativity and craft. In particular, the program invites students to bring forward experimental and interdisciplinary endeavors—original practices that break with conventional categories and set new aesthetic horizons.

MFA candidates have ample opportunities to read and/or perform their work, on campus and at venues across Los Angeles. The program and its students also produce a number of publications, most notably the nationally celebrated literary journal Black Clock, a showcase for cutting-edge writing edited by faculty member Steve Erickson.

The new MA Aesthetics and Politics Program focuses on the relationships between contemporary artmaking and aesthetic, critical and political theory.

An innovative course of study designed for practicing artists and other undergraduate and graduate degree holders who have a strong interest in the nexus of art and politics, this one-year program enables students to combine artistic production with an academic career.

In both programs, the expertise of our faculty is complemented with an extensive series of readings, lectures, workshops and longer-term residencies by a diverse range of visiting writers, theorists and artists. Our graduate students also benefit greatly from the dynamic, highly multidisciplinary creative environment of CalArts, where different branches of the arts freely commingle. Our students have the opportunity to take classes at other CalArts schools, and work on collaborative projects with visual artists, designers, film- and videomakers, animators, multimedia artists, composers, instrumentalists, actors, directors and choreographers.

The critical studies undergraduate curriculum, meanwhile, gives every CalArts BFA candidate a comprehensive, well-rounded education to complement his or her arts training. Covering an array of topics across the humanities, social sciences, natural sciences and cultural studies, this curriculum provides the intellectual tools necessary for the study of the arts in a broad social and cultural context—and for making meaningful connections across a wide spectrum of artmaking practices.

Nancy Wood, Dean