Matias Viegener
In the first year I taught at CalArts there was a lunchtime or afternoon concert by the composer John Cage,
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CalArts’ 50th Anniversary Weekend celebrates the Institute’s first five decades of artmaking, education, and out-of-the-box thinking. While there are some events dedicated specifically to our alums as part of the Alumnx Reunion (taking place concurrently that weekend), there are plenty of end-of-year events, and more—including the World Music Festival and the Open Studios—that are open to the public. A major highlight of the weekend is the Happenings, a creative endeavor of 75+ durational, performative, and immersive projects taking place on Friday night and Saturday day.
Join us in what promises to be a fun, creative, and weirdly experiential weekend.
Dear CalArtians and friends, old and new:
Just over a half-century ago, Walt Disney imagined building a school which was a community of artists without walls. His brother Roy, and friends Nelbert Chouinard and Lulu May Von Hagen worked with him to turn that vision into reality.
Instead of separating solely by discipline, CalArts was to be a place where artists would find inspiration in one another, spark new thought and reshape not only the arts and culture but also the world.
This season we honor the lasting accomplishments of that collaborative spirit as we mark the 50th anniversary of the California Institute of the Arts in Valenica. Our cooperative art-making has empowered people around the globe to see their communities, their own potential, and life itself in vital new ways.
CalArtians have indeed changed the world.
Because we always look forward, we celebrate this landmark by recommitting CalArts to the future — to transforming ourselves, one another, and the world with bigger, bolder strokes. Our extraordinary legacy calls on us to define the future together.
Through our Strategic Framework, we’ve set a firm foundation to support this journey. In recognizing where we’ve been, we energize where we’re going.
And so as you cheer and marvel at CalArts, do embrace and decide what comes next. Take the reins and lift up one another. In this moment and for the years to come, it’s the best way to celebrate.
With gratitude,
Ravi S. Rajan
President, California Institute of the Arts
Over the years, various CalArts timelines have been created to capture the Institute’s milestones and memories. We’ve created this one as a special 50th anniversary edition.
Click on the decades below to view CalArts throughout the years.
Stuart Horn (Music MFA 83)
In the first year I taught at CalArts there was a lunchtime or afternoon concert by the composer John Cage,
I started my MFA program in the winter of 1988, very soon I realized that there was a big cultural
I remember the first West Coast Women’s Art Conference, organized at CalArts in 1972. I wrote a brochure summarizing the
CalArts shaped me into the person I am today, and I couldn’t be more proud and thankful to be an
It is remarkable how many pop-up faculty concerts from the Music School remain in my memories. Hearing Ravi Shankar and
Having Jules Engel as a mentor and teacher was a life and career changing experience. Nearly very weekday, for part
Follow CalArts on a yearlong journey as we share memories, celebrate milestones and explore the future of CalArts through the eyes of students, faculty, staff and alums. When posting your memories, observations, and predictions, we encourage you to use #CalArts50.
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