State’s Premiere Arts Summer School is Accepting Applications.The California State Summer School for the Arts (CSSSA) today invites all talented and motivated high school students to apply for admission to the 2015 summer session held from July 11 - August 7, 2015. Applications are found online at: csssa.ca.gov and are due on Saturday, February 28, 2015.
CSSSA is the only state-supported arts summer school on the West coast. This creative, cutting-edge, and immersive four-week residential program draws the most talented students to learn from college-level faculty and professional working artists. Students have seven artistic disciplines to choose from, including: Animation, Creative Writing, Dance, Film & Video, Music, Theater and Visual Arts.
Held on the campus of the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) in Valencia, approximately 500 students each year attend from around California and the globe. All students are selected by their submission of an application and work sample that is reviewed by a panel of educators and professional artists. It is only after the student is accepted into the program, that financial need is considered. CSSSA’s Foundation has made it possible for every young artist to attend so no one is turned away due to financial hardship.
CSSSA has cultivated some of today’s top artists including Alex Hirsch, creator of 2015 Annie Awards nominee “Gravity Falls,” and Pendleton Ward, creator of 2015 Annie Awards nominee “Adventure Time” - both in the Best Animated TV/Broadcast Production for Children’s Audience category. A few other names that graduated from CSSSA include Zac Efron, Katharine McPhee and James Franco. Upon acceptance to CSSSA, each student is designated as a California Arts Scholar, the highest designation offered by the State of California for young artists. CSSSA Foundation Provides Future Opportunities to Alumni Students who have attended CSSSA are given opportunities by the CSSSA Foundation to continue seeking higher arts education and pre-professional programs. In partnership with The Herb Alpert Foundation, each year 21 CSSSA students are selected to receive college scholarships.
The awards include three students in each of the seven disciplines. Within each category, one student is selected for a $40,000 college scholarship. CSSSA Director, Michael Fields states that “The Herb Alpert Foundation generous funding changes the pathway for these young artists, and enables them to conquer their dreams and keep achieving more.” As a direct result of attending CSSSA, students can also receive scholarships from a variety of generous foundations and institutions, including: Mel Swope Performing Arts Scholarship, Dean and Margaret Lesher Foundation: Scholarships for Contra Costa County, Art Center College of Design, California College of the Arts, Bennington College, California Institute of the Arts, Cornish College of the Arts, Otis College of Art and Design, Pacific Northwest College of Art and San Francisco Art Institute.
CSSSA Arts Scholar Network
CSSSA and the CSSSA Foundation created a partnership program called the CSSSA Arts Scholar Network, which fosters collaboration with county arts councils and commissions. The mission is to reach those truly talented and motivated young artists in each region to give students the recognition that will elevate them in their future scholastic and professional endeavors. Participating county arts councils and commissions include: Alameda County Art Commission, Contra Costa Arts & Culture Commission, Del Norte Association for Cultural Awareness, Fresno Arts Council, Humboldt Arts Council, Arts Council of Kern, Arts Council Orange County, Arts Council of Placer County, Madera County Arts Council, Mariposa County Arts Council, Merced County Arts Council, Riverside Arts Council, Sacramento Metropolitan Arts Commission, San Francisco Arts Commission, San Mateo County Arts Commission, Santa Barbara County Arts Commission, Arts Council of Santa Cruz County, Silicon
Valley Creates, Tulare Arts Consortium, Ventura County Arts Council, YOLOARTS.
The MARIPOSA COUNTY ARTS COUNCIL, INC. is an incorporated not-for- profit organization, created to promote and support all forms of the cultural arts, for all ages, throughout Mariposa County.
