California Institute of the Arts-Valencia

24700 W McBean Pky, Valencia, CA 91355

http://www.calarts.edu/

Entrance to CalArts on McBean Parkway
Entrance to CalArts on McBean Parkway
[source]

School Description

Provided by California Institute of the Arts-Valencia

CalArts is the nation's first art institute to offer BFAs and MFAs in both the visual and performing arts, CalArts is dedicated to training and nurturing the next generation of professional artists, fostering brilliance and innovation within the broadest context possible. Emphasis is placed on new and experimental work and students are admitted solely on the basis of artistic ability. To encourage innovation and experimentation, CalArts' six schools--Art, Critical Studies, Dance, Film/Video, Music and Theater--are all housed under one roof in a unique, five-story building with the equivalent of 11 acres of square footage in Valencia, California, just 30 minutes north of downtown Los Angeles.

California Institute of the Arts educates artists in a learning environment founded on artmaking excellence, creative experimentation, critical reflection and the diversity of voices. To advance the exploration of new forms and expressions, CalArts urges collaboration and reciprocity among artists, artistic disciplines and cultural traditions--both on campus and in ongoing engagement with communities near and far.

Thirty miles north of downtown Los Angeles, CalArts occupies 60 acres on hills overlooking the incorporated city of Santa Clarita, which encompasses the towns of Valencia, Newhall, Saugus and Canyon Country. The Santa Clarita Valley is surrounded by the Tehachapi Mountains to the north, the San Gabriels to the east and the Santa Susannas to the west, all visible from campus. Historically, the valley has been devoted to agriculture and cattle ranching, but the last three decades have seen the northward expansion of the Los Angeles metropolitan area. This ongoing development has resulted in new residential communities and an ever-increasing population of more than 175,000.

The center of campus life is a sprawling five-level, 500,000-square-foot building, where, according to Walt Disney's original vision for CalArts, different artistic disciplines share space under one roof. This structure houses classrooms, art studios, animation studios, music rehearsal rooms and dance studios; galleries, theaters for drama, dance and film, and a music hall; costume, scenery and machine shops; photo labs, computer and media labs, editing suites for film and video, and a digital recording studio; a library and a cafeteria.

Tennis courts and an outdoor swimming pool are available throughout the year, while spacious lawns dotted with shade trees, open fields and sloping hillsides allow for quiet reading or casual sports.

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California Institute of the Arts-Valencia

From Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia

The California Institute of the Arts, commonly referred to as CalArts, is located in Valencia, California, in Los Angeles County, California. CalArts is authorized by the state of California to grant Bachelor of Fine Arts and Master of Fine Arts in the visual, performing, and literary arts.

A school created by Walt Disney in the early 1960s and staffed by a very alternative array of professionals , CalArts provides for a collaborative environment for all sorts of artists. Students are free to develop their own work (over which they retain control and copyright) in a workshop atmosphere, as respected members of a community of artists in which authority is constantly tested and where teaching works through persuasion rather than coercion. Intercultural exchange among artists helps in practicing and understanding of the art making process in the broadest context possible.

History

CalArts was initially formed through the merger of the Chouinard Art Institute (founded 1921) and the Los Angeles Conservatory of Music (founded 1883). Both of the formerly existing institutions were going through financial difficulties around the same time, and the founder of the Art Institute, Nelbert Chouinard was also becoming fatally ill. It was through the impetus of Walt Disney, who found and trained many of his studio artists at Chouinard (including Mary Blair, Maurice Noble, and some of the Nine Old Men, among others), that was responsible for coordinating the merger of the two institutions, along with his brother Roy and Lulu Von Hagen.

The institute was started as Disney's dream of an interdisciplinary "Caltech of the arts," it was incorporated in 1961 as the first degree-granting institution of higher learning in the United States created specifically for students of both the visual and the performing arts. The founding board of trustees originally planned on creating CalArts as a school as an entertainment complex, a destination like Disneyland, and a feeder school for the industry. In an ironic turn of fate, they appointed Robert Corrigan and Herbert Blau, two progressive artists, as the president and provost of the newly founded institute. Subsequently, both were instrumental in hiring a number of professionals drawn from the counterculture and avant garde like Mel Powell, Jules Engel, Paul Brach, Alexander Mackendrick, Allan Kaprow, Bella Lewitzky, Michael Asher, John Baldessari, Judy Chicago, Miriam Shapiro, and Douglas Huebler.

