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California Institute of the Arts

MFA: Lighting Design

School of Theater

The silhouette of a person on a dark stage with blue shadows

Herakles, 2024. Lighting designer: W. Alejandro; assistant lighting designer: Lauren KO Dixon Melendez.

Bring productions to light

CalArts’ three-year MFA in Lighting Design—a specialization within the Experience Design and Production (XDP) program—provides the ideal platform for you to create original and expressive work for the stage as you collaborate with other theater artists and begin to build your lifelong creative network. Our curriculum is grounded in text analysis, graphic skills, and training in the use of systems and equipment, enabling you to refine your skills and produce a unique, professional-level design portfolio.

People on a dark stage observing a device

An Experiment with an Air Pump, 2024. Lighting designer: Christopher Akerlind; assistant lighting designers: Alejandro Melendez, Becky King.

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  • 8:1 student-faculty ratio

    in the School of Theater

  • Top 20 colleges for performing arts

Traditional theatrical craft meets new technologies

MFA Lighting Design

As a graduate student in Lighting Design, you’ll work with your faculty mentor, other world-class faculty in the School of Theater, and visiting artists to gain training in theatrical craft and the emerging technologies in a program that spans performance, media, architecture, and immersive environments.

Let’s connect

The MFA Lighting Design experience centers on expanding your aesthetic, critical, and practical skills in the realization of design across a variety of live and media-based projects. Working with peers who come from around the world to study at CalArts, you’ll engage all aspects of the lighting design process, including developing a conceptual approach, creating the required drafting, and clearly and successfully articulating designs.

The training includes courses in immersive lighting design, architecture, graphic skills, the use of systems and equipment, computer-based technologies, text analysis, and strategies for live performance across a wide range of creative arenas. You’ll also explore the physiological and psychological effects of light, in addition to other scientific principles of phenomenology. Student designers collaborate on projects and workshops presented by the School of Theater and the CalArts Center for New Performance (CNP), and your mentor and faculty will encourage you to seek collaborations with your peers throughout the Institute.

The program’s distinctive curriculum, along with its unique location within the only independent college that gathers the performing and visual arts under one roof, equips you as an artist and designer with the intellectual, technical, and creative skills you’ll need to embark on a professional career as a lighting designer.

All training works together to help each student develop a distinct, original, and personal voice, and define your unique aesthetic, culminating in an outstanding portfolio of work upon graduation.

All MFA Lighting Design students are required to pass a mid-residence and a graduation review in order to complete the program and earn the degree.

Interested in this program?

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

Start your application

Admission requirements

To be considered for the MFA Lighting Design specialization, you must complete an application process and all program-specific requirements, including a self-recorded video introduction, an artist statement, a portfolio of your work, and an interview. Before applying, please familiarize yourself with the detailed application requirements and resources available to assist you in this important process.

Application requirements

Degree requirements

Lighting Design is a specialization of the Experience Design and Production (XDP) MFA program.

The MFA requires three years of full-time study and includes a core curriculum of theatrical techniques, environmental and architectural lighting, light art, moving light technology, and design methodology, with individualized electives and production experiences, culminating in a professional-level design portfolio.

MFA XDP Lighting Design academic requirements

Interdisciplinary opportunities

In addition to CalArts’ naturally collaborative atmosphere, the Institute provides several programs of study that can be pursued concurrently with a student’s chosen metier, such as a concentration in Arts Education or Integrated Media.

MFA concentrations

Courses you might take

What courses would you take as an MFA Lighting Design student? Browse the courses offered in the School of Theater, one of the preeminent theater training grounds in the country.

Explore the School of Theater course catalog

Meet the faculty

At CalArts, faculty and students are collaborators, teaching, learning, and working together as members of our community of artists. 

Some of our alumni

  • Kevin Adams (MFA 86): Lighting and scene designer (Hedwig and the Angry Inch, American Idiot, The 39 Steps, Spring Awakening); four-time Tony Award winner
  • Johnny Bradley (MFA 07): Lighting designer; Primetime Emmy Award winner
  • Ian Garrett (MFA 08): Producer and lighting designer, Center Theatre Group Richard A. Sherwood Award winner
  • Brian J. Lilienthal (MFA 03): Lighting designer; Ovation Award winner
  • Justin Townsend (MFA 03): Lighting and scene designer (Moulin Rouge, The Humans, American Psycho); Tony, Obie, and Drama Desk Award winner

More School of Theater alumni

A global challenge sparks a personal opportunity

Seeking a sense of creative purpose when stages went dark during the pandemic, lighting designer Nicole Pearce (MFA 98) began making work that harkened back to her days as a graduate student at CalArts. “I would take animation and drawing classes for hours on Fridays and I would walk out and not be able to see straight, but I was completely satisfied,” she said.

Person pinning small, colorful, abstract paintings to the wall in a grid pattern.

Nicole Pearce (MFA 98), Tiny Paintings for Big Hearts, 2021.

Theater Events

  • Networking School of Theater

    A small mixer event designed to get School of Theater students to connect and network…

    Wed, Nov 20 / 5:00 PM - 8:00 PM

    CalArts Campus

  • Performance School of Theater

    Showtimes: Dec. 3, 5-7 @ 8 pmDec. 7 @ 2 pm Dec. 10-13 @ 8 pmBlurb…

    Tue, Dec 3 / 8:00 PM - Fri, Dec 13 / 11:00 PM

    CalArts Campus

  • Performance School of Theater

    A One-Act Theater Performance that is part of the School of Theater Coffeehouse Projects.

    Fri, Dec 6 / 8:00 PM

    CalArts Campus

Gallery

What will you create?

Browse the portfolios of CalArts Lighting Design students, whose work spans the range of performance environments.

A lone dancer moves on an empty stage, in darkness except for a single bar of white light across the background

Lighting design by Jackson Funke, MFA3

Want to learn more?

We got you. Our Admissions team is all about providing the information you need to decide if CalArts is right for you. We’re excited to connect with you for a tour of our legendary campus, a virtual info session, or at one of our admissions events across the country or around the world. Take the next step—we’re here to help.