Director's Statement - Calarts

Director's Statement *
Between Iraq and a Hard Place *
CAP Partner Profile: Maria Jimenez-Torres *
The New Generation’s Los Angeles *
Start with a Bang! *
Inside Reaching Out *
On the Road *
CAP's Teaching Artists Forum *
CAP-Activating NEWS BRIEFS
CALARTS CAP SPRING 2008 CALENDAR
SPRING 2008 CAP CLASS SCHEDULE
THE NEWSLETTER OF THE CALARTS COMMUNITY ARTS PARTNERSHIP (CAP)
C O M M U N I T Y A R T S P A R T N E R S H I P CAP
C A L I F O R N I A I N S T I T U T E O F T H E A R T S
24700 MCBEAN PARKWAY SANTA CLARITA CALIFORNIA 91355
tel
fax
email
661 222 2708
661 222 2726
cap@calarts.edu
www.cap.calarts.edu
www.myspace.com/calartscap
http://youtube.com/CalArtsCAP
THE NEWSLETTER OF THE CALARTS COMMUNITY ARTS PARTNERSHIP (CAP)
{
no.05
Director's Statement
SPRING 08 • cap.calarts.edu • {CAP}
calarts community arts partnership
The CalArts Community Arts Partnership (CAP) program is celebrating eighteen years of providing
young artists of Los Angeles County with a premiere arts education through offering innovative
after-school, school-based, and summer arts programs free-of-charge and located in 53 diverse
neighborhoods. CAP is able to bring 49 different youth arts training programs to thousands of young
people this year by creating and sustaining mutually beneficial partnerships with 41 outstanding
arts and youth organizations, and public schools.
This widespread, de-centralized effort results in our ability to work with nearly
15,000 teenagers each year, many of whom return to participate in CAP
programs over several years, until they graduate high school and begin their
college careers. Nearly 100% of CAP participants graduate from high school!
One of our goals in CAP is that our youth participants be given the necessary,
and sometimes inaccessible, tools to access higher education. Over 75% of
our participants report that they have attended or are attending colleges
throughout the United States. And 99% of the high school students attending
the CAP Summer Arts Program, our pre-college mentorship program, reported
that they will be applying to and attending college.
We are deeply interested in continuing to connect with and learn about the
tens of thousands of young artists who have been participants and student
instructors in the CAP program over the past eighteen years. CAP has definitely
entered the Virtual World with our CAP My Space which is designed for our
CAP youth participants and can be accessed at http://www.myspace.com/
calartscap. For the CAP student instructors, we have designed a blog to
further the profession of teaching artists and the discourse surrounding artists
working in communities. This blog can be accessed at http://capinstructors.
blogspot.com. And most recently, we have added a CAP Channel on You Tube
at http://youtube.com/CalArtsCAP. Here you can view the latest animated films,
video pieces, and performances produced by CAP youth participants with CalArts
student instructors and faculty members.
Some of the highlights of this season are featured in this issue and include the
CAP/Plaza de la Raza youth theater production of "Private Eddie U.S.A." This
year our participants had the wonderful opportunity to work with playwright
and actor Herbert Siguenza of Culture Clash and their original play will open on
re:CAP
Newsletter
Production
SPRING Issue 2008
Number 5
Newsletter Director:
Evelyn Serrano
Editors:
Glenna Avila
Carribean Fragoza
Evelyn Serrano
Contributors:
Karen Atkinson
Glenna Avila
Nancy Buchanan
Juliet Fine
Carribean Fragoza
Vicki Grise
Joshua Parr
Paul Sherman
Jim Ventress
Photographers:
Glenna Avila
Betty Lee
Scott Groller
Rachel Slowinski
Designer:
Juliana Sankaran-Felix
All artwork is by CAP
youth participants
May 1, 2008. The CAP photography students participated in a photography
workshop and field trip with well-known photographer Julius Shulman,
and exhibited their work along side him at the Los Angeles Central Library,
organized by the Getty Research Institute. CAP launched a Teaching Artists
Forum and brought artists such as John Malpede, Mady Schutzman, and
Ricardo Dominguez to speak about their artistic practices which connect to
specific communities. Most importantly, we have been asking "what is our
role as teaching artists and how do we train our students to be active artistcitizens
in this changing world?" As artist and CalArts School of Art faculty
member Karen Atkinson writes, "the more artists begin to participate in all
aspects of a community, such as running for office, running businesses,
creating workshops, making work, engaging in politics and education, the
better off a community will be."
Chicana artist, CAP Instructor, and CalArts School of Theater graduate student
Virginia Grise writes, "I believe in the revolutionary potential of an art that is
created from communities that have been traditionally silenced, in an art that
is transformative, that teaches us something about who we are and the world
around us." Each day in the CAP program we strive to provide the young artist
participants and our CalArts student instructors with the tools they need to
find and use their voices in art and become creative, productive, innovative
citizens of our world.
This is a very exciting time for CAP! Please join us in celebrating the eighteenth
year of CAP by dancing under the stars to the vibrant sounds of the CalArts
Salsa Band at Plaza de la Raza on Friday, May 2, 2008 at 10:00 p.m. We look
forward to seeing you then and at the dozens of free CAP arts events we are
producing this season.
GLENNA AVILA
Director, CalArts Community Arts Partnership
NON-PROFIT
U.S. POSTAGE
PAID
PERMIT #18
SANTA CLARITA, CA
}

1
Between
Iraq
In silence, a flurry of students dart to and fro across the
stage, throwing pretend grenades, shooting imaginary guns.
Most of them smiling self-consciously, almost nervously.
Herbert Siguenza asks them to stop and imagine how their bodies
would move if they had just been hit by gunfire. He demonstrates
in slow motion, jolting his body as if being hit by bullets, and going
into very very slow convulsions as he falls to the ground finally
dead. His eyes roll back into his head and tongue drops out.
The students erupt into laughter.
1 Herbert Siguenza
2 CAP/Plaza de la Raza Theater program
session led by BJ Dodge and
Herbert Siguenza
3 Manuel Cuchilla, CAP instructor and CalArts
School of Film/Video alumnus talks to the
participants about his experiences as a US Army
Sergeant in Iraq
{ }
by CARRIBEAN FRAGOZA
CAP Summer Arts Program Coordinator and
CalArts School of Critical Studies alumna
With renewed focus, the students try it out for themselves again on the stage’s battlefield.
Herbert instructs one student to throw a grenade at the “enemy”. Another student on
the opposite side of the stage catches on as the imaginary grenade lands at his feet and
throws his body back and lands loudly as if blown away by a violent explosion. Everyone
laughs, especially Siguenza. “That was great,” he calls out, catching his breath. It’s
exciting for everyone when students begin breaking out of their shy inhibitions to try out
Siguenza’s style of highly physical comedy.
Herbert Siguenza, accomplished actor and playwright is writing this
year’s play with CAP/Plaza de la Raza Theater students. So far, it has
been a learning experience not only for students, but also for Herbert.
A seasoned actor with over 20 years of experience in theater with
Culture Clash, Herbert is new to working with youth. Although he and his
Culture Clash peers have lectured and conducted workshops with college
students, Herbert is now discovering a new realm of community arts
education with these young actors by doing what he does best --address
political, historical and cultural issues through personal, deeply human
stories of individuals with his unfailing humor.
After more than 20 years of working almost exclusively with Culture Clash
and touring throughout the country, Siguenza has decided to dig his roots
deeper into L.A. The best way for him to connect with its communities,
he has decided, is through teaching. Together with students and CAP
instructors, Herbert is opening up fresh opportunities for interdisciplinary
collaboration, which has been a hallmark of Herbert Siguenza’s and
Culture Clash’s work, although typically directed to adults. When it is
applied with young students it makes for new and interesting possibilities.
Herbert joins the ranks of distinguished writers that for 18 years, have
written original plays with students in the CAP program. In the past, CAP
and Plaza de la Raza youth theater participants have had the unique
pleasure and opportunity to collaborate closely with distinguished writers
such as Olivia Chumacero, Nancy de los Santos, Bernardo Solano, Peter
Howard, Jose Cruz Gonzalez, Amparo Garcia, Mady Schutzman, Theresa
Chavez, and Rose Portillo, among others. And year after year, these
writers have not only demonstrated unfailing dedication to their art, but
also a genuine passion for using their art as a tool to work with community
youth and to address pressing issues that interest them and affect their
lives. Students stage their play at Plaza’s Margo Albert Theater and at the
Roy and Edna Disney CalArts Theater (REDCAT) in downtown Los Angeles.
Herbert is mostly known for his work as one of the three members of
Culture Clash, along with Ric Salinas and Richard Montoya, which has
become the most prominent Chicano/Latino performance troupe in the
country. Founded in San Francisco’s Mission District in 1984, Culture Clash
has been committed to addressing historical and cultural issues through
their unique style of politically-inspired, high-energy comedy. Their
performances have ranged from sketch comedy to full-length plays such
as Chavez Ravine, Zorro in Hell, and Water and Power that have earned
them the respect of the theater and Latino communities.
2
and
a Hard
Place
CAP/Plaza de la Raza Theater students
and Culture Clash’s Herbert Siguenza
use comedy to tread deep into
history’s dark territory of war
and violence
Herbert was first invited by CAP Director Glenna Avila to write a play with Plaza de la Raza theater
students in November 2006 when Herbert and Richard Montoya attended the Ovation Awards
ceremony where CAP students were honored by the LA Stage Alliance for their play Upset!, written
by CalArts School of Critical Studies faculty Mady Schutzman. Months later, in conversation with
Rose Cano and Maria Jimenez-Torres of Plaza de la Raza, Herbert agreed to not only write the play
with the CAP/Plaza de la Raza Youth Theater participants, but to also teach a comedy class at Plaza
de la Raza.
