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California Institute of the Arts

California Institute of the Arts

What a Year!

(And we mean that in a good way.)

2024-2025

With CalArts’ 2024-25 academic year now in the books, we’ve taken a moment to reflect on what was, at times, a topsy-turvy year. And unsurprisingly, we found an overabundance of stories that counterbalance the current political and cultural narratives.

Browse through this annual report to find uplifting accounts of how our students, faculty, and alumni are out in the world changing it—or at least giving us countless reasons to celebrate our creative community.

Students sitting in a circle outside at CalArts in the Lulu von Hagen courtyard on a sunny day

A Message from CalArts President Ravi Rajan

Institute

  • The CHANEL Culture Fund—from the eponymous fashion house—selected CalArts as a partner to create the CHANEL Center for Artists and Technology at CalArts, positioning artists at the forefront of shaping the evolving technologies that define our world.

  • A Character Animation Friday Night Talk captured the zeitgeist of the summer as a packed Bijou Theater crowd welcomed Maggie Kang and Chris Appelhans, the directors of KPop Demon Hunters to CalArts. 

  • A gift from Tom Dolan and the Dolan Family Foundation established D.R.E.A.M.S. (Digital Research Entertainment Arts Media Storytelling,) a new initiative at CalArts that prepares students for dynamic careers in the rapidly growing industry of location-based entertainment.

  • At the 2025 graduation ceremony, CalArts honored two diverse artists with honorary doctorates: artist, activist, and CalArts alum Barbara Carrasco (Art MFA 91) and actor, producer, director, and entrepreneur Drew Barrymore.

  • 93% of students receive scholarships

    from the Institute thanks to our generous donors.

  • $55B box office revenue

    from films directed by CalArts animation alums. Learn more.

  • Top 5 Fine Arts Schools

    in the US, from U.S. News and World Report. Learn more. 

Community

Nguyen and Porras-Kim Earn ‘Genius’ Grants

Alumni Stories

Artists and CalArts alums Tuan Andrew Nguyen (Art MFA 04) and Gala Porras-Kim (Art MFA 09) were named 2025 MacArthur Fellows by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, colloquially known as the “genius grants.” Learn more.

More alumni stories

CalArts Alums Gala Porras-Kim and Tuan Andrew Nguyen

CalArts Students Shine in Paris-Los Angeles Olympic Poster Competition

Student Story

Several CalArts Graphic Design students were named winners in the 2024 Cultural Olympiad Poster Competition organized by the city of Paris and Los Angeles County in the lead-up to the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic and Paralympic Games. Learn more.

CalArtians Evolve the Patient Journey

Faculty Stories

Healthcare by Design is a School of Theater class where theme park attractions are supplanted by experiences of patients—with design and technology addressing current health-related needs. Read more or listen to the podcast.

More faculty stories

More student stories

Meet current students from across CalArts, to hear about what their days are like, how they collaborate on campus, and a bit about their process as artists. Select a video below.

 

Enrollment

Fall 2024

Total enrollment: 1,277

Finances

Fiscal Year 2025: July 1, 2024–June 30, 2025

Beyond Campus

  • Not only is REDCAT among “The 52 best places to see plays and musicals in Southern California” according to the Los Angeles Times, it’s “a state-of-the-art wonderland of experimental performance” that “remains one of L.A.’s most important performance laboratories, a vital downtown center for research into new modes of theatrical expression.”

  • Community Arts Partnership (CAP)

    In February, Maria I. Ramos joined CalArts as the Wallis Annenberg Director of the award-winning CalArts Community Arts Partnership (CAP). CAP offers free after-school and school-based arts programs for youths ages 4-18 in every discipline taught at the Institute.

  • CalArts at The Reef is a cultural platform in Downtown L.A. that connects artists, performers, and theorists from CalArts with the city’s foremost thinkers. Located on the top floor of The Reef building at Broadway and Washington, our 20,000-square-foot space hosts a range of exhibitions, productions, workshops, and experimental programming.

Leadership

Meet CalArts Board of Trustees, our academic leadership, and our administrative officers.

Donors

Fiscal Year 2025

Thank you!

We are incredibly grateful to the 378 individual donors, 53 institutional donors, and two estates who supported our talented artists in 2024-2025.

