Read the President's State of the Campus 2008 Address

President's Message
Steven D. Lavine

President

California Institute of the Arts is dedicated to educating professional artists, skilled practitioners at the leading edge of their disciplines. Through the artists we employ as faculty and educate as students, CalArts has set out to advance and widen the role of the arts as an integral part of our social fabric and a powerful catalyst in shaping the life of our local, national and global communities. We have single-mindedly endeavored, in other words, to train artists whose work matters to the state of contemporary culture. In this sense, our goal has been nothing less than charting the future of the arts. It remains so today.

The original vision for CalArts was to bring different art forms together under one roof and allow them to commingle and cross-pollinate in an intense but free-spirited environment--a laboratory for the arts. Now more than ever, we stand by this vision. In this unique setting, we insist on the highest standards when it comes to the enduring forms and traditions of each discipline; and yet we also vigorously encourage experimental work that challenges boundaries in both form and content. Given the rich and exhilarating diversity of artistic practices and cultures available at CalArts, we ask that our students pursue their specialties in the broadest context possible.

Our greatest assets are our faculty and students. The close working relationship between them--in class, in production and in one-to-one mentoring--is at the heart of our educational philosophy. The faculty here is staffed with experienced professional artists and distinguished scholars in every department. Importantly, CalArts faculty members regard every student as a capable artist in his or her own right. Their approach to teaching combines rigorous instruction with careful guidance and individualized attention, a process that empowers students to define their own personal artistic objectives.

This specialized training is enriched further by the course offerings of the School of Critical Studies, whose general education program, required for all Bachelor of Fine Arts candidates, covers core topics in the humanities, social sciences, cultural studies, and science and technology. The Critical Studies curriculum helps bridge the divides between disciplines by establishing a common base for critical thought, independent inquiry and discussions on a wide range of contemporary cultural issues.

I cannot recall a more exciting period during my tenure at CalArts. As the world races further into the information age and the era of globalization, we have strived to stay ahead of the curve and continue to pioneer new tools and technologies for the arts, whether it is techniques for interactive performance or strategies for Internet-based art and multimedia. We have also launched special initiatives designed to respond to the realities of the social and cultural world today. These initiatives range from our Community Arts Partnership, which offers our students a chance to teach in community and public school settings to the Cotsen Center for Puppetry and the Arts, which allows students from across the Institute to explore the potential of puppetry in their artmaking; from the Center for New Performance, which serves as a laboratory for the development and production of professional multidisciplinary performances to our contemporary art journal Afterall, co-published with London's Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, and our new literary magazine Black Clock, published in association with our MFA Writing Program.

The most momentous of these new initiatives is the Roy and Edna Disney/CalArts Theater, or REDCAT, part of the new Walt Disney Concert Hall complex in downtown Los Angeles. Designed by Frank Gehry, REDCAT includes a state-of-the-art, flexible performance space, a 3,000-square-foot gallery and a café. At REDCAT, we present the most interesting new experimental theater, dance, music, art, film and video, and literature from across Southern California, the nation and the world. REDCAT continues CalArts' tradition as a creative laboratory and extends our commitment to carrying innovative and interdisciplinary artmaking to audiences beyond our campus. This unique venue allows us to expand opportunities for artists based in Los Angeles and enrich the conversation among artists and audiences in Southern California by presenting the latest national and international developments in the arts. In the process, we can bring new resources to the education of our students through performances, master classes and residencies by visiting artists and help our students to make a seamless transition into the local, national and international arts communities.

REDCAT, together with the aforementioned initiatives and the annual Alpert Awards in the Arts, marks the most thoroughgoing attempt of any college in the United States to place the education of artists in a mutually strengthening ecology that links campus, community and the broader society.

Steven D. Lavine has been president of CalArts since 1988. Under his leadership, CalArts has grown from 850 to 1350 students; its endowment has grown from under $20 million to approximately $120 million; the Roy and Edna Disney CalArts Theater (REDCAT) opened as CalArts Downtown Center for Innovative Visual, Performing and Media Arts; and new centers and programs have been established including MFA programs in Writing and in Writing for Performance and, most recently, an MA in Aesthetics and Politics, as well as an interdisciplinary concentration in Integrated Media; the nationally recognized Community Arts Partnership youth programs; the Center for Experiments in Art, Information, and Technology; and the professional production arm, the Center for New Performance.

He is currently a member of the Board of Directors of national public radio station KCRW, the Villa Aurora, and Idyllwild Arts. In the past he has served in Board and advisory roles to a number of institutions including the Los Angeles Philharmonic Association, Public Broadcasting  Station KCET, the American Council on Education and Arts International. He has co-edited, with Ivan Karp, the collections Exhibiting Cultures: The Poetics and Politics of Museum Display and Museums and Communities: The Politics of Public Culture.