Since October, Siguenza has been writing a play with the CAP/Plaza de la Raza theater students,
inspired by El Teatro Campesino’s El Soldado Razo. The play, written by Luis Valdez (best known
for Zoot Suit and La Bamba) and El Teatro Campesino in 1971, is about a young man from the barrio
who enlists in the army during the Vietnam War. El Soldado Razo, (which loosely translates to
“the unrecognized soldier”) was written and performed as a strategy to raise community awareness
about the disproportionate number of casualties of young Latino males in Vietnam.
This year, the war being addressed is not Vietnam but Iraq. Yet the characters and the story remain
essentially the same. According to Siguenza, this story has been repeated many times throughout
U.S. history. Herbert describes the main character, “Eddie,” as a “typical kid from the barrio.”
Eddie is looking for a way out of a difficult situation where cycles of poverty, fueled by low access
to higher education, make for a seemingly inescapable situation. Like many young men who enlist in
the military, Eddie is motivated not by patriotic zeal, but rather by a sincere desire to help his family
financially and pursue a college education. According to Herbert, it’s a combination of these factors
that “make him an easy target for recruiters.”
However, when Eddie finally arrives to the battlefront, he discovers that the war was not what
he thought it would be. “It’s disheartening when he thinks he’d be doing something right and he
realizes that it’s not. Morale totally goes down,” says Herbert.
Herbert had written another version of “Eddie” in 1982 about a young Salvadoran-American man
who is sent to fight as part of the U.S.’ military aid in El Salvador’s decade-long, bloody civil war in
the ‘80’s. “These ‘Eddies’ have always existed, whether it’s Vietnam, Korea, or El Salvador,” says
Herbert. “We are trying to educate kids more about their place in history.” Although his 1982 version
of “Eddie” was never produced and remained in a dusty
pile for 25 years, theater students at Plaza are helping
Herbert bring a new version of Eddie to life.
“This is agitprop, which many disqualify as bad art.” “But
agitprop,” Siguenza assures, “can be very good if done
right.” Over the years agitprop has taken a negative connotation
and has been often associated with propaganda.
Clearly, Siguenza is not hesitant about reclaiming agitprop,
and introducing it to CAP and Plaza de la Raza students.
You might think that high school students would take agitprop-style, politics and historyinspired
themes for this year’s play like swallowing stale, dry wheat toast with nothing to wash
it down, but in fact, theater students at Plaza have already written and staged plays dealing
with heavy, often political or historical topics with enthusiasm. And acclaim. In 2006, students
collaborated with CalArts Critical Studies Faculty, Mady Schutzman, on Upset!, a play based on
the 1992 L.A. uprisings. In previous years, writers and students have presented 500 years of
Latino history and politics in Tropical America, family violence in One Gun Family, and issues of
arts appropriation in Jacked! The Mystery of the Missing Muse, among other topics.
Of course, it’s not easy to get this style “done right” as Herbert notes. “Stylistically, it’s
very challenging,” he says, which is why it has become so important for students to commit
to the style.
“Herbert is the first writer that has taught the methodology of how he works, and that teaches
us techniques that work in service of the performance aesthetic,” says BJ Dodge, director of
the CAP/Plaza de la Raza Youth Theater Program.
Students had the opportunity to learn about the reality of war from someone who experienced
it personally. Manuel Cuchilla, CalArts Character Animation alumnus and CAP animation
instructor, shared his experience in Iraq, serving as a sergeant in the U.S. Army. According
to BJ, students were riveted by Manuel’s stories, which they used to inform their own work as
they imagine what it would be like to experience the violence of war.
And while many often think of writing (play writing included) as a primarily cerebral process,
Herbert and the youth theater participants use their bodies to write this year’s play. “It’s
very physical,” says Herbert, something that can be challenging for students that feel shy
or nervous about using their bodies. “They are learning to speak in a clear, physically-based
way,” says BJ.
However, the physical challenge is a particularly exciting opportunity for Marvin Tunney, CAP
Movement Instructor at Plaza de la Raza and CalArts School of Theater faculty. “We always
have movement and music in the CAP productions, but this is the first time we have had the
writer come to the movement workshops. It really makes me feel more a part of the entire
process,” says Marvin.
“Highly physical theater is something that Herbert is really good at doing,” says BJ Dodge,
primarily because it is what Culture Clash, Herbert’s theater group, is so well known for.
“Students are learning about how to use their bodies to speak and to tell a story.”
As a result, instructors and students utilize interdisciplinary collaboration to unprecedented
levels. Instructors also teach collaboration to students by example. Marvin adds that it is
interesting for students to watch the instructors work together and follow directions. “Herbert
asks us (the instructors) to do something and we all try it out and the kids get to see.”
One thing that students have discovered during the past few months is that nothing is what
it appears. For instance, on stage a harmless tambourine becomes a bomb in the hands of a
child. It hits the ground in an explosion of sound in a crowded marketplace. And then time
seems to hold its breath and slows down to a painstaking speed. Slowly, students push their
bodies into the air, away from the nucleus of the bomb. Slowly, they crash onto the floor, their
faces distorted with horror and pain, crying in silence.
Although it may not look like a game, this is actually an exercise Herbert has been doing with the students
for the past few months called “25 Counts”. After an unexpected “explosion” takes place, students
break down the actions and slow down their movements to a count of 25. “This exercise in particular,”
says Marvin Tunney, “requires actors to inform themselves of the mystery of war and death. It makes
them look into themselves.”
The experience has also made students think about how these wars in distant countries affect their
own lives. “It’s weird how even little kids protect their country. I can’t imagine my little brother
holding a bomb,” says Cindy Luna.
This realization has been a particularly poignant and personal one for Cindy. When her 17 year-old
brother first told his family he wanted to join the military, Cindy couldn’t understand why her mother
was so upset. “I thought he would be okay, that he could take care of himself.”
It wasn’t until she played the role of a mother whose son had been killed that she realized the
devastating consequences of war. “Now I see why she’s scared for him. I don’t want him to go either.”
However, Cindy adds, like many young people, her brother does not understand the risks. She hopes
that when her brother sees the play in May, he will change his mind.
While the violence that students play out in their exercises may strike some as unconventional,
if not disturbing, BJ Dodge believes that it is a natural part of play. “It goes way back. It’s kind of
primordial.” Theater in fact, she points out, is driven by conflict that is also violent in its own way.
“In theater, you’re fighting to win.”
“What I think is that if we’re a theater program and we find ourselves as artists and citizens in a
moment of upheaval, artists are bound to embrace subjects of importance. We’ve never shrunk from
dealing with these issues,” says BJ Dodge.
Private Eddie U.S.A. Performances
at Plaza de la Raza
m ay 1 , 2 , 3 , 9 , 2 0 0 8 at 7 : 3 0 p m
m ay 1 0 , 2 0 0 8 , at 2 : 0 0 p m a n d 7 : 3 0 p m
at REDCAT:
m ay 2 3 a n d 2 4 , 2 0 0 8 , at 7 : 3 0 p m
All performances are free and open to the public. Reservations are strongly advised.
For performances at Plaza de la Raza please call 323 223-2475.
For REDCAT performances please call 213 237-2800.
2 3
3

CAP PARTNER PROFILE: Maria Jimenez-Torres
EDUCATION DIRECTOR, PLAZA DE LA RAZA
Our Community is Everybody
Maria Jimenez-Torres can be a very difficult person to get a hold of, and even more difficult to schedule an
interview with –but I’m not mad about it. I have witnessed that no matter how busy she can get with a neverending
chain of meetings, phone calls and visits, Maria is also amazingly accessible. However contradictory
this sounds, its true. Just about everyone who knows Maria feels they can approach her for nearly anything
from proposing a new project, to sharing the latest episode in their personal life’s telenovela.
Maria has earned the trust of many people in the 20 years she has worked at Plaza de la Raza,
located in the heart of Lincoln Heights. Maria Jimenez-Torres is the Education Director at Plaza
de la Raza. Since 1990, with an 18-year history of collaboration, Plaza de la Raza is CAP’s oldest
partner organization and continues to be one of the most consistent and most successful.
Maria has been a key figure in this partnership for all 18 of its years.
Founded in 1970, Plaza de la Raza is a cultural center for arts and
education located just north of downtown Los Angeles. Plaza offers
classes in music, dance, visual arts and theater to all age groups
from age five to adult and often draws entire families to their classes
taught by accomplished musicians and renowned artists. For many
members of the community, Plaza de la Raza is more than a cultural
center –it is an extension of their family and home. During the past
18 years, CAP has collaborated closely with Plaza de la Raza to
offer in-depth programs in theater, music, puppetry, dance and
digital media for middle and high school students. For the past two
summers, CAP has offered its free Summer Arts Program at Plaza
de la Raza as well.
Maria began her life at Plaza the way many of its students often do.
As a teenager growing up in City Terrace, a neighborhood slightly
south east of Lincoln Heights, Maria was responsible for dropping
off and picking up her younger siblings to music and art classes at
Plaza. Finding herself spending a significant amount of time at Plaza,
Maria decided to try out her musical talents and started taking piano
classes while she waited for her younger brother Gabriel Jimenez.
“And one day they asked me to volunteer for the Frida Kahlo exhibit.”
Maria recalls how she was invited to help at one of Plaza’s well-known
exhibitions, which in the past have also included the works of David
Alfaro Siqueiros and more recently, actor Cheech Marin’s collection
of Chicana/o art. Soon after, she was then offered a part-time job
as an assistant to the school coordinator, who at the time was Doris
Hausmann, currently the Director of Arts Education at the Armory
Center for the Arts, a former CAP partner. Not long after that, Maria
was offered the position she currently holds.
Maria remembers Glenna Avila coming to Plaza, and working with them
to establish a theater program, which has remained one of the most
consistently successful programs. Soon after, theater was followed
by music, puppetry, digital media and dance programs. “Working
closely with Maria and Plaza over the past 18 years of the CAP program
has been a complete highlight for me," states Glenna Avila, CAP Director.
"Our philosophies of arts education are extremely close and overlap
in many areas. A partnership of this magnitude and duration can
only be successful when we work continually towards shared goals
and mutual successes. This 18-year collaboration is a testimony to
our commitment to creating the highest quality arts programs for
youth and together we have strived to build a community.”