  • Marciano Agabon
  • The Ahmanson Foundation
  • Randle Akerson
  • Amy Alexander
  • Rachel Allen and Robert Allen
  • The Herb Alpert Foundation
  • William Alschuler
  • Paul Anamosa and Frances Anamosa
  • Sasha Anawalt and William Anawalt
  • Julie Andberg
  • Lois Anderson and Henry Anderson III
  • Yair Arbeli
  • Joan Abrahamson and Jonathan Aronson
  • Diana Arterian
  • Arts, Equity, & Education Fund
  • Aspen Institute
  • David Augsburger
  • Emily Ausbrook
  • Christina Aushana
  • Michael Avolio
  • Shahram Azmoudeh
  • Jamie Bache and Ryan Bache
  • Luiz Badaro and Linda Yudin
  • The Baldessari Foundation
  • Christopher Banta
  • Barbara Barnard Smith Foundation
  • Janine Barrois and Lyndon Barrois
  • Cynthia Barton
  • Marjorie Beale
  • Ronald Beasley and Victoria Marshall-Beasley
  • Lois Beckett
  • Margarita Begun
  • Remo and Ami Belli
  • Bento Box Entertainment, LLC
  • Edith Berke and Matthew Berke
  • Steven Berl and Anita Bloch
  • Alan Berman and Dana Duff
  • Patricia Berns
  • Charles D. Berry Foundation
  • Charles Berryman and Jo Berryman
  • Linda Betcher and Jeffrey Gifford
  • Kristi Bieber and Brian Bieber
  • Jack Black and Tanya Haden
  • Michael Boom
  • Jason Boxer
  • Lily Brady
  • Bill Brewer
  • Scott Brinkerhoff
  • Judith Briskin
  • Cecilia Brizuela and Byron Brizuela
  • The Brony Thank You Fund, Inc.
  • Bryan Brown
  • James Brush
  • Jonathan Bryant
  • Martha Bryant
  • Dawn Burkhardt
  • Edward Burnett and Abra Flores
  • Monica Buroker and Brian Buroker
  • Jeanine Caltagirone and Leslie Jacobson
  • The Capital Group Companies Charitable Foundation
  • The Truman Capote Literary Trust
  • Ronald Carn
  • Larry Carnes
  • Karen Carter
  • John Casbarian
  • Rodrigo Castillo
  • Polli Chambers-Salazar and Gary Salazar
  • Chanel
  • Jade Chang
  • Tess Chappuis and Alan Rapoport
  • Claire Charlesworth
  • Susan Cho
  • Mark Chung
  • Pamela Clyne and Shannon V. Clyne
  • Michael Cohill
  • Benjamin Cooley
  • Robert Coombs
  • Cotsen Foundation for the Art of Teaching
  • Chris Coulson and Susan Coulson
  • Bridgid Coulter and Don Cheadle
  • Caroline Cronson and Paul Cronson
  • Karen Cutler and Andrew Gold
  • John D’Amico and Keith Rand
  • Jerry Danielsen
  • Jennifer Danner and William Danner
  • Maud Smith Daudon and Marc Daudon
  • Lola Debney and John Debney
  • Michele DeJesus
  • Paul Demeyer
  • Joann Deutch and Paul Sweeney Jr.
  • Shivam Dhupar
  • Susan Dicks and William Dicks
  • Ethan Dietrich
  • Timothy Disney
  • The Walt Disney Company
  • The Walt and Lilly Disney Foundation
  • Lisa Dittbenner and James Mowry
  • Thomas Dolan & The Dolan Family Foundation
  • June Downs and David Downs
  • Eric Drachman
  • John Paul Drayer
  • DreamWorks Animation
  • Lorraine Dudzik and Michael Marks
  • Karen Dunn and David Dunn
  • Frank Dvoracek and Teresa Anderson-Dvoracek
  • Stephen Ellison
  • Jane Eston
  • Mimi Everett and Randall Balsmeyer
  • Hui Zhu and Yong Fan
  • Dominique Ferate and James Walley
  • Susan Fiore
  • Marianna Fisher and David Fisher
  • Christine Fluor
  • Charlotte Flynn and Joseph Flynn
  • Lance Fogan
  • Fourth Wall Management
  • Genevieve Fowler
  • Michael Fracassi
  • Edward Fredette and Kellie Fredette
  • Amanda Fronckowiak
  • Ellen Gagne and William Davis
  • Francesca Gans-Pfister and Noah Gans-Pfister
  • Olga Garay-English
  • Rebecca Garcia
  • Amy Garfinkle and Benjamin Garfinkle
  • Diane Geocaris and James Geocaris
  • Kamala Geroux-Berry and David Berry
  • The Getty Foundation
  • The Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Foundation
  • Rhea Gilchrist
  • Peter Gilman
  • Joseph Goecke
  • Sylvain Goessens
  • Mark Goss and April Scott-Goss
  • The Gotham Group, LLC
  • Golden Globe Foundation
