To ensure that students have the opportunity to experience and examine the widest possible cross-section of practices, the school regularly invites eminent visiting artists from around the world to supplement the expertise of our faculty. Some guests also serve as visiting faculty members who spend one or more semesters at CalArts. In recent years, visiting artists have included:
- Martín Acosta, director
- Kevin Adams, lighting designer
- Jules Aaron, director
- Luis Alfaro, playwright
- Refik Anadol, media artist
- Nicole Arbusto, casting director
- Edgar Arceneaux, artist
- Robert Barnhardt, designer
- Gina Belafonte, actor
- Belarus Free Theatre
- Dahlak Brathwaite, performance artist
- Susan Brown, casting director
- Robert Brustein, director, writer
- Robert Cantarella, director
- Laurie Carlos, writer, director, performer
- Bridget Carpenter, writer and producer
- Chen Shi-Zheng, director
- Pat Cruz, arts administrator
- Juli Crockett, writer, director, musician
- Drew Dalzell, designer
- Gordon Davidson, director and artistic director
- Eisa Davis, writer, performer, composer
- Stephen Dillane, actor
- Annie Dorsen, director
- Rinde Eckert, writer, composer, director, performer
- Kate Edmunds, designer and artistic director
- Daniel Fish, director
- Doug Fitch, designer
- Five Lesbian Brothers, performance collective
- Richard Foreman, writer and director
- Brian Freeman, playwright and performance artist
- Nataki Garrett, director
- Guillermo Gómez-Peña, performance artist, writer, activist
- Virginia Grise, playwright
- Grupo Cultural Yuyachkani, theater collective
- Tom Gunning, film scholar
- LisaGay Hamilton, director, actor
- Handspring Puppet Company
- Wendall Harrington, designer
- Philip Himberg, artistic director
- Liz Himelstein, dialect coach
- Michael Hooker, designer
- Cynthia Hopkins, writer and performer
- Naomi Iizuka, playwright
- Robert Israel, designer
- Lynn Jeffries, puppet artist
- Daniel Alexander Jones, writer and director
- Ron Cephas Jones, actor
- Marc Bamuthi Joseph, performer, activist, educator
- Chris Kallmyer, sound designer and composer
- York Kennedy, designer
- Nancy Keystone, director
- Natalia Korczakowska, director
- Lisa Kron, performance artist
- Jessica Kubzansky, director
- Christopher Kuhl, designer
- Claudio Valdéz Kuri, director
- Lagartijas Tiradas al Sol, performance collective
- Stan Lai (Lai Sheng-Chuan), playwright and director
- Ming Cho Lee, designer
- Taylor Mac, performance artist and playwright
- John Malpede, director and performer
- Lynn Manning, actor, director, playwright
- Debi Manwiller, casting director
- Stan Margulies, film producer
- Kristin Marting, director
- Kay Matschullat, director and producer
- Michelle Memran, documentary filmmaker
- Stephin Merritt, composer
- Arnaud Meunier, director
- My Barbarian
- Nature Theater of Oklahoma
- Qui Nguyen, writer
- Robert O’Hara, director
- Victoria Paul, production designer
- Phantom Limb Company
- Adina Porter, actor
- Everett Quinton, actor and director
- Dunya Ramicova, designer
- Larry Reed, puppet artist
- José Rivera, playwright
- Diane Rodriguez, actor and director
- John Gould Rubin, director
- Roger Guenveur Smith, actor, writer, director
- Octavio Solis, playwright
- Stew, composer and playwright
- Mary Ellen Strom, video and performance artist
- Lloyd Suh, playwright
- Basil Twist, designer and puppet artist
- Lenka Udovicki, director
- Roberta Uno, director, producer, arts administrator
- Anne Washburn, playwright
- Maggie Wheeler, actor and voice artist
- Saul Williams, performance poet
- Charlayne Woodard, actor
- The Wooster Group, theater collective
- The Yes Men
- Chay Yew, playwright