If you walk into Maria’s office, that she shares with her younger
brother Gabriel who also now works at Plaza as well as her assistant
and former CAP youth participant Mayra Ponce, it is not uncommon
to find students sitting at one of the desks silently absorbed in their
textbooks, or scribbling out an essay or series of math equations.
Most students know that they can come here to find some quiet to
finish their homework. In fact, Maria notes that students at Plaza are
also more motivated to excel in their school studies. “Many students
want to get good grades. They are more focused and always busy.
Plaza becomes their safe haven. Many kids have said that Plaza is
like their second home.” This is not difficult to believe when I see the
tightly-knit friendships that grow and confide in Maria.
For Maria and her family, who on weekdays can be found at Plaza
well into the evening and often on weekends, Plaza de la Raza is
quite literally a home away from home. “My kids were born into the
program. I was pregnant with all three of them while working here.”
Currently, all three of her sons, Jorge, 7, Gabriel 14 and Mario Eztli
Torres 16, are also students in several classes at Plaza, including
the CAP music, theater and puppetry programs. “I love that I always
have my kids around, I always know where they are and what they’re
doing.” Even her husband, Mario Torres, frequently finds himself at
Plaza. As a math teacher at Eastmont Middle School, Mario often
invites some of his students and with the permission of their parents,
gives them rides to Plaza for classes and back home. He has also
worked with the theater class, teaching Nahuatl, an indigenous
Mexican language.
By five in the afternoon, most people are ready to call it a day and
rest up for the following morning. However, at nine, sometimes ten
in the evening Maria is still going. If you drop in on a weekend, Plaza
is usually open, as it has several Saturday morning classes as well.
It’s also not uncommon to walk into a family festival or Day of the Dead
altar-making workshop or community Christmas party where hundreds of
people from all parts of Los Angeles gather in Plaza’s colorful patios.
One has to wonder, how does she keep energized? “I have to be there.
Everyone is counting on me to make things happen.” Her job is also a labor
of love, “I wouldn’t want to work anywhere else.”
So every morning, Maria makes her daily journey from her home in
Phillips Ranch, on the far eastern end of Los Angeles County bordering
San Bernardino, to Lincoln Heights. And every evening, after a full day
of work she drives all the way back home, prepares a meal for her family
and makes sure her sons have their homework done, ready for another
day. Maria waits until every child has been picked up and Plaza’s grounds
are once again at peace before loading her own children into their truck
to make their usual journey through the night back home.
Maria says that one of her greatest satisfactions is witnessing the
positive transformation many students go through when they become
involved at Plaza. “Their self-esteem goes up. Kids come to the program
so shy, and then you see them on stage. It’s amazing.” In fact, an
impressive number of students from Plaza, and from CAP classes
in particular have pursued their art practices at CalArts and other
prestigious art institutions.
CAP’s theater program at Plaza, Maria notes, is an excellent
example of how families come together to support
their children in the arts. According to Maria, parents
also volunteer to supervise during the extended rehearsal
hours, prepare snacks, sometimes even buying snacks
with their own money when rehearsals become more
intense as they approach opening night.
Seeing kids perform at other facilities, such as the REDCAT theater is
another source of great pride for Maria, as well as for families who
attend these events to watch their children perform. In addition to the
satisfaction, some students are also able to make some money from their
craft. “Kids learn a trade that can help them earn money and help their
parents. Five mariachi groups have come out of Plaza,” says Maria.
It is also not uncommon for students who go away to college to return to
Plaza and become teachers themselves. “They tell me they graduated
from college and all the things they’ve done, and that they want to teach,”
says Maria, beaming. In fact, the majority of Plaza’s current instructors
were either students or CAP student instructors. She estimates that
approximately 40% of Plaza’s instructors were former Plaza students
and about 20% of the instructors were CAP student instructors.
Maria believes that over time, Plaza and CAP’s
relationship has become stronger. “We have a great
collaboration. CAP is bringing professional artists
and our kids are learning at a college level.”
According to Maria, CAP’s presence at Plaza has become integral to their
program development and the consistency of its programming. “There’s
no distinction between Plaza kids and CAP kids. “The kids are still the
same no matter who is funding the programs.” CAP has made it possible
for Plaza to maintain a consistent set of classes through the ups and
downs of program funding. One of the greatest challenges Maria faces
is funding. “It's hard when you have a really great program and it gets
cut because of funding.” Maria notes that many of these funding cuts
were experienced after the attacks of September 11, 2001. When their
annual funding was cut, Plaza was pressed to cut its program from 100
classes to 40. It was also unable to offer many of its free classes to
the community and can only sponsor up to 75 families for reduced fee
classes, which does not nearly meet the needs of local families. Maria
notes that CAP has helped by encouraging Plaza to keep the CAP classes
free of charge.
Plaza de la Raza includes in its community, participants living well beyond
the parameters of its immediate local neighborhoods. “Our community
is everybody. People come as far as Riverside, drive from Fontana and
San Fernando for our classes.” She adds that regardless of distance,
Plaza is one of the most accessible arts organizations by offering free
and low-cost classes to people of all ages, from five to adult. “Anyone
who wants to take classes can come to Plaza.”
1
2
3
by CARRIBEAN FRAGOZA
CAP Summer Arts Program Coordinator and
CalArts School of Critical Studies alumna
Maria Jimenez-Torres, with her son Gabriel Torres
and the Plaza de la Raza Theater Program
students on a field trip to see a performance of
Culture Clash’s “Zorro in Hell”.
{ }
by CARRIBEAN FRAGOZA
CAP Summer Arts Program Coordinator and
CalArts School of Critical Studies alumna
1 untitled by Sarah Koplowitz
2 watching kickboxing by Juan Castañeda
3 untitled by Heather Galipo
4 at the end of the end by Marcee Helbig
5 shadow show by Lily Gottlieb
{ }
background image
sunset and vine by Daniel Silberschein
The
New
The CAP participants’ prints in the exhibition were on display through January 20, 2008 and
were the fruit of nearly three months of work inspired by their studies of Julius Shulman’s
photography of architecture in Los Angeles. Students met every Monday afternoon in
CalArts’ Photography Lab with CAP Photography instructors John Bache, Andy Freeman
and Alyssa Gorelick and CAP student instructors Alex Sanchez, Bart Folkerts, Lindsay
Foster, and Angie Rizzo, who guided them through an exploration of the medium and
introduced many of them for the first time, to Shulman’s distinguished body of work and
unique approaches to photography.
For most students, it was their first time learning not only about Julius Shulman, but
architectural photography in general. “I had never been interested in or even knew about
architectural photography,” says Lily Gottlieb. “I had always thought of architectural
photography as documentation. But Julius Shulman’s photographs had artistic flair.” Lily
adds that Julius Shulman does more than document, “he also tried to incorporate culture,
mostly through his framing.”
Students also had the unique opportunity to meet Julius Shulman and talk to him in person
during a day-long excursion on Saturday November 3, 2007 to many of Shulman’s favorite
photo locations in downtown Los Angeles. From Angels’ Flight to the Walt Disney Concert Hall
to Union Station, students watched and listened attentively as Shulman shot photographs
and answered questions about his techniques. He advised students on how to set up shots,
use camera lenses, and work with different types of light, along with many other bits of
technical advice –the essential nuts-and-bolts of architectural photography.
“He was showing us how he took each picture. You could just tell he had worked so hard
and so long on each one,” says Lily.
CAP Photography student, Andy Gohlich was also impressed by Shulman’s intuitive precision
and meticulous attention to detail. “He said you only need one picture. You don’t need to
take a lot, just in case.”
“It also made me want to start taking black and white architectural photographs
again.” Although Andy now works mostly in color, he says that when he first
started doing photography, he often took pictures of buildings. “I started taking
these pictures because I found the patterns in materials and architecture
interesting.” He also adds that he thinks that black and white is more appropriate
for architectural photography because it “gives it balance.”
After weeks of study, practice and finally this field trip (followed by more work),
CAP photography students have sharpened their photographic eye and learned to
identify opportunities to capture unique perspectives. CAP photography student
Gustavo Sanchez, was particularly amazed by the stunning and picturesque
heights of L.A.’s architecture. “My favorite location was Angels’ Flight. You walk
up all those stairs and when you get to the top, you can see everything.”
And while students have been learning many of the technical aspects of
photography that are also followed by numerous rules, one of the most important
lessons that these students have taken to heart is an ultimately simple idea.
As Lily puts it, “There are rules of photography but you don’t have to follow
them. Just let your eye see what it wants.”
And indeed, letting your “camera be your eye” is perhaps Julius Shulman’s most
resounding piece of advice. In fact, Shulman advises photographers who are
truly interested in taking great photographs to leave their cameras in their cases.
His secret, he says, is actually not a mystery at all: “Learn to see first.”
In the course of the past few months, Gustavo Sanchez has found this to be
true. “I’ve learned that you can’t really rush things. Put the camera down, you
have to take your time.” And time, he has found, is also what it takes to develop
a personal style. “I’m trying to find my own style and how I want to express
myself –what feels right and what doesn’t. That’s where I’m at right now.”
Wanting to take his time and committed to finding his own way of integrating
the things he had learned on the trip with Shulman and his CAP instructors,
Gustavo returned to downtown L.A. on another day to take more photographs.
“I brought my mom and surrounded her with buildings. I wanted to integrate
the architectural style with my own photography.”
The city of Los Angeles is often misunderstood as a mere replica of many other cities with
no true identity of its own. However, the people who truly know the spirit of L.A. know that
its character is not in stasis but in its constant transformation and reinvention of itself.
On Sunday December 16, 2007 twenty CAP photography students were honored for their
work reflecting the vibrant, regenerative spirit of Los Angeles. Curated by the Getty
Research Institute and the Los Angeles Central Public Library, the students’ impressive
black and white prints displayed new perspectives of Los Angeles as part of “Julius Shulman’s
L.A.”, an exhibition of Julius Shulman’s architectural photography in the Central Library’s
Annenberg Gallery.