  • Gonsalves & Kozachenko
  • Good Works Foundation
  • The Harold and Marion Gordon Foundation
  • Shira Gratch
  • Neil Grauer
  • Assia Grazioli and David Schiff
  • Elizabeth Greenberg
  • Jonathan L. Greene Foundation
  • Harold W. Grieve Charitable Trust
  • Lucy Griffin and Aidan Nemeth
  • The Wendy Gruber Artist Grant
  • Karl Haendel
  • Curt Hahn
  • Corey Hajim and James Sperber
  • Christine Hamachi and Steve Hamachi
  • Hamill Family Charitable Fund
  • Matt Hammer and Michelle Longosz
  • Vicky Hamrick
  • The Maxwell Hanrahan Foundation
  • Lester Hardy
  • Mary Hardy
  • Jessica Harper and Thomas Rothman
  • Eileen Harris Norton
  • Doug Hart and Meg Hart
  • Kathryn Headley and Jay Headley
  • Daniel Head and Laura Molina
  • Steven Hecht and Deborah Brochstein
  • Mary Beth Heffernan and Howard Rodman
  • Karolyn Heimes
  • John C. Hench Foundation
  • Margaret Hennessey and Michael Wiese
  • Herklotz Charitable Remainder Trust
  • Marilynn Hildebrandt and James Hildebrandt
  • Maury Hillstrom
  • Lily Ho Chen and Chris Chen
  • Karin Hoesli
  • Terry Hoffman and Irwin Hoffman
  • Alicia Hofler and Geoffery Krafft
  • Sue Hogan
  • Ellen Holmgren and Eric Holmgren
  • Melissa Holritz and Todd Holritz
  • Illumination Entertainment
  • Christina Innis
  • Joshua Jade
  • Pamela Jaffe and Mark Jaffe
  • Roman Jaster
  • Esquire Jauchem
  • Charmaine Jefferson and Garrett Johnson
  • Susan Jenkins and John Jenkins
  • Barry Johnson
  • Bruce Johnson
  • Suzanne Johnson and David Johnson
  • Margaret Jolley
  • Karen Jones and Wayne Jones
  • William Jones
  • Richard Jorgensen
  • Barbara Kallir
  • Kay Kamiya and Peter Bloom
  • Kathy Kantner and Joseph Fogel
  • Karsh Family Foundation
  • Christopher Kaufman
  • Martha Kelley
  • Mike Kelley Foundation for the Arts
  • Cynthia Keener and Michael Skloff
  • Janet Kim
  • John King
  • Letty Kirkland and Mark Kirkland
  • Badger Koon
  • Golden Krishna
  • Laura Kusumoto and Christian Greuel
  • Brent Kuszyk
  • John and Maria Laffin Trust
  • Kerry Lamperts
  • Roxana Landaverde and Charles Gaines
  • Ed Lantz
  • Corina Larkin and Nigel Dawn
  • Leslie Lashinsky and Stanley Ayeroff
  • Holly Laubach
  • Robert Leavitt and Cecelia Leavitt
  • Michael Lee and Susan Reichmann
  • Denis Lenoir and Joy Gregory
  • Elizabeth Levine Levy
  • Barnaby Levy and Rosanna Gamson
  • Shumin Liang and Anders Beer
  • Thomas Lloyd
  • Sharon Loudd
  • Anahita Lovelace and James Lovelace
  • Ashley Lumb
  • The Sharon D. Lund Foundation
  • Richard Lyman
  • John MacDonald and Joyce MacDonald
  • Megan Maloney and Frank Jones Jr.
  • Henriette Brouwers and John Malpede
  • Michael Mandiberg
  • John Manning
  • Roger Marheine
  • Suzanne Martin and John Martin
  • William Maxfield
  • Margarete May and Enrique May IV
  • Mark Maynard
  • Lauren McCarthy
  • Kathleen McCauley
  • Marina McClure
  • Gerald McKinnon
  • Jennifer McKnight
  • Elisabeth McMullin
  • Reese Medefesser
  • Gili Meerovitch and Robert Levine
  • Perry Meigs
  • Joel Miller and Sandra Miller
  • John Miller
  • Walter Miller
  • Alicia Minette
  • Jan Mitsumori
  • Shoji Miyasaka
  • Shannon and Ransom Moats
  • Channing Moore
  • Andrew Mosher
  • Hiro Murai
  • Kavitha Nair
  • Ramsey Naito and Alex Winter
  • Brian Nassau
  • National Endowment for the Arts
  • National Performance Network
  • New England Foundation for the Arts
  • Kathleen Nicely
  • Sharon Nicholson and David Nicholson
  • Ken Oberlander
  • Morgan Ogilvie
  • David Olson
  • Donna Osborn and Beth Polakoff
  • Mike Palleschi and Yanti Palleschi
  • Tina Panella-Hart and James Hart
  • Charles Pappas and Elizabeth Pappas
  • Paramount Pictures
  • Cristina Paulos
  • LeRoy Paulos and Aiko Paulos
  • Nicole Pearce
