California Institute of the Arts (CalArts). Photo Scott Groller. Courtesy of CalArts. Click here for high resolution photograph.
Offering rigorous undergraduate and graduate degree programs through six schools—Art, Critical Studies, Dance, Film/Video, Music, and Theater—CalArts has championed creative excellence, critical reflection, and the development of new forms and expressions.
As successive generations of faculty and alumni have helped shape the landscape of contemporary arts, the Institute first envisioned by Walt Disney encompasses a vibrant, eclectic community with global reach, inviting experimentation, independent inquiry, and active collaboration and exchange among artists, artistic disciplines and cultural traditions.
With a total enrollment of 1,449 students for 2016-2017, CalArts is a small school with an enormous cultural and economic impact.
Accumulated box office grosses through December 2016 for animated features directed by CalArts alumni totals $39 billion.
In 2016, faculty and alumni from across the Institute have received the highest honors in their fields
“CalArtians” have been at the forefront of creative practice and have shaped the landscape for the visual and performing
arts over the past decades. Acclaimed alumni include animation icons John Lasseter, Brad Bird, Andrew Stanton, Brenda Chapman and Stephen Hillenburg; directors Tim Burton and James Mangold; artists Mike Kelley, Catherine Opie and MacArthur “genius grant” recipient Mark Bradford; designers Geoff McFetridge and Hilary Greenbaum; actors Ed Harris, Don Cheadle, Alison Brie, and Cecily Strong; composers Carl Stone an John Luther Adams; saxophonist Ravi Coltrane; and singer-songwriter Julia Holter, among others.
Creating the Future:
In 2016, AmeriCorps awarded more than $1 million to the CalArts Community Arts Partnership (CAP) program to provide arts instruction to underserved youth in Los Angeles County and train tomorrow’s arts educators.
CalArts H.I.V.E. Hybrid Incubator for Visionary Entrepreneurs gives CalArts students and alumni access to business and design thinking skills and helps them develop innovative products, projects or businesses. A series of workshops and events prepares students and alumni for a pitch competition in April 2017. Winners will be awarded a stipend and resources to further develop their idea.
Prominent alumni recall the Institute
“My training at CalArts was hugely important to me, both as an actor and as a person. Our teachers set us up to be able to flourish in so many different environments and really encouraged us to find our own voice rather than follow some specific set path of what it means to ‘succeed’.”
-- Acting Program alumna and Saturday Night Live cast member Cecily Strong.
“What I love about my CalArts experience is not only the environment, with students and teachers alike inspiring my exploration, but that I was also greatly encouraged to find my own voice. I was provided a safe and supportive space in which to take risks that I may not have had the courage to take on my own. When I look back, those times were crucial in my growth as a filmmaker, and I love
going back to share all of my experience over the last 25 years with new students.”
-- Character Animation Program alumnus and The Little Prince director Mark Osborne
Admission to CalArts is competitive and considered mainly on the basis of demonstrated artistic merit, as assessed by the faculty of the individual programs.
Based in Valencia, north of Los Angeles, CalArts further extends its commitment to the arts through the Roy and Edna Disney/CalArts Theater (REDCAT) in downtown L.A. and the nationally
emulated Community Arts Partnership (CAP) youth arts program.
Click here for CalArts website and for more information about the Institute.