Like many CAP students, Shulman grew up in L.A. experiencing the city’s rapid growth and
searching for ways to express the change he was witnessing. Shulman's images recorded
the work of numerous visionary architects including Richard Neutra, Rudolph Schindler, John
Lautner, and Pierre Koenig. Shulman’s photographs of Los Angeles architecture document
the city’s rise into a dynamic, modern metropolis.
The photographs of all the students in the exhibition are
evidence that the young photographers are truly dedicated
to pushing all rules and styles of photography to exciting
new grounds. With an eye for architectural elements in their
environment, each photograph reflects a unique perspective
of the city.
In one photograph entitled Watching Kickboxing by Juan
Castañeda, dozens of traffic and business signs on the corner
of a busy intersection ask you to take a moment’s pause
in your mad rush through this city of endless movement
where we constantly, almost unconsciously make sense of
countless signs that contradict each other as they shape both
our individual and collective directions. In black and white,
it offers a moment of removed stillness and contemplation
through a schizophrenic flurry of movement.
Heather Galipo’s Untitled depicts haystacks in an outdoor
shed, acknowledging a Los Angeles that with all its concrete
and asphalt-covered surfaces and glass-paned sky rises, still
conserves pockets of a rural life, traces of its former self.
The CAP program
is thoroughly
committed to
keeping all of its
arts programs
free, inclusive and
accessible to all
youth who wish
to participate.
To keep all of our
programs free, we
must raise money
from foundations,
government
sources, and
individuals.
CAP would like
to thank
the following
foundations,
government
agencies, and
individuals for their
generous donations
to our program*:
CAP DONORS AND SUPPORTERS
Under $100
Jean and Phillip Beauregard
David Cantrell
Laurie Smith Covington
Kerry L. English
Gary & Susan Kodel
Trista North, Timothy North & Susan Maunu
Lela & Rita Mims
Helen and Ronald Perry
Wanda Perry
Roland and Irma Tamayo
Eileen Mann & Marc Winger
$100 to $1,000
John Bache
Jon Gottlieb
Judith Johnson
Alice McMahand
Robert H. Thompson
Valerie Wolf
$1,000 to $10,000
California Arts Council
City of Santa Clarita
Edison International
Hilton Hotels Corporation
John and Maria Laffin Trust
Rhythm and Hues, Inc.
Roth Family Foundation
Martin Sosin-Stratton-Petit Foundation
$10,000 to $100,000
City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs
The JL Foundation
J. Paul Getty Trust
Susan Disney Lord
Walter E. D. Miller
Jamie Tisch
The Northern Trust Company
Resnick Family Foundation, Inc.
Over $100,000
Herb Alpert Foundation
Capital Group Companies, Inc.
Janet Dreisen
James Irvine Foundation
B. C. McCabe Foundation
*This list includes gifts received during 2007
Some students, directed their eye to more personal spaces. Marcee
Helbrig’s At the End of the End makes architectural photography more
personal by turning the camera to the spaces and of her own home.
Her photograph of white doorways framed by other doorways lead you
through a hallway of an uncertain vortex of darkness.
The students’ work not only presents their unique ways of perceiving
and experiencing Los Angeles in both public and personal spaces, but
also in effect transforms the viewer’s visions of life in this city. “They
see things so differently. It makes me see some things differently
too,” says Gloria Gerace, Director of Exhibitions at the Los Angeles
Central Public Library.
The Getty and the Los Angeles Central Public Library expressed
enthusiasm about continuing to collaborate with CAP and CAP participants
on future projects. Getty Research Institute Curator, Christopher
Alexander offered words of encouragement to the students. “I hope
this opportunity will compel you to continue your work into an exciting
career. This is as real as you make it. Continue to do great things.”
The CAP participants directly
benefit from your donations to the
CAP program: $50 can supply art
materials for an entire class, $200
can fund the purchase of a musical
instrument and a $500 donation
can provide a field trip to a museum
or a performance. CAP provides
year-round arts training classes for
youth from diverse neighborhoods
throughout Los Angeles County free-
of-charge. This means that our arts
programs are inclusive and accessible
to all young people who wish to
participate. We welcome donations at
all levels and thank you in advance for
your generous support. All gifts are
fully tax-deductible as determined
by U.S. income tax law. Please help
CAP continue to provide college-level
visual and performing arts programs
for the youth in Los Angeles.
For further information please
contact CAP’s Director Glenna Avila
4 5
4
Generation’s
Los Angeles
CAP Photography students share fresh
perspectives of their city in L.A. Central
Public Library and Getty Research
Institute exhibition
5
at glenna@calarts.edu.

15 years of CAP partnerships
in the Santa Clarita Valley
START
with a
BANG!
The Santa Clarita Valley Boys and Girls Club
The Santa Clarita Valley Boys and Girls Club, with Director Jim Ventress at the
helm, was CAP’s first partner in Santa Clarita. Programs in Modern Dance and
Photography with the Club began in 1993. Once a week, at the Club’s gym, the echoes
of basketball’s feverish dribbling and scoring were replaced by a different kind of
choreography: led by talented CalArts School of Dance alumnus Tomas Tamayo, the
Modern Dance workshop participants would rule the court, developing their own
vocabulary through the use of movement and improvisatory dance techniques.
Jim Ventress recalls one particular ninth grader who was struggling with self-esteem
issues. “We tried to get her involved in sports, arts, game room activities and nothing
was working. I would look out my window and see her coming into the Club after
school with her head down and walking slowly. Then she met Tomas Tamayo who
conducted the dance program. He was real upbeat. She decided to try dance!!! As
each week passed by I would watch her come into the Club with a little more zip to
her walk. By the end of the program she held her head high and her self esteem way
up. Many of our staff went to her performance at CalArts.”
In addition, the photography program led by CalArts School of Art faculty members
John Bache and Andrew Freeman, is still going strong. “Over the years, participants in
this class have won top National Awards through the Boys and Girls Club of America’s
National Contest. One year we took 3 of the top 4 honors”, according to Jim Ventress.
Other programs with the Santa Clarita Valley Boys and Girls Club included a Voice
Program led CalArts School of Theater faculty Denise Woods, a Public Art Program
taught by CalArts School of Art faculty Karen Atkinson, a Print/New Media program
taught by CalArts School of Art faculty Robert Dansby, and Digital Art workshops led
by Chandra Khan, a Santa Clarita resident and faculty of the CalArts School of Critical
Studies. The programs, through different artistic means, allowed the participants to
significantly connect with others through the use of art. Students in the CAP Voice
Program experimented with their voices and body language through storytelling,
role-playing and improvisation techniques. The Print/New Media program provided
high school students with college-level analysis and training on current art practices
and a space for dialog about artists as engaging members of society. The Public Art
program created murals and public art pieces that energized the spaces they were
in. The Digital Art workshops allowed students to connect and share their work with
youth from Amman (Jordan), New York City, and Baghdad (Iraq) in one of the first
global experiments using top-of-the-line digital net-working technology and the
Internet in the teaching of art after the events of September 11.
The Digital Art classes offered after-school by CAP at both the Boys and Girls Club
and at CalArts were initially part of the larger Digital Arts Network, or DAN project.
The DAN project was a 10-site digital arts initiative, with two of the ten sites located
in the Santa Clarita Valley. The DAN project included the setting up and equipping of
ten state-of-the-art digital media labs for youth in ten diverse neighborhoods.
The Digital Media classes offered to high school students provide instruction and
experimentation with computers, video, multimedia, the Internet, podcasting, and
digital arts. The classes are held once-a-week, afterschool, at CalArts School of Art’s
MacLab. Shelley Stepp, the program’s lead instructor and also a CalArts School of Art
faculty member explains that “the class provides these students a safe environment
to experiment and take risks by using words and images to create visual content
and meaning. Discussions are based around bold themes such as cultural, political,
religious, cultural and social issues. We encourage students to realize that personal
voice is a way to develop strong and meaningful content in their work.”
by EVELYN SERRANO
Assistant Director of Programs, Newsletter Director and CalArts School of Art Alumna
In 1993, the CalArts Community Arts Partnership (CAP) received a challenge grant from the
California Arts Council to establish CAP’s first arts programs for youth in the Santa Clarita
Valley. As partnerships with the Santa Clarita community were just getting started and
programs were getting off the ground, CAP and CalArts’ commitment to this project was
tested. Literally. With a 6.7 magnitude, the Northridge earthquake hit the West San Fernando
Valley, the city of Santa Monica, and Simi Valley. It also shook the Santa Clarita Valley to the
core. As a result, CalArts suffered serious damage that threatened the future viability of all of
its programs, including CAP. It was through the power of ingenuity and the combined energies
of the administration, Board of Trustees, staff, faculty and student body that both the Institute
and its CAP program were able to overcome the effects of the earthquake.
For 15 years, CAP has collaborated with the local community to provide high quality, free-ofcharge
arts programs for the young people of Santa Clarita. Glenna Avila, CAP’s Director, is
passionate about sustaining the program’s partnerships in CalArts’ immediate community:
“CAP links the neighboring communities of Valencia, Newhall, Saugus, Castaic, Canyon
Country, ValVerde and Agua Dulce to CalArts, strengthening the perception of CalArts as not
only a significant community resource, but as a partner and good neighbor, working closely
together with the youth and the families of the Santa Clarita Valley. I believe that all large
institutions should be responsive to the needs of their communities.”
Over the past 15 years, nearly 7,500 Santa Clarita Valley youth have participated in after-school
CAP arts programs and over 30,000 have participated in CAP performances and workshops
held in many Santa Clarita Valley public elementary, junior high, and high schools.
The Santa Clarita Valley Youth Orchestra
Paul Sherman, a CalArts alumnus of the School of Music and gifted oboist has been
instrumental in the strengthening of the 15-year partnership between CAP and the Santa
Clarita Valley Youth Orchestra, for which he is the Associate Conductor. “The SCVYO
began its existence at CalArts under the directorship of the great Italian cellist, CalArts
School of Music faculty and member of the famed Roth String Quartet, Cesare Pascarella.
