Valencia, Calif. (July 29, 2024) – CalArts Center for New Performance (CNP) has published an extraordinary new book titled Follow the Artist: 20 Years of CalArts Center for New Performance, now available in stores and libraries.
To purchase and for more information, visit:
centerfornewperformance.org/projects/follow-the-artist
Follow the Artist charts the deep, daring, and imaginative legacy of CalArts — a place unlike any other, which is committed to supporting artists, rather than their output. The work of CNP has resulted in heralded premiere productions, but also the unseen work of risk-encouraging workshops, exploratory artistic research, and forward-thinking initiatives. This visually lavish publication documents two decades of steadfast creative incubation and commitment to artist-driven experimentation, featuring an array of seminal, seasoned, and emerging artists from the greater CalArts community.
The book features newly authored essays and reflections from creative makers and thinkers, including Yareli Arizmendi, P. Carl, Marissa Chibás*, Nataki Garrett***, Daniel Alexander Jones*, Douglas Kearney***, Joanna Klass, Natalia Korczakowska, Stan Lai, Anne LeBaron*, Carey Lovelace**, Juan Meliá, Deborah Paradez, Travis Preston*, Jin Qiu, Carl Hancock Rux*, and Judy Yin Shih. It was designed by Jessica Fleischmann** of Still Room. The book also showcases hundreds of images from two decades of projects, workshops, and residencies.
“This book chronicles two decades of exhilarating theatrical journeys with some of the most dynamic artists of our era,” said CalArts faculty member, CNP Producing Artist and Director of Duende CalArts Marissa Chibás. “CNP’s role as a genuine laboratory for groundbreaking talents fills us with immense joy and pride.”
For over 20 years, CNP has been an active incubator of new directions in the performing arts. Through ongoing residencies, development support, and presentations on the local, national, and international stage, CNP invests deeply in the creative practices of visionary national and international artists, realizing projects through a commitment to artist-led processes. Founded in 2002 by Susan Solt, Travis Preston, and Carol Bixler, CNP has provided over 1,000 professional opportunities to CalArts students, alumni, faculty, staff, and guest artists.
Follow the Artist: 20 Years of CalArts Center for New Performance
Released and edited by CalArts Center for New Performance
Designed by Jessica Fleischmann, Still Room
ISBN # 979-8-88589-065-6
304 pages, 200+ images, 8.5” x 11.5” / Hardcover MSRP $75.00
* Current/former CalArts faculty
** CalArts alum
*** Both
Image: Photo by Brica Wilcox. Courtesy of CalArts Center for New Performance.
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CalArts Center for New Performance is the professional producing arm of California Institute of the Arts, established to provide a unique artist- and project-driven framework for the development and realization of original theater, music, dance, media and interdisciplinary projects. Extending the progressive work carried out at CalArts into a direct dialogue with professional communities at the local, national and international levels, CNP offers an alternative model to support emerging directions in the performing arts. It also enables CalArts students to work shoulder-to-shoulder with celebrated artists and acquire a level of experience that goes beyond their curriculum.
California Institute of the Arts has set the pace for educating professional artists since 1970. Offering rigorous undergraduate and graduate degree programs through six schools—Art, Critical Studies, Dance, Film/Video, Music, and Theater—CalArts has championed creative excellence, critical reflection, and the development of new forms and expressions. As successive generations of faculty and alumni have helped shape the landscape of contemporary arts, the Institute first envisioned by Walt Disney encompasses a vibrant, eclectic community with global reach, inviting experimentation, independent inquiry, and active collaboration and exchange among artists, artistic disciplines, and cultural traditions.