MFA Lighting Design: Admission Requirements

Your artist statement should discuss your goals and their relationship to your past experience, as well as evidence of your interest in performance-based design whether in theater, film, installation, writing, or other related forms.

Maximum length of one page single spaced or two pages double spaced.

Please submit the following in the online portfolio:

• Lighting plots and paperwork.
• Production still images or video.
• Examples of design, drawing and graphic skills.
• A writing sample communicating visual or theatrical ideas.
• Digital or hand drawn renderings of lighting design intentions.
• Lighting plots in Vectorworks or Autocad and other lighting paperwork including Lightwrite or equivalent.
• Three letters of recommendation, including one professional.
• Production still images or videos of realized productions.
• Fine artwork including photography, sketching, painting, and/or sculpture.

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

Tell us about one person, place, thing, or event that has helped shape your artistic practice.

• Duration: minimum of 30 seconds, maximum of 90 seconds.
• Speak directly to the camera.
• Do not read from a prepared statement.
• No edits.
• No special effects or on-screen overlays.
• File should be uploaded or linked directly to the portfolio section of the CalArts application
• Does not require professional-level equipment; cell phone cameras are fine.

• You’ll be contacted directly if an interview is requested by the faculty. Not all candidates will be invited to interview. The location and format of the interview (virtual or in-person) will be determined after you receive your invitation to interview. 
• To be considered for admission to CalArts, you’ll need to first complete the admissions application requirements and the online portfolio. The online application must be submitted before an interview will be scheduled.
• CalArts School of Theater faculty will participate in URTA events for Experience Design and Production candidates in Chicago and virtually. Applicants interviewing via URTA are still required to complete the online application. If you plan to participate in URTAs and are considering CalArts, starting a CalArts application is an important first step.

All three letters of recommendation should be received by the application deadline, so it’s important that you contact your recommenders months before. We ask 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

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