When I was a young musician I was a member of this orchestra myself. In the 1990’s the
orchestra moved to College of the Canyons where it has continued to be closely tied to
the music school up the hill.” Robert Lawson, the orchestra’s long time conductor, is also a
CalArts School of Music alumnus. They have always drawn teaching talent from the ranks
of CalArts music students.
Paul Sherman, who will become the orchestra’s new conductor and director of the
organization as Maestro Lawson focuses his energies on the new Santa Clarita Symphony,
greatly appreciates the advantages of the orchestra’s collaboration with CAP: “In this
project we are jointly hiring some of the best young players and teachers from the music
school student body in the sections of woodwinds and strings. They attend Saturday
rehearsals with the intermediate orchestra to lead very valuable weekly master classes.
They also attend Monday evening Philharmonic advanced orchestra rehearsals to lead
classes and actually sit and play in the sections.
“No other orchestra in Los Angeles has such an intense and rewarding teaching program
and the results are telling. This year our orchestras are sounding better than ever
thanks to the hard work and dedication of these fine musicians and teachers. By getting
weekly attention specific to their instrument and then sitting in rehearsal next to an
accomplished musician, not far removed from their age group, the students are able to
hear how they should really sound and get those valuable insights only another performer
on their instrument can offer,” says Paul Sherman.
For the past 15 years, CAP has been offering free Saturday music classes for Santa Clarita
Valley students on the CalArts campus and producing two music recitals annually.
The CAP Saturday Music Program, coordinated by CalArts School of Music alumnus
Drew Jorgensen, offers 20 weeks of workshops for elementary, middle and high school
students from the Santa Clarita Valley Youth Orchestra, and the Newhall, William S. Hart,
Castaic and Saugus School Districts. Classes include world percussion, strings, jazz and
vocal ensembles, music theory, computer music, composition among many others. The
classes meet at the CalArts School of Music’s practice rooms and they are taught by
current School of Music BFA and MFA students.
Susan Allen, CalArts School of Music Associate Dean, has been this program’s faculty
advisor since its inception. “This music program echoes the rich educational offerings of
the School of Music at CalArts, with improvisation, world music, innovative ensembles, as
well as traditional performance and theoretical training. In reciprocal benefit, local youth
receive free instruction while our students gain valuable experience in teaching their art.”
Arroyo Seco Junior High School
Twenty-five English Language Learners from Ms. Juliet Fine’s class at Arroyo Seco Junior High School
get to work for ten weeks every Fall semester with a group of talented graduate students from the
CalArts School of Theater through a partnership with CAP that is now in its third year. The program
covers a wide array of theater and language-based games, exercises and a myriad of writing
activities. The workshops end with a performance of original work in CalArts’ Modular Theater, in
front of the entire School of Theater student and faculty body.
Ms. Fine appreciates the effect these workshops have in her students’ self-esteem and academic
commitment: “There are observable physical and emotional changes that have taken place with
these students. Their confidence has grown considerably and it is evident in their body stature. They
are more comfortable in their own skin and with their language abilities. The program has given them
strength. Before the program began, students lacked confidence in their oral language skills; they
wouldn’t participate in classroom discussions, nor communicate with other students. And, they were
not aware they could use their bodies and their voice as a tool of communication. Without time to
think about inhibitions, they just act and move towards the set goal of the performance.”
She also mentions that the workshops have “filtered into the camaraderie that has formed between
the students in class. They are respectful of one another as classmates and as performance
partners. They have a common understanding and have shared a common emotional experience.
When they first come into my classroom, they are resentful of being placed into an English Language
Development (ELD) class where they, unlike other students in our school, have two hours of English
class. These students are second language learners of English and need two hours of English and
remediation. There is a stigma with this type of class, which dissipates thanks to these workshops.
They collaborate in performances once a week and really put themselves out there to be creative
and free. They have learned to concentrate on one task and have learned about the idea of freedom
of expression through art. Lastly, these students have developed lifelong learning goals within the
arts and plan to eventually go to college. After ten weeks, they have discovered new self-worth
through the art of theater. This language experience through the arts has been priceless.”
The CAP/William Hart High School Creative Writing Program
Their Word
is the Bridge
In May, 2006, students began fighting in the cafeteria of Hart High School, in
Newhall, a working class, mostly Latino township in Santa Clarita, California.
What sparked it is not so relevant- jealousy, disrespect, rivalry. What is
significant is what happened afterward. The fight burned through the campus,
and at its end, riot-gear clad police closed the campus, helicopters swirled
overhead, teachers were locked inside their classrooms with students, and
administrators were perplexed.
Local newspapers added to the chaos, reporting “black and Hispanic students
fighting against white students,” and the trail of comments left in the online
forums showed hardening opinions: “Just goes to show why whites need to stick
together!” and “La Raza got to fight those damn hueros! Viva La Raza!”
Considered the “flagship” school of the local district, Hart High School now
appeared to the world as a campus torn by racial strife, begging broader
questions about the area’s social attitudes and politics.
What caused this racialized “riot”? Demographic shifts over the last decade
had radically changed the student body. What had once been a primarily
white school has become 40% students of color, with the majority of these
students being of Latino heritage. The teachers however, were over 90% white,
as were administration and campus supervisors. Also, over 90% of the ASB,
or Student Body government was white. Academically, very few students of
color were in the highest achieving, advanced placement classes, meaning
that achievement gaps were racialized as well.
Put together, the campus experienced conditions of segregation, where the
student body was dividing along racial lines both socially and academically,
with little being done to intervene. It is little wonder then that the fault
lines which were tacitly recognized by segregated classes and a segregated
cafeteria exploded in pent up rioting.
Two graduating classes later, very few students remember the “riot” as papers
called it. A “Peace Pole” erected to consecrate a future of “peace and unity”
was placed in the center of the campus. A student group, called Change of
Hart, composed of primarily students of color, organizes monthly “diversity”
events. A parent group, called “Padres Unidos”- United Parents, meets monthly
as well, to bring the voices of Latino parents into the mainstream. However,
the imbedded issues of academic and student segregation remain.
Located in Newhall, a majority Latino community, the demographic swing
within the school will certainly not slow down- if anything, it will accelerate
toward a Latino majority.
City of Santa Clarita, Arts and
Events Department
Now in its sixth year, CAP’s Share the World Program brings CalArts world music
and dance ensembles to provide performances and workshops for students in
elementary, middle and high schools throughout the Santa Clarita Valley. The
ensembles available range from jazz, Latin jazz, Balinese Gamelan to North and
South Indian music, and African music and dance among many other offerings. The
program begins in October and continues through May.
This cultural program has been supported through a strong partnership with the
City of Santa Clarita’s Arts and Events Department, which underwrites half of the
funding needed to bring these performances and workshops to local public schools
in the six Santa Clarita Valley school districts. All performances and workshops
address the State mandated Visual and Performing Arts Standards as well as
introducing the students to a variety of diverse cultural traditions.
William Hart High School and the Los Angeles
County Human Relations Commission
Last year, CAP was approached by the William Hart High School administration and
by Joshua Parr, a Senior Consultant with the Los Angeles County Human Relations
Commission. Both institutions were looking to provide new programming at Hart
High School that would address the rising racial tension in the student body as a
consequence of rapid demographic shifts in the area. The CAP/William Hart High
School Creative Writing Program was designed to address this need. Through
it three teams of CalArts School of Critical Studies graduate students teach
weekly creative writing workshops to youth enrolled in Hart High School’s English
Language Development classes. Mady Schutzman, faculty member in the School of
Critical Studies, leads the program.
CAP asked Joshua Parr, one of CAP’s partners in the CAP Creative Writing Program
at William Hart High School, to contribute a piece for this newsletter about the
newly formed program. CAP is honored by the partnership with the Los Angeles
County Human Relations Commission and it is our pleasure to share Mr. Parr’s
article with our readers.
by JOSHUA PARR
Senior Consultant with the Los Angeles County Human Relations Commission
Today, the student leadership body remains the same-
while excellent kids, they do not reflect the diversity of
the student body. Nor do the activities that they plan.
And AP classes remain filled with the same group of high
achieving students as before. The segregated parent
groups also have not yet come together, though there
are plans in the works to do so. But change does not
happen overnight.
The slow accumulation of the academic, leadership and
cultural knowledge in all aspects of the campus ferments
into a less segregated campus. Students in Change of
Hart develop into recognized leaders on campus, gaining
the skills to organize Latino heritage month events, like
the schools first Dia De Los Muertos, or the First African
American heritage month. Administrators learn to integrate
these students and their knowledge into the campus, and
slowly, incrementally, a cultural change stirs.
To do so, what is often though of as “the bottom” must
be lifted to close the gap with “the top.” In classrooms,
new curriculums integrate students from various aspects
of the campus community. One such program is the fruit
of collaboration between the CalArts Community Arts
Partnership (CAP), the Los Angeles County Commission
on Human Relations, and Lockheed-Martin. Because
the least integrated, and often lowest achieving students
in the school are the immigrant populations,
it was deemed a priority to provide them the opportunity to
increase literacy, gain a voice through writing, and educate the
general student population through publishing their stories,
poetry, and art work.
A cadre of CalArts School of Critical Studies MFA Writing Program
students instructors from the CAP program enter Hart High’s
English Language Learner classrooms weekly, with writing
assignments. Relationships are built, trust grows, and confidence
levels increase as students hear each other’s stories, learn
about each other’s families. Inherent story telling abilities are
tapped into, the barriers of race, class, culture, language and
nationality all become stories in themselves.
With many from nations throughout Latin America, the stories of
these students can include immigration tales- border crossings,
life without “documentation,” and perspectives of America rarely
heard, ironically, by mainstream American society.
Over the course of the year, stories will be written, edited, and
anthologized into a publication. Once completed, the publication
will open with a reading by the students and teachers themselves,
on May 7, 2008, at the school’s cafeteria, with students reading
to parents, students and teachers.
Empowered, educated, and now, educating others, it is hoped
that this publication will be an annual collaboration to continue to
integrate the Hart campus into a safe, knowledgeable, equitable
institution providing outstanding educational opportunities for
all of its student body.