  • Elizabeth Peisner
  • Sydney Perlow and Paul Wilson
  • Tina Perry and Ric Whitney II
  • Traci Pimentel and Craig Pimentel
  • B. Scottye Price
  • Robert Primes and Theodora Primes
  • George Pritzker
  • Tim Proulx and Jeannette Sermak-Proulx
  • Leslye Prum and Samuel Prum
  • Cheng Qin
  • Andrea Quaid
  • Leslie Raffel and Robert Wemischner
  • Andrea Reese
  • Alli Reich
  • Linda Richman and Steven Richman
  • Anita B. and Howard S. Richmond Foundation, Inc.
  • Elise Richter and Jonathan Richter
  • Curtis Roads
  • Sean Rooney
  • Mitchell Rothzeid
  • Lisa Ruscica and James Ruscica
  • Abigail Salling
  • Carol Sanders and John Sanders
  • Savage Software Group Pty Ltd
  • Peter Sawaya and Sherri Sawaya
  • Jennifer Schab
  • Ingrid Schaffner
  • Ann Scheid
  • Shanit Schwartz and Samuel Schwartz
  • Indira Scuderi and Richard Scuderi
  • Josh Selzer
  • Diane Shaw
  • Marjorie Shea
  • Adriana Sheinbaum and Rodrigo Garcia
  • Richard Shelton and Kali Nikitas
  • Julian Shelton
  • The Sher Fund
  • Lillian Shine
  • Brock Shorno
  • The Shubert Foundation, Inc.
  • Leslie Shulem and Ron Shulem
  • Cynthia Siadat and Fahad Siadat
  • Ari Sikora
  • Robert Skeeles
  • Leah Sklar and Martin Sklar
  • Skydance Media, LLC
  • Stanley Smith and Mary Ivory Smith
  • Stephanie Sneddon
  • Pamela Snodgrass and James Snodgrass
  • Donald Snowden
  • Rima Snyder
  • Sony Pictures Animation
  • Sony Pictures Entertainment
  • Christopher Spears
  • Clark Spencer
  • Sharon Sprenger and George Sprenger Jr.
  • Nathan Stanton
  • The Fran and Ray Stark Foundation
  • Susan Steinhauser & The Greenberg Foundation
  • Loraine Stern
  • Erma Stewart and Ronald Stewart
  • Tera Stone and Thomas Hammond
  • Thomas Stones III and Denise Palm Stones
  • Theresa Strempek and Peter McMillan
  • Sandy Summers and Harry Summers
  • Young Summers and Ron Summers
  • Lori Jean Swanson and Jeffrey Beall
  • Mariam Tabatabaee
  • Alexander Taylor
  • Cathy Teich
  • Teiger Foundation
  • Mike Terry
  • Deborah Tilton and Michael Keusch
  • Titmouse, Inc.
  • Carrie Tokunaga and Hideaki Tokunaga
  • Hoei Tokunaga and Narumi Tokunaga
  • Susan Tollefson
  • Mellissa Tong
  • Diane Trautman and Allan Trautman
  • Nina Treiman and Jerome Treiman
  • Terri Treloggen-Clark
  • Kathy Tsai and Jerry Fuh
  • Jason Tucker and Wendy Tucker
  • Theresa Tunnicliff and Peter Otto
  • TVPaint Developpement
  • Mahsa Vahidi
  • Joanne Valli-Meredith and Glen Meredith
  • Elizabeth Van Cleve and Jack Vees
  • Cynthia Villaseñor
  • Kelly Vogt-Campbell and Aaron Campbell
  • Wacom Technology Corporation
  • Michelle Wakefield and David Wakefield
  • Jude Walko
  • The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts
  • Warner Bros Animation
  • Leo Watson Jr.
  • Barbara Wehby and Ralph Wehby
  • Carrie Wendt and David Wendt
  • Judith Wesley
  • Kathy Whalen and William Whalen
  • Aly Whitman
  • Christian Whittemore
  • Sophia Whittemore
  • Daniele Wieczorek
  • Howard Wolfson
  • Peiyi Wong
  • Tai-Ling Wong
  • Benjamin Woodlock
  • Christopher Woods
  • T.G. Wright and Vertia Wright
  • Walter Yaeh
  • Dawn Yamazi
  • Lucy Yates and Ravi Rajan
  • Quincy Young
  • Susan Zirinsky and Joseph Peyronnin III
  • Anonymous (25)

Note: We have recently updated our data systems. If there is an error in the listing above, please email giving@calarts.edu or call 661-554-9341 so we can make a correction. Thank you.

Thank you!

Thank you for reading and watching how CalArtians are changing the world no matter the headwinds they face. We look forward to the opportunities that the next few years bring our way.

Learn how you can join our donor community

CalArts students celebrating at Graduation 2025
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