Aid for Graduate Students
Developed by CalArts Faculty Emeritus Charles Gaines, the Gaines MFA Fellowship provides full support of tuition expenses for MFA Art students who demonstrate a commitment to furthering a presence in the arts for Black Americans of the African diaspora or Americans of Mexican or Central American descent.
A pivotal figure in the field of Conceptual Art, Charles Gaines’ body of work engages formulas and systems that interrogate relationships between the objective and the subjective realms. Using a generative approach to create series of works in a variety of mediums, he has built a bridge between the early conceptual artists of the 1960s and 1970s and subsequent generations of artists pushing the limits of conceptualism today.
Gaines lives and works in Los Angeles and is faculty emeritus at CalArts. Gaines established this fellowship to provide critical scholarship support for Black students in the MFA Art program.
Announcements of the fellowship can be found at ARTnews and The New York Times.
I have spent my whole teaching career at CalArts working—not alone but with others—on diversity and inclusion in order to increase the presence of the minority voice in society and to help make possible access to opportunities that have been historically denied to people of color and that most Americans take for granted.
—Charles Gaines, artist and faculty emeritus
This fellowship covers tuition throughout a student’s tenure at CalArts, which is the most substantial portion of the cost of a CalArts education. The scholarship recipient is responsible for educational fees and costs associated with housing, food, and other living expenses. However, recipients may be eligible for additional sources of financial aid, including scholarships and loans.
Eligible applicants to the CalArts MFA program in Art will be automatically considered for the fellowship, and there is no separate application process specifically for the fellowship.
Yes! You are welcome to connect with the admissions counselor for any of our programs. Go ahead and reach out! All of the CalArts admissions staff are excited to counsel you as you prepare an application to CalArts.