Course Description

California Institute of the Arts welcomes applications for its Summer Art Residency, located on campus in Valencia, CA. Supported by the School of Art, this five-week residency offers an opportunity for emerging and/or mid-career artists working in all disciplines to advance their work in an immersive, transdisciplinary studio environment.

With an explorative philosophy that allows you to concentrate on self-directed concerns within your practice, our residency provides the time and resources to strengthen personal investigations and deepen existing inquiries into the conception, production and reception of your work.

To supplement ample independent studio time over the five-week period, you will attend a series of dynamic lectures from diverse creative practitioners working at the intersection of art, technology and media; engage in discussions that grapple with contemporary contexts of making; and benefit from studio visits with guest critics as well as your residency cohort.

Previous speakers at the Summer Art Residency include artists Joshua Citarella, Nikita Gale, Ann Hirsch, Shirley Tse, Raivo Puusemp, and The Institute for New Feeling; and theorist-writer-curators Stephen Wright, Michael Ned Holte, Sarah Lehrer-Graiwer and Travis Diehl, among others. 

Click here to view CalArts Summer Art Residency 2019 highlights. 

More Information

Facilities available to you on CalArts’ campus include your personal studio with 24-hour access in our John Baldessari Studio Building, a production shop equipped with wood and metal-working tools and the CalArts outdoor pool. The school’s proximity to Los Angeles provides convenient access to a vibrant community of world-class museums, a robust arts scene and varied geological sites such as beaches, mountains and desert. Please note the ceramics cage and printmaking studio are not accessible in the summer.

Program fees cover access to private studio workspace, wood/metal shop, residency coordination, and some meals (organized around events) for the duration of the residency. On-campus housing is available at additional cost—see below. 

This residency is not available for credit.

For more information on the Summer Art Residency program, contact Emma Kemp, Program Coordinator at artresidency@calarts.edu.

Application Instructions

Enrollment in the Summer Art Residency is based on submission of the online application form and the instructors' review of:

• A 2-3 minute video statement that addresses the following:
  • What critical concerns are you tackling in your practice?
  • Can you share a project you’d like to work on while at CalArts? An idea you’d like to explore? It’s okay if this is in flux. 
  • Tell us how you have arrived here. 
• CV
• Portfolio of 5 work samples
  • Allowable file extensions for upload are: gif, jpg, mpg, png.
  • You may also link to media from YouTube, Vimeo and SoundCloud.
• References (2-3) or up to 3 letters of recommendation
  • Your references should be familiar with you and your practice.

Applications must be accompanied by a $25 fee.

Who Should Apply

This residency is well suited to:

• Hybrid makers and rigorous thinkers
• Artists with undergraduate degrees preparing for intensive graduate study
• Artists with advanced degrees (MFA+) seeking a culture of rigorous practice and critical dialogue

Although this Residency is open to artists age 18 and up, this program is not suitable for fledgling artists. The ideal candidate is a mid-career artist or MFA student who is established in their practice and conversant in arts discourse.

Housing

On-campus housing is available for residents participating in Summer programs. Visit our Housing page for more information and instructions on how to apply.