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California Institute of the Arts

BFA Art: Admission Requirements

Before applying, please make sure to familiarize yourself with the BFA Art program, faculty, facilities, curriculum, and student work.

If you’re interested in character design and storytelling in animation, consider applying to the Character Animation or Experimental Animation programs instead. CalArts does not offer specific programs in illustration or comics.

You cannot make any changes to your application after it has been submitted.

Application

Create an account to begin the application process. This is where you’ll complete each step in the application and receive updates on your application status. Add your personal background and academic history.

Portfolio

  • We want to know what your artistic interests are and how that manifests in your practice. Your work can be in any medium; in fact we encourage applicants with multiple interests to submit a variety of work. In order for your portfolio to be seriously considered by the faculty committee and produce the most advantageous presentation, it’s important to follow the guidelines. Please read through the requirements carefully. Direct any questions to your assistant director of admissions.
  • Your portfolio must be submitted through the portfolio section of the CalArts application, and should include approximately 15-20 works representative of your most recent or current work. Some sketches and works-in-progress are acceptable. Drawings or paintings created digitally are accepted, however if your practice has physical elements you should also include a selection of work done directly with physical materials or methods.
  • Do not submit a pre-formatted portfolio or composite images. Submit separate images of individual works. Pre-formatted portfolios do not provide an acceptable presentation of your artwork and we highly discourage them. Do not submit composite images, PDFs, or links to websites, and please make sure that each image fills the slide. Otherwise, we will not be able to view the work.
  • We are not able to zoom in on the images. Please submit detail images on a separate slide.
  • Enter any captions, descriptions, or titles of your work in the fields provided in the portfolio upload tool. Do not add captions, descriptions, titles or other extraneous text within the area where you upload your image.
  • We are looking for personal work that gives us a sense of who you are as an artist, rather than technical exercises (i.e., don’t include generic class assignments, figure/life drawing, still-life drawings unless you believe they offer a view of a personal and/or unique approach).

If you experience technical difficulties while uploading your portfolio, please email admissions@calarts.edu.

Artist statement

An artist statement is very important in the admissions process and should answer the following three questions:

  • What are your artistic interests/goals?
  • What informs your art-making practice? (Ideas, research, ways of making, and so on.) 
  • Why are you applying to this program at CalArts?

Your statement should be between 500 and 1,000 words.

Video introduction

BFA applicants are required to submit a 30-to 90-second video introduction. Although we’d love to meet you in person, this wouldn’t be practical, so we ask that you send a brief video introducing yourself. We’d like you to talk specifically about your influences and interests and discuss a particular image or artwork in your portfolio, rather than provide personal facts.

  • Duration: minimum of 30 seconds, maximum of 90 seconds.
  • Speak directly to the camera.
  • No edits.
  • No special effects or on-screen overlays.
  • File should be uploaded directly in your portfolio. 
  • Does not require professional-level equipment; cell phone cameras are fine.

Letters of recommendation

Two letters of recommendation are required. At least one recommendation should be written by a person who understands your work, such as an art teacher.

All letters of recommendation should be received by the application deadline, so it’s important that you contact your recommenders months before. We request that you submit the requests for your letters of recommendation through the online application, as it will allow you to track when we receive your requested letters.

If this is not possible, you may download the Letter of Recommendation Form (pdf) and have your recommender send their letters by mail to the Office of Admissions. Please choose only one method - either through the online application (preferred) or by mail - per recommender. Letters of recommendation will not be accepted via credentialing services such as Parchment or Naviance.

Mailed letters of recommendation should be sent to:

CalArts Office of Admissions
24700 McBean Pkwy.
Valencia, CA 91355
United States of America

All letters of recommendation must be written in English or accompanied by a certified English translated document.