History

CalArts is the first U.S. higher educational institution to offer undergraduate and graduate degrees in both visual and performing arts. It was established in 1961 by Walt and Roy Disney through the merger of two professional schools, the Los Angeles Conservatory of Music, founded in 1883, and the Chouinard Art Institute, founded in 1921. CalArts moved to its permanent home in Valencia in 1971 and added degree programs in dance, film and theater to those in art and music. A graduate writing program was subsequently created in 1994.     

Since its founding, CalArts has been recognized internationally as a leader in every discipline in which it provides instruction. Its faculty and alumni have defined, and continue to extend, the very forefront of creative practice as we know it today.

1960    Walt Disney develops plans for a new school for the performing and visual arts where different disciplines commingle under one roof.

1961    Walt Disney and Roy O. Disney guide the merger of the Los Angeles Conservatory of Music, founded in 1883, and the Chouinard Art Institute, founded in 1921, to form California Institute of the Arts. The Disney brothers are backed by Lulu May Von Hagen, chair of the Conservatory.

1964    After receiving accreditation from the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, CalArts is introduced to the public by Walt Disney in a fundraiser at the Hollywood premiere of Mary Poppins.

1966    Walt Disney dies. His plans for CalArts proceed nonetheless with the support of the Disney family and other benefactors.

1968    Robert W. Corrigan, dean of New York University’s School of the Arts, becomes the first president of CalArts. Herbert Blau, co-director of the Lincoln Center Repertory Company, is appointed provost. Blau takes the lead in designing a radical educational program that favors independent artistic work over rigid curricula, collegial relationships among a diverse community of artists over hierarchies of teacher and student, and continuous interaction and cross-pollination among the different branches of the arts over the self-containment of each discipline.

1969    Corrigan and Blau assemble a high-powered faculty by recruiting some of the most innovative and unorthodox voices in the arts. This new faculty includes now-iconic figures such as artists Allan Kaprow and Nam June Paik; choreographer Bella Lewitzky; composers Mel Powell and Morton Subotnick; designers Peter and Sheila DeBretteville; film director Alexander MacKendrick; and animation artist Jules Engel.  CalArts accepts its first students.  "The Great Ground Breaking” starts construction of a new campus in Valencia, 30 miles north of downtown Los Angeles.

1970    CalArts begins its first academic year at an interim campus at Villa Cabrini in Burbank. It offers degree program through six Schools: Art, Critical Studies, Design, Film, Music, and Theater & Dance.

1971    New campus opens in Valencia, with more than 650 students enrolled for the fall semester. Faculty members Judy Chicago and Miriam Schapiro establish the Feminist Art Program—the first such course of study in American higher education.

1975    Following the earlier departure of Robert Corrigan, Robert J. Fitzpatrick, professor of medieval French literature and dean of students at Johns Hopkins University, is appointed new president of CalArts.

1979    CalArts’ growing reputation for artistic excellence is confirmed as it receives a National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Challenge Grant—one of the first such grants ever awarded to an arts training institution.

1984    President Robert Fitzpatrick serves as director of the hugely successful Los Angeles Olympic Arts Festival. The largest arts showcase ever held in the United States, the festival features more than 400 performances by an eclectic array of artists from the globe, with an emphasis on experimental and avant-garde practices.

1987    Robert Fitzpatrick resigns as president to head Euro Disney in Paris. Nicholas England, former dean of the School of Music, is appointed acting president.

1988    Steven D. Lavine, associate director for arts and humanities at the Rockefeller Foundation, is named new president of CalArts.

1990    CalArts launches the Community Arts Partnership (CAP), an innovative youth arts education program that links the Institute with community arts organizations. The program’s first community partners include Plaza de la Raza and the Watts Towers Arts Center. By 2007, CAP partners number 18 arts groups across Los Angeles County and 18 LAUSD continuation high schools. First-ever capital campaign aims to raise $60 million over five years.

1994    CalArts sustains damages totaling more than $15 million during the Northridge earthquake. Classes continue in trailers and off-campus sites during the spring semester. Resoration of the campus is completed ahead of the fall semester.

1995    The School of Critical Studies offers a new MFA degree program in writing. The Herb Alpert Foundation joins with CalArts to establish the Alpert Awards in the Arts—five $50,000 fellowships given each year to “early mid-career” artists in the fields of dance, film/video, music, theater and visual arts. The awards are administered by CalArts on behalf of the Alpert Foundation.  CalArts exceeds capital campaign goal as it raises a total of $71 million.

1996    The Center for Integrated Media offers a new supplemental concentration for graduate students working with digital media across traditional disciplines.

1997    As plans take shape for the construction of Walt Disney Concert Hall—a new downtown Los Angeles landmark designed by Frank O. Gehry—longtime benefactors Roy E. and Patty Disney provide initial funding for a separate CalArts performance space and gallery: the Roy and Edna Disney/CalArts Theater (REDCAT), named after Roy E. Disney’s parents.

1998    The Cotsen Center for Puppetry and the Arts is established at the School of Theater.

1999    CalArts inaugurates Center for New Theater as the professional producing arm of the School of Theater. Its debut production is Bad Behavior, by Richard Foreman and Sophie Haviland.

2000    The School of Theater launches the Writing for Performance Program, with Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Suzan-Lori Parks serving as director. The New York-based Board of Overseers is established as an advisory panel.

2001    Impact study shows that CalArts contributes more than $47 million each year to the economy of Southern California.

2002    Mark Murphy is named executive director of REDCAT. Eungie Joo is appointed curator and director of the Gallery at REDCAT. The programming to be presented at CalArts’ new downtown center for innovative visual, performing and media arts is divided into three equal parts: work by high-profile international artists, work by emerging Southern California-based artists, and work developed at CalArts. Many of the artists featured at REDCAT will also visit the Valencia campus to give lectures, lead workshops and conduct master classes.  The School of Art and Saint Martins College of Art and Design in London join forces to publish the international art journal Afterall.

2003    REDCAT opens in downtown Los Angeles in November. The state-of-the-art venue is dedicated during a 24-hour gala celebration.

2004    The Sharon Disney Lund School of Dance is dedicated in memory of the longstanding CalArts benefactor.  Nancy J. Uscher, associate provost of the University of New Mexico, becomes provost of CalArts.  The MFA Writing Program publishes first issue of Black Clock, a literary journal edited by faculty member Steve Erickson.

2005    The annual Alpert Awards in the Arts introduce a new series of smaller residency prizes in addition to the five $50,000 fellowships.

2006    CalArts becomes the first American film school to be honored with a full retrospective at The Museum of Modern Art. Austin M. Beutner succeeds Lawrence J. Ramer as Board of Trustees chairman. Center for New Theater is expanded into Center for New Performance (CNP), a new production entity encompassing music, dance and interdisciplinary performance in addition to theater. Linking the artistic resources and values of CalArts with the wider professional community, CNP serves as a unique platform for the development and realization of daring original work. CNP’s premiere production is What to Wear, an experimental opera by Richard Foreman and Michael Gordon. The $125 million Campaign for CalArts enters its public phase with a star-studded gala at REDCAT. Of this amount, more than $105 million has already been raised during the quiet phase of the campaign.