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Read the full entry on Wikipedia

Quick Facts

Chance of Admission:
Check With School
Location:
Southwest
Setting:
Small Town Setting
Type:
Private
Size:
Small (Under 2,000 Undergrad)

Students & Campus Life

Undergraduate Enrollment:
788
On Campus Housing:
Available
Full Time Students:
100%
Athletic Programs:
Unavailable
> More Students & Campus Life

Expenses

Average Tuition:
$ 28,090
Students Receiving Aid:
80%
> More Expenses & Financial Aid

Admissions

Application Fee:
$ 60
Selectivity:
Highly Selective
> More Admissions

Degree Programs at California Institute of the Arts-Valencia

Bachelor's Level Programs

  • Arts & Humanities

    See more schools with programs in Arts & Humanities
    • Film and Theater See more schools with programs in Film and Theater
      • Directing and Theatrical Production
        A program that prepares individuals to manage the planning, design, preparation, and production of plays and other theatrical entertainment programs. Includes instruction in theatrical design, program management, dramatic production, rehearsal management, personnel management and casting, actor coaching, directing concepts and techniques, theater history, scene work, script interpretation, business management, marketing, public relations, and communications skills.
        See more schools with programs in Directing and Theatrical Production
      • Technical Theatre/Theatre Design and Technology
        A program that prepares individuals to apply artistic, technical and dramatic principles and techniques to the communication of dramatic information, ideas, moods, and feelings through technical theatre methods. Includes instruction in set design, lighting design, sound effects, theatre acoustics, scene painting, property management, costume design, and technical direction and production and use of computer applications to support these functions above.
        See more schools with programs in Technical Theatre/Theatre Design and Technology
    • Music See more schools with programs in Music
      • Music Performance
        A program that generally prepares individuals to master musical instruments and performing art as solo and/or ensemble performers. Includes instruction on one or more specific instruments from various instrumental groupings.
        See more schools with programs in Music Performance
      • Music Theory and Composition
        A program that focuses on the study of the principles of sound manipulation as applied to the creation of music, and the techniques of creating and arranging music. Includes instruction in aural theory, melody, counterpoint, complex harmony, modulation, chromatics, improvisation, progressions, musical writing, instrumentation, orchestration, electronic and computer applications, studies of specific musical styles, and development of original creative ability.
        See more schools with programs in Music Theory and Composition
    • Performing Arts See more schools with programs in Performing Arts
      • General Dance
        A general program that prepares individuals to express ideas, feelings, and/or inner visions through the performance of one or more of the dance disciplines, including but not limited to ballet, modern, jazz, ethnic, and folk dance, and that focuses on the study and analysis of dance as a cultural phenomenon. Includes instruction in technique, choreography, Laban notation, dance history and criticism, and dance production.
        See more schools with programs in General Dance
    • Visual and Performing Arts See more schools with programs in Visual and Performing Arts
    • Visual Arts See more schools with programs in Visual Arts
      • Fine/Studio Arts
        A program that prepares individuals to generally function as creative artists in the visual and plastic media. Includes instruction in the traditional fine arts media (drawing, painting, sculpture, printmaking, CAD/CAM) and/or modern media (ceramics, textiles, intermedia, photography, digital images); theory of art; color theory; composition and perspective; anatomy; the techniques and procedures for maintaining equipment and managing a studio; and art portfolio marketing.
        See more schools with programs in Fine/Studio Arts
  • Communication & Media

    See more schools with programs in Communication & Media
    • Design & Visual Communications
      A program in the applied visual arts that focuses on the general principles and techniques for effectively communicating ideas and information, and packaging products, in digital and other formats to business and consumer audiences, and that may prepare individuals in any of the applied art media.
      See more schools with programs in Design & Visual Communications
    • Film/Video & Cinematography
      Learn to communicate dramatic information, ideas, moods, and feelings through the making and producing of films and videos. This major includes instruction in the theory of film; film technology and equipment operation; film production; film directing; film editing; cinematographic art; film audio; techniques for making specific types of films and/or videos; the , use of computer applications to record or enhance images, audio or effect and the planning and management of film/video operations.
      See more schools with programs in Film/Video & Cinematography
    • Photography
      A program that focuses on the principles and techniques of communicating information, ideas, moods, and feelings through the creation of images on photographic film, plates, digital images and that may prepare individuals to be professional photographic artists. Includes instruction in camera and equipment operation and maintenance, film and plate developing, light and composition, films and printing media, color and special effects, photographic art, photographic history, use of computer applications to record or enhance images and applications to the photography of various subjects.
      See more schools with programs in Photography