6 7

Nancy Uscher has been Provost and a faculty member in the School of Music at the California Institute of the Arts since 2004. She
had previously been Professor of Music and Associate Provost for Academic Affairs at The University of New Mexico. In addition,
she was the Director of the UNM Center for the Arts in Society, a unit of the Institute of Public Law that explores arts-related public
policy issues. In viewing art as an agent for social change, she created an Arts-in-Prisons concert series and the National Endowment
for the Humanities-funded project "A New Mexico Conversation: Music as a Symbol of American Pluralism and Identity."
Ms. Uscher received a Ph.D. from New York University. She was awarded a Masters
of Music degree from the State University of New York at Stony Brook, and received
a Bachelor’s Degree in Music from the Eastman School of Music at the University of
Rochester as well as an A.R.C.M. from the Royal College of Music in London. During
1998-1999 Uscher was a fellow of the American Council on Education at Brown
University. She attended the Institute of Educational Management at Harvard
University in 2007.
During her performance career as a violist, Ms. Uscher has appeared in recitals on six
continents and recorded for a number of the major radio networks of Europe including
recitals for the BBC. For five seasons she led the viola section of the Jerusalem Symphony
Orchestra. She has participated at the Casals Festival in Puerto Rico, Kennedy Center
Mozart Festival, Grand Teton Music Festival, Round Top Festival in Texas, Venice
Biennale, Montepulciano Festival, Spoleto Festival of Two Worlds in Italy, and the Moab
Music Festival in Utah. In addition, she has performed and presented master classes
at the Brazilian international festivals Oficina de Musica XIV in Curitiba and Campos
do Jordao's Festival de Inverno. She is the author of two books, The Schirmer Guide to
Schools of Music and Conservatories Throughout the World and Your Own Way in Music:
A Career and Resource Guide.
CARRIBEAN FRAGOZA: How important is CAP to the education of CalArts
students?
NANCY USCHER: CAP is very important to the entire community of CalArts. As we
move forward, it would be in everyone’s best interest to maximize the potential of
CAP as an integrated part of the Institute, to complement the important work it has
done for so many years with thousands of young people throughout Los Angeles.
One emerging area is CAP’s relationships with the Schools of CalArts. A specific example
is with the School of Theater, where there has been an important collaboration between
CAP, the School of Theater faculty and Arroyo Seco Junior High School students.
This type of project is a fine model of the melding of philosophies between CAP and
another academic part of the Institute. CalArts students learn the importance of
community and sharing their talents. There are many other ways we would hope to
expand the work of CAP in the future.
CF: How does CAP impact faculty?
NU: CAP looms large in the lives of many CalArts faculty, in addition to their collegelevel
creative work and teaching. I think that the experience of teaching in CAP is
meaningful to faculty. It broadens the scope of how they can share their talent. In
some ways, it inspires them to be better teachers for CalArts students.
GLENNA AVILA: It goes both ways. Working in the CAP program connects us more to
community in a way that working here in this more isolated environment at CalArts
doesn’t.
NU: It creates an incredible balance.
CF: You’re also a musician. So for you as an artist, how important is connecting to
community in terms of what you have learned?
NU: I believe that artists in the world need to understand that we have a special
opportunity and obligation to use our art to bring people together, to connect people,
in ways that non-artists can’t, across socioeconomic and ethnic backgrounds
– connecting to beauty and making that available to everyone.
CF: What projects have you worked on that you felt really connected artists to
community?
NU: I enjoyed the arts projects in prisons which I created/produced in the 1990s/early
2000s in New Mexico. Here is an article that describes one of them, in the Women’s
Correctional Facility in Grants, NM. “As part of an outreach program for women
in correctional facilities, Nancy Uscher organized concerts with undergraduate
students from the University of New Mexico. The project included four concerts
for the women, one of which was a “musical Valentine’s Day gift” to the women in
the facility. The outreach program was part of an effort to connect artists with the
community.”
GA: Were you teaching in the prison?
NU: I didn’t have a formal teaching assignment, but I did perform in concerts and
brought faculty colleagues and students into prisons to perform and talk to inmates.
At one point I was awarded National Endowment for the Humanities funding to
bring musicians and poets into the Santa Fe Penitentiary for a special visiting day
for inmates with their families called “Outta Joint at the Joint.” It was very festive.
My previous work with communities has helped me to be outward-looking and to
understand the deep commitment of CAP.
8
A conversation with
CalArts Provost
Nancy Uscher
on communities,
colleges and the arts
by CARRIBEAN FRAGOZA
CAP Summer Arts Program Coordinator and
CalArts School of Critical Studies alumna
Inside
Reaching
Out
GA: I had the opportunity to teach art in a men’s prison.
I found the inmates to be an extremely interested group
of students. They asked intelligent questions, they were
respectful, they were excited to learn about something new.
I didn’t know what to expect. That was a while ago. It was
at the Terminal Island Prison near San Pedro. There used to
be a program called Arts in Corrections here in California,
which sent artists to teach in the prisons.
NU: Well, that was my inspiration in New Mexico. I was doing
a lot of research about programs in the US and California was
actually much further along than other states in creating
these programs.
GA: UCLA had a program called Arts Reach, which also
sent artists to teach in prisons. And the whole state had
an artists-in-residence program.
NU: That’s wonderful. Is it still around?
GA: No, I believe funding was cut at the state level.
NU: It was a great model.
CF: Your daughter also participated in the CAP Photography
Program. What was that experience like as a parent and
for her as a CAP student?
NU: My daughter Alessandra and I were both very pleased
that the opportunity was there for her. It helped her to learn
to focus and to work in a new medium with a new vocabulary.
There was a set of skills that she developed during that
time that really complemented the work she was doing as
a musician. This was a very fortunate experience. I was
very proud of her. As a parent, I can understand the value
of CAP with a different perspective.
CF: How does CAP fit into the larger picture of an arts
institution working closely with communities?
NU: CAP presents a model of a highly sophisticated
program, with a carefully crafted approach to bringing
community into the lives of students, and one of the most
important aspects is the way it honors community. That is an
important value. I have learned from Glenna and others
about the respect among students, instructors and
CAP partners to ensure that the total collaboration
is based on a community partner’s specific needs. CAP has
worked with thousands of students at the different sites. The
scope, volume and quality of work has been tremendous.
CF: How did your interest in collaborating with communities
through the arts begin? Did you have a moment when you
realized that it was something you wanted to pursue?
NU: I’ve always been interested. I became a musician as a
result of an inspiring, great teacher – Ellen Amsterdam (now
Ellen Amsterdam-Walker) – in a public school music program
in New York. As a college student at the Eastman School
of Music, I had the chance to teach music on Saturdays in
the Rochester Public Schools and I found it very rewarding.
That set a tone for the future of my career. Sharing one’s
art with different communities helps to balance the solitary
life of an artist.
The concept of this kind of balance came up earlier in this
conversation. Certainly connecting and sharing with others
became extremely important as I conceptualized my art
practice. The giving back of their artistic gifts in powerful
ways is what the CAP program provides our faculty and
students at CalArts.
On The
Road
CAP Participants follow
their artistic paths
from their communities
to CalArts and beyond
RAFAEL HERNANDEZ
bfa 1, calarts school of art,
photography program
Only months ago, Rafael Hernandez walked the grounds of
his high school campus at Cleveland High School and was
a participant in CAP’s Santa Clarita Valley Photography
Program. Today he is a busy student at CalArts, working
on numerous projects, excited to work with CalArts
faculty and peers.
Rafael knew he wanted to do photography in the fifth
grade when his older brother began taking classes in
the CAP/LACPS program at CalArts with students from
Cleveland High School. Although his brother taught him
things he was learning himself, Rafael had to wait a few
years until he started high school and began taking
classes on his own.
Rafael said that his photography class not only gave
him more time to work on his photography, but also kept
him motivated to do well in his classes so that he could
graduate from high school and apply to CalArts. “I had to
make sure I was on track,” says Rafael. He also adds that
this motivation became even more vital when his family
moved to Palmdale and he had to commute to Cleveland
High School. Rafael says that he might have never known
CalArts existed if he hadn’t participated in CAP.
In addition, Rafael believes that parent support becomes
even more important to young artists as they deal with
larger social pressures and stigmas against art as a
viable vocation. “Everybody was telling me CalArts was
too expensive, but my parents told me they would help
however they could.”
CAP students who aspire to apply to CalArts have a good
sense of the rigor of classes and the general spirit of
the school. Rafael says that CAP has also helped him
make him feel comfortable at CalArts. Rafael says that
because his photography instructors helped him discover
his talents as an artist, he would “like to do the same
for someone else.”
4
1
by CARRIBEAN FRAGOZA
CAP Summer Arts Program Coordinator and
CalArts School of Critical Studies alumna
At any given time of the day, you are likely to find students walking up and down CalArts’ stern
white hallways from class to class, or running up and down the stair-wells, busy with projects.
But you probably wouldn’t know from plain sight where these students come from or what paths
they have had to walk to arrive here.
This year, the trajectories of 23 CalArts students can be traced back to CAP classrooms in
all corners of Los Angeles. These students began their artistic journeys as high school student
participants in dance, theater, music, photography and animation at several of CAP’s partner
sites. However, the routes our CAP participants take from their respective communities to
CalArts are as varied and diverse as our program, taking many lengths and configurations.
For some students, it seems that it was a matter of taking a mere step or small hop to cross over
to CalArts directly from high school. For others, it is truly a journey that is neither direct nor
simple, leading them through a number of schools and a series of jobs before arriving at CalArts.
Now as students at CalArts and informed by their
experiences, these students are setting their sights
back to their L.A. communities, aspiring to give back
to youth, the same inspiration and support they
were given as CAP students. Here are the stories
of four of these motivated former CAP youth
participants who are currently enrolled at CalArts.