Master's Level Programs

  • Arts & Humanities

    See more schools with programs in Arts & Humanities
    • Film and Theater See more schools with programs in Film and Theater
      • Directing and Theatrical Production
        A program that prepares individuals to manage the planning, design, preparation, and production of plays and other theatrical entertainment programs. Includes instruction in theatrical design, program management, dramatic production, rehearsal management, personnel management and casting, actor coaching, directing concepts and techniques, theater history, scene work, script interpretation, business management, marketing, public relations, and communications skills.
        See more schools with programs in Directing and Theatrical Production
      • Technical Theatre/Theatre Design and Technology
        A program that prepares individuals to apply artistic, technical and dramatic principles and techniques to the communication of dramatic information, ideas, moods, and feelings through technical theatre methods. Includes instruction in set design, lighting design, sound effects, theatre acoustics, scene painting, property management, costume design, and technical direction and production and use of computer applications to support these functions above.
        See more schools with programs in Technical Theatre/Theatre Design and Technology
    • Music See more schools with programs in Music
      • Music Performance
        A program that generally prepares individuals to master musical instruments and performing art as solo and/or ensemble performers. Includes instruction on one or more specific instruments from various instrumental groupings.
        See more schools with programs in Music Performance
      • Music Theory and Composition
        A program that focuses on the study of the principles of sound manipulation as applied to the creation of music, and the techniques of creating and arranging music. Includes instruction in aural theory, melody, counterpoint, complex harmony, modulation, chromatics, improvisation, progressions, musical writing, instrumentation, orchestration, electronic and computer applications, studies of specific musical styles, and development of original creative ability.
        See more schools with programs in Music Theory and Composition
    • Performing Arts See more schools with programs in Performing Arts
      • General Dance
        A general program that prepares individuals to express ideas, feelings, and/or inner visions through the performance of one or more of the dance disciplines, including but not limited to ballet, modern, jazz, ethnic, and folk dance, and that focuses on the study and analysis of dance as a cultural phenomenon. Includes instruction in technique, choreography, Laban notation, dance history and criticism, and dance production.
        See more schools with programs in General Dance
    • Visual and Performing Arts See more schools with programs in Visual and Performing Arts
    • Visual Arts See more schools with programs in Visual Arts
      • Fine/Studio Arts
        A program that prepares individuals to generally function as creative artists in the visual and plastic media. Includes instruction in the traditional fine arts media (drawing, painting, sculpture, printmaking, CAD/CAM) and/or modern media (ceramics, textiles, intermedia, photography, digital images); theory of art; color theory; composition and perspective; anatomy; the techniques and procedures for maintaining equipment and managing a studio; and art portfolio marketing.
        See more schools with programs in Fine/Studio Arts
  • Communication & Media

    See more schools with programs in Communication & Media
    • Design & Visual Communications
      A program in the applied visual arts that focuses on the general principles and techniques for effectively communicating ideas and information, and packaging products, in digital and other formats to business and consumer audiences, and that may prepare individuals in any of the applied art media.
      See more schools with programs in Design & Visual Communications
    • Film/Video & Cinematography
      Learn to communicate dramatic information, ideas, moods, and feelings through the making and producing of films and videos. This major includes instruction in the theory of film; film technology and equipment operation; film production; film directing; film editing; cinematographic art; film audio; techniques for making specific types of films and/or videos; the , use of computer applications to record or enhance images, audio or effect and the planning and management of film/video operations.
      See more schools with programs in Film/Video & Cinematography
    • Photography
      A program that focuses on the principles and techniques of communicating information, ideas, moods, and feelings through the creation of images on photographic film, plates, digital images and that may prepare individuals to be professional photographic artists. Includes instruction in camera and equipment operation and maintenance, film and plate developing, light and composition, films and printing media, color and special effects, photographic art, photographic history, use of computer applications to record or enhance images and applications to the photography of various subjects.
      See more schools with programs in Photography