ALEJANDRO SANCHEZ
mfa 2, calarts school of art, photography program
If you had met MFA 2 Photography student Alex Sanchez as a freshman in
high school and asked him what he loved most about art, he would have said
“nothing.” In fact, Alex disliked art altogether and hated taking art classes
at his high school, Don Bosco in the city of Rosemead. Fortunately his disdain
for art was transformed into wonder and eventually love and dedication
when he began taking CAP photography classes at the Armory Center
for the Arts in Pasadena, a former CAP partner organization.
Alex first began participating in the photography classes because
two of his older brothers, Jose and Andy Sanchez, were both taking
photography classes at the Armory Center of the Arts. Alex explains
that before taking CAP classes at the Armory, he was not practicing
any art because there weren’t many art programs near his home in El
Monte and because he disliked the rigid art classes that were taught at
his private, all-boy, Catholic school. “I hated art because it was taught
in a very formal style,” says Alex.
Contrary to his experience in school, one of the things Alex appreciated
most about CAP was the instructors’ open teaching approach that allowed
him to experiment and eventually love photography. “Teachers taught a
lot, but they also let you be free to do what you wanted to do.”
Another thing that Alex enjoyed was being around other students who
also liked photography and took it seriously. Alex says his mother would
pick him up after school from his high school and drive him and his friend
to the Armory and take them back home nearly every day.
Not only did his CAP classes at the Armory awaken his passion for
photography and art, but he also believes that they helped prepare him
for CalArts. “Being in CAP, I knew what to expect at CalArts.” He adds
that his instructors had taught him at a high artistic level so that when he
began taking classes at CalArts as a BFA photography student, he realized
that his CAP classes were taught in a similar style and artistic level.
Alex decided to attend CalArts immediately after high school where he
received his BFA and is now in his sixth year at Cal Arts, on the cusp of
completing his MFA in Photography.
In retrospect, Alex believes that one of the most important things
students need is support. He believes that aside from technical guidance
from teachers, students also need to be exposed to different art
approaches. “Kids might have motivation, but without exposure, that
drive might die.”
However, often the challenges don’t end upon entering CalArts. One of
Alex’s challenges at CalArts was feeling like an outsider and not relating
to his peers. “We were not coming from the same place. Our experiences
are different.” Although this experience is a difficult one, it is also a
common one amongst many CAP students and other students who come
from similar communities where socio-economic circumstances make
arts and higher education in general, significantly less accessible than
in more affluent communities.
Which is why CAP’s role in these communities and in the CalArts community
becomes so vital. According to Alex, “CAP helps broaden the [CalArts]
community and brings in kids that wouldn’t necessarily come to art
schools. It exposes a lot of young people to art that wouldn’t otherwise
be exposed to by most of their school teachers.”
Fortunately for many students who may feel alienated or out of place
at CalArts, CAP is like a home away from home. “Glenna knew my name!
When someone knows your name, it makes you feel at home, especially
during the first years at CalArts.”
Alex says that he came to CalArts because of the “freeness of it” and
because it is “not as commercial as other art schools and more conceptual.
I never wanted to mix art with money.” Sanchez adds that he has always
looked to teaching as a viable and respectable employment to support
his art. Currently, Alex is a student instructor in CAP’s after-school
photography program and also teaches at the Armory Center for the
Arts. “ I plan on teaching and continuing to do my art work in general,
wherever it takes me.” And most importantly, it is a vocation he cares
deeply about.
LETICIA CALLELA
bfa 3, calarts school of music
For Leticia Callela, the link between theater and music is “la letra”, the
words of a song. When she discovered this as a high school freshman
taking theater classes in CAP’s theater program at Plaza de la Raza,
she began to sing the words to the mariachi songs she performed for
audiences with new conviction and meaning. Before then, Leticia was
already a dedicated violinist in a mariachi band and had just started,
reluctantly, to sing. However, Leticia recalls that until she started
participating at CAP theater class at Plaza, it was hard for her to
really put the bravado that goes into ranchera, mariachi songs into
her performances.
“Being in theater made me pay attention to ‘la letra’ by putting context
to the songs.” She also says that if she hadn’t “gotten that extra push”
in theater, she might not have had the confidence and ganas (will or
desire) to perform her music.
Leticia has had to muster up a good deal of ‘ ganas’ to get from Plaza
to CalArts. “It took me six years to get to CalArts,” shares Leticia,
recalling the challenging and often long road that many students walk
between high school and CalArts, in pursuit of their art.
Leticia had already been very involved in music programs in middle and
high school for several years, when she found out about CAP through
her younger brother, Jose. He had already begun participating in CAP’s
theater program at Plaza de la Raza when Leticia decided to take part
in the theater program as well and performed in “Tropical America.”
During this time, Leticia continued to take music classes and perform
in mariachi bands.
Leticia says that one of the best things about being a CAP participant is
the recognition students get for their work. She recalls how proud she
and her peers felt when they received certificates from CAP. But most
importantly, it is the support that students receive from the community
that can be most rewarding. “Opening night and seeing hundreds of
people in the audience makes you realize how many people are behind
you, supporting you. Even the certificates and t-shirts you receive at
the end of the program make a huge difference.”
Leticia knew she wanted to continue studying music and enrolled at
California State University in Long Beach’s music program when she
graduated high school. Unfortunately, she quickly realized that the
program and the school fell short of her expectations and decided not
to return after her first year. Instead, Leticia started taking classes
at a East Los Angeles College and Los Angeles Community College.
After several years, one of her professors noted she was unhappy
and suggested that she return to her music. It was then that Letty
decided to apply to CalArts music program. This is Leticia’s second
year in CalArts’ music program and she is now rigorously perfecting
her skills on the violin. And when she’s not in class or in rehearsal,
Leticia is teaching the CAP violin classes at Plaza de la Raza.
Leticia believes that one of the biggest challenges for many students
is learning to embrace art, not for its commercial value, but on its own
terms. “There is a real fear of embracing art,” she says. Especially she
adds, when many are constantly bombarded by multimedia and the
Internet as forms of entertainment. “It keeps people from co-existing,
that’s why it could be really important to embrace performance.”
Another huge obstacle that keeps students from exploring themselves
through art is funding and access to art programs. “If CAP didn’t exist,
there wouldn’t be many options for kids. The government has been
cutting down funding for art programs and taking away things kids can
do. What are they going to do if they can’t do art? CAP needs to exist
so kids can see out of the ordinary.”
There are two things that have remained clear in Leticia’s mind: her
love of music and teaching. Leticia has always known the importance
of teaching and inspiring youth and plans on sharing her knowledge,
experience and love of art with her students in the future.
2
a b c d
3
DAVID JOVEL
bfa 2, calarts school of art, photography program
“I want to be that teacher that helped me find my talent. I want to be
that teacher that provides students with a warm, safe space. I just want
to give back.” The teacher David Jovel, a BFA 2 Photography student
at CalArts, is referring to is his photography teacher Paula Prato.
Ms. Prato is a CalArts School of Art alumna who has taught photography
in the CAP program, and photography and digital media at Cleveland
High School. David acknowledges the profound influence she had on
him as a senior at Cleveland High School.
David recalls that although he knew about CAP’s photography class
with Cleveland High School, it took him a few years to decide to begin
participating. By then, he was failing many of his classes and did not
feel very motivated in school. However, according to David, having an
extra day for photography encouraged him to do better in his classes.
“It really helped me to stay on track.”
By the time David had graduated from high school, he was convinced
that he wanted to continue photography at CalArts but did not feel
ready to apply immediately after high school. Instead David opted to
take the community college route.
According to David, it was very important for him to continue going
to school because he also knew how important it was to his family
–-he would be the first in his family to go to college. David took two
years of community college classes and worked at a Starbucks before
applying to CalArts. It was when he took a photography class that he
realized he had already learned a lot of what was being taught in his
college-level class in his CAP class. “I felt like I was going nowhere
and decided to finally apply.”
David remembers that although his family didn’t initially understand
why he wanted to go to art school, they supported him nonetheless.
With time, he adds, they’ve come to understand more about what
photography is. David says that his mother continues to be a source
of support, constantly encouraging him, even when he feels insecure.
“Now she’s the one telling me to keep going, that there are so many
opportunities as a photographer.”
Now as a second year student at CalArts, and completely involved in
his projects, David feels that he is ready to challenge himself further
and is planning on studying abroad and applying to an MFA program
in the future.
David says that to his surprise, his experience so far at CalArts as been
remarkably easy. “Except I’m paying a lot of money,” he adds. David
also feels that his experience has been made easier just knowing that
CAP is nearby. “The CAP office is like a little piece of home.” David says
that he was amazed when he visited the office and learned about the
dozens of programs CAP makes possible. “I used to think it was just
with Cleveland High School.”
But for David’s family, CAP doesn’t end with David. He is now encouraging
his younger sister Ericka to participate in CAP when she begins
Cleveland High School. “Doing CAP and coming [to CalArts] infected
the family.” According to David, CAP is infectious simply because “It
really is a good program.”
Modestly, David adds, “ I feel bad taking so much. There are so
many other people that need it more than I do. I feel like I have to do
something.” That something, David has decided, is to teach and create
a “warm, safe space” for a new generation of artists.
1 work 1
2 work 2
{
by Alejandro Sanchez b
3 untitled by David Jovel d }
4 reflections by Rafael Hernandez a
Leticia Callela c
9

CAP’s
TEACHING
ARTISTS
FORUM
And so are the headlines,
their capital letters (and capital angst)
screaming from newspapers,
blogs, radio casts and TV.
KAREN ATKINSON In lieu of being depressed as hell, I trudge
on as a faculty member, mentor and workshop leader to help artists find
their particular voice. I am not sure that the headlines will ever be more
cheerful, because we are living with a really stupid government, and people
don’t work with each other any more. There is a sense of entitlement in the
new generation, fighting for what is theirs, or what they can get. Actually I
am not sure that it is much different than previous generations, but that is
what the statistics are telling us. So, as a post 50 year-old that is employed
as an educator, what is my role?