Students

General

Full-Time vs. Part-Time
Full-Time 100%
Part-Time 0%
Men vs. Women
Men 53%
Women 47%
Race/Ethnicity
Caucasian 69%
Asian 11%
Hispanic 10%
African-American 7%
Other 3%

Geography

In State vs. Out-of-State
Out-of-State 52%
In-State 48%
Top States for Incoming Freshman
California 48%
New York 6%
Illinois 3%
Colorado 3%
Arizona 1%
Percent of Students International: 9%

Housing

On-Campus Housing Available: Yes
Percent of Students Living On-Campus: 34%
Freshman Students Required to Live on Campus: No
Tuition & Fees (undergraduate) Expenses  
Published Tuition and Fees:
$ 28,090    
Average Tuition for Full-Time Undergrads:
$ 27,260    
Required Fees for Full-Time Undergrads:
$ 830    
Financial Aid Avg. Amount Received % of Students Receiving Aid  
Federal Grants:
$ 4,269 20%  
State and Local Grants:
$ 5,443 12%  
Institutional Grants:
$ 6,801 73%  
Student Loans:
$ 7,056 62%  
Any Aid:
  80%  

Selectivity (Undergraduate Only)

Acceptance Rate: 35% (Highly Selective)

Application Requirements (Undergraduate Only)

Application Fee: $ 60.00
Formal Demonstration of Competencies: Required
High School Diploma or Equivalent: Not Required
High School GPA: Not Required
High School Rank: Not Required
High School Record: Required
Recommendations: Recommended
TOEFL: Required
Test Scores: Not Required

College Advice

Yahoo

Question: Are CalArts (California Institute of the Arts) and The Art Institute of California the same thing?

http://www.calarts.edu/ http://www.aica.edu/ Is the school that the first link belongs to one of the schools in the second link? Please let me know if you know anything about any of these schools. Preferably the one in the first link. Thanks!
25 months ago

Best Answer

Definitly not, Cal Arts is one of the best art schools in the country, I would say a close second only to Yale Art School. In contrast, the "Art Institute of...." is one of the 35 schools that are all part of a system of vocational institutions. Basically, the AICA, like many of the vocational schools it is associated with, is very young. I remember about 7 years ago, the one in New England was not accredited, although this might have changed by now. Nevertheless, CalArts is by far the more prestigious, in fact, I do not think they can even be compared. Further, some of the most famous artists in the world are currently teaching at CA. Check out the link of visiting artists: http://www.calarts.edu/criticalstudies/visitingartists Some of these names are the most prolific artists in the world. If you want to see some of their work, here are a few I suggest you look up on Google> Gary Indiana Charles Ray John Baldessari Lastly, my friends who went to school there did residencies with many of the visiting artists. So you do have access to some of the best names in the industry--it's a phenomenal opportunity as a young artist. In any event, I wish you luck. I could go on and on about this subject, so if you have another question, please do not hesitate to post it.

Question: California Institute of the Arts?

Ive got various questions regarding this school. I'm wanting to attend this school and take some acting classes at a professional studio to begin my acting career. What are the requirements to get into this school. I know you have to audition, but is that it?Just audition? Also, how much does it cost to get into that school?
30 months ago

Best Answer

Acting and a performance is only part of the requirements. It is a beginning, however. Videos of your acting, singing, dancing will also be helpful or required, and you will need to submit high school transcripts and a resume' that would suggest you have been actively involved, seriously involved, in the arts for years. Check out their website for more details, costs, etc. calarts.edu

Question: what is a good art school in california?

i live in the east coast but i wanna go to college in california. im interested in graphic design, multimedia, and animation. any suggestions?
44 months ago

Best Answer

The California Institute of the Arts has an international reputation. I study in England but have heard about it through guest speakers at my arts college.

Photos

  • Entrance to CalArts on McBean Parkway
    Entrance to CalArts on McBean Parkway [source]
  • Image:Calarts logo.png
    Image:Calarts logo.png [source]
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California Institute of the Arts-Valencia
Valencia, CA 91355
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