Ah, I put my curmudgeon attitude aside, keep my wacky laugh at my side, and
try to find out what artists want. I am more interested in what my students
want rather than trying to educate them on what they should think. That
does not mean that I don’t give my opinions, but I am careful to make sure
they know where my ideas come from, and to take them with a shaker of salt.
The whole shaker, not just a grain or two.
I have always operated with a sense of optimism. I know that artists and
art are not going to change the world with one swoop, but I have seen a lot
of audiences and viewers change a lot from an experience of an artwork. I
know that artists can have a voice if they don’t let that voice be squashed by
the art world at large. I also remind artists that there are many art worlds,
and they get to make a choice of just which ones they want to operate in.
It seems important to share the consequences of their choices, based on
experience and knowledge of many years.
I love the diversity of artists these days. Not everyone is making the same
work at the same time, and artists are making choices of how to disseminate
that work. They are going in smarter at times. I find just as many artists
making work for the market as ever however, but this is the nature of capital.
A lot of artists are still after fame and fortune, but I am finding many more
artists who have different agendas and that is refreshing.
In the early 90’s, there were very few artist-run spaces in Los Angeles. I
started Side Street Projects because there were a lot of artists who were
not being shown, and who needed a place to engage with each other and try
new ideas . Now, there are at least 20 more organizations, not necessarily
nonprofits, which are taking their ideas and making them into reality. They
are trying new strategies which support a growing number of artists, and
working with others to create something much more dynamic. This means
that those artists who are not just market driven are taking things into their
own hands and really making things that matter. The diversity is what is
important here, and I think CAP has helped create those opportunities.
I like that artists are starting their own businesses based on their experiences
and perspective. Using their creativity in all aspects of their lives, and using
what they learn from the creative process to take on new challenges both
within and outside the art making process. I call a lot of things art. Starting
a nonprofit organization was the largest installation of my life. Starting
a business is just as consuming, and you make about as much money as
a nonprofit. Even though many of my peers question these activities as
art, I don’t separate my creative endeavors (teaching, curating, writing,
programming software for artists) into separate lives. I would go nuts. (Well,
maybe that is a done deal.) I think the more exhibition and art spaces run
by artists the better.
Oil Prices
Creep Slightly
Higher!
Abbas Hopes for
Peace Before
Bush Term Ends!
Bush Signs
the Border
Security Act!
What is our place as artists –and specifically as teaching artists- in the context of these headlines? Is it our responsibility
as “cultural superheroes” to move, solve, discuss, question, react, investigate, or educate? Should we re-write our
mission in these paradoxical times of abandoned utopias, record prices for the art market and the omnipresent
monochrome monolog of corporations and mainstream media? With these and other questions I approached this group of
inspired artists, all fundamentally aware of the political and social context in which they operate as teachers and artists.
Here are KAREN ATKINSON, NANCY BUCHANAN, and VIRGINIA GRISE’s thoughts on the questions posed.
I think it is smart for corporations to realize that artists have something to
offer. Now that the MFA has been touted as the new MBA, it is interesting to
see how creativity is going to become the new revolution, i.e. the post industrial
revolution. There is currently a lot of writing being done about these ideas.
I think it is imperative that the arts have been put back into the school system
(with a mandate in California by 2009). We lost so much when the arts and
things like woodshop disappeared from our education. Companies began
hiring 70% of their employees from overseas because while we were teaching
our students how to use technology, we were not teaching them how to be
creative with those tools. Artists are still the tool users.
The more artists begin to participate in all aspects of a community, such as
running for office, running businesses, creating workshops, making work,
engaging in politics and education, the better off a community will be.
Artists have been silent for a long time. They have operated in a small
context called the art world. They have shown work in spaces where a small
percentage of like-minded people visit. Work outside these spaces is often
dismissed, even by smart, educated folks who are decision makers in the arts.
Is it because of fear?
I am not sure that I am a hero to anyone, and I am not sure that this is my job.
But I am good at working with artists on their own terms, and this I believe is
important. Even if I don’t agree with their perspective, it is important for me
to challenge them to find their own voices. This is what I feel I can do in the
context of these headlines.
NANCY BUCHANAN Kurt Vonnegut once wrote an essay in
defense of the National Endowment for the Arts' fellowship program,
characterizing the artist as "the canary in the coal mine," who warns of
toxic social conditions. While we see plenty of art these days, in the US, it is
more likely to play into the celebrity game than to criticize our society.
One of the most difficult concepts to accept seems to be the reality that
we are all very small—not super heroes at all, but members of the larger
community. And it is within communities that we can best contribute
to change. Those movements of past decades, such as the Civil Rights
movement and the Black Panther Party, elevated and honored the group;
unfortunately, powerful leaders within those groups were murdered and
the energy dissipated. But the lesson remains of "each one, teach one,"
passing along knowledge.
Sometimes I wonder if it is the profound isolation of the narcissistic individual
that fuels such incredible selfishness—when recognizing that one can play
a part in change could bring wholeness. I wish the efforts of art groups to
keep their members anonymous could have been more successful; perhaps
there will be more attempts to work collectively in the future.
The internet offers us new opportunities for forming community,
collaborating, and doing much more creative things than tooting our own
little horns. Let's link up!
I've been encouraged by the wit and energy displayed by many CalArts
students, and the altruism expressed by the high school students I've met
through CAP. In many of the new alternative spaces created by the current
generation of artists, there's a marvelous spirit of generosity and hope.
Mel Brooks
Back on Broadway With
'Frankenstein'!
Rise Expected
in Homeless
US War
Veterans!
Iraq Death
Toll reaches
130 000!
US Abortion
Debate
Intensifies!
Should We
Welcome
Undocumented
Immigrants?
edited by EVELYN SERRANO
Assistant Director of Programs, Newsletter
Director and CalArts School of Art Alumna
VIRGINIA GRISE I believe it is our role as
citizens, as critical thinking human beings and as artists
to "move, solve, discuss, question, react, investigate, and
educate" the world around us. I have always believed this,
despite who is in office, though I feel a greater sense of
urgency in these times, when voices are being silenced
without protest, when civil liberties are being handed
over, and a climate of fear and terror "of the other" are
being perpetuated and sanctioned through institutional
doctrine and law.
One of the cultural centers I work at in East LA received
threatening phone calls days before they threw a huge
Family Day event. "We are going to call the INS on you."
Just months before, a school down the street received
bomb threats and violent phone calls. "That school is
going to smell like burnt tortillas and beans. I hope you
all burn." The hate in these threatening phone calls is
rooted in a legacy of violence and cultural genocide in
the United States. The threat - a community that is truly
self-determined and autonomous, a community that is
culturally grounded and strong.
As a Chicana, my work is rooted in the work of liberation
and my writing was born out of necessity. I am writing and
creating despite the headlines. I am writing and creating
against the headlines. I am writing and creating for the
people whose stories never make the headlines.
I believe in the revolutionary potential of an art that
is created from communities that have been traditionally
silenced, in an art that is transformative, that teaches
us something about who we are and the world around
us. I believe in an art that is deeply rooted in experience/
lived reality.
My art is my spiritual practice. My art is my political practice.
It is my life practice. I do not believe that art is separate
from life so I work daily at being open, vulnerable and
honest, listening, working to actively support my community
the best I can. This type of art requires one to be fully
present, to walk into the room with one’s fullest self, and
it demands that we enact our fullest potential.
As a teaching artist, in the classroom, I am armed with an
understanding that our word has power, that there is an
inherent power in the claiming/reclaiming/telling of our
stories/histories that have been actively erased. When
I teach, I am teaching against forgetting. Words and
memories, poetry and history do not stop the bombs or the
bomb threats but in the act of creation, we are challenging
ourselves to imagine another world and in that imagining,
we open doors to possibilities and new hopes and dreams.
I believe in a radical hope for a better tomorrow, that we
actively create today.
KAREN ATKINSON is a media, installation
and public artist, independent curator,
collaborator, and has published and guest
edited a number of publications. She has
exhibited and curated internationally
including South Africa, Australia, Europe,
Mexico, Canada, and throughout the USA,
and exhibited in the Fifth Havana Biennial in
Cuba. She was a co-founding director of Side
Street Projects in 1991, a non-profit artistrun
organization in Los Angeles, which is still
up and thriving today. She has been a faculty
member at CalArts since 1988 and taught in
the CAP program from 1991-1996. She is
the board president of NAAO, the National
Association of Artists' Organizations. She
has served on the board of directors of
LACPS, Side Street Projects, Installation
and serves on many advisory boards of arts
organizations. Atkinson currently teaches
classes and workshops titled "Getting Your
Sh*t Together" and has created software for
visual artists of the same title. Her company
GYST Ink, is an artist run company for artists.
www.gyst-ink.com
NANCY BUCHANAN received an MFA from
UC Irvine, where her studies with Robert
Irwin inspired her to think of artwork in its
social context. She has participated in many
artist groups, including F Space Gallery,
Double XX, a feminist collective, and the
Artists Formerly Known as Women. Her
work is in various media, including video and
installation, and she has curated exhibitions
when she felt important ideas were not being
seen. She is a member of the faculty of the
CalArts School of Film/Video and leads the
CAP/Bell High School Video Program.
VIRGINIA GRISE is a Chicana cultural
worker, installation artist, writer and
teacher who has facilitated organizing efforts
amongst women, immigrants, incarcerated,
working class, Chicano, and queer youth.
She is an MFA student in the Writing for
Performance program at the California
Institute of Arts, under the mentorship
of Carl Hancock Rux. Virginia currently
teaches theatre and writing classes to high
school and junior high school students in the
Eastside of Los Angeles through the CalArts
Community Arts Partnership (CAP).
2
1 Work by Jon Gomez,
CAP instructor and
CalArts School of
Film/Video alumnus
{ }
2 sandy and siouxsie
by Shizu Saldamando,
CAP instructor and
CalArts School
of Art MFA alumna
3 Airborne Toxic Event
CAP Channel now on YouTube!
Now everyone will be able to view videos by CAP students
on CAP’s new YouTube channel. The channel will serve as a
virtual “video gallery” where students and the rest of the
world can see the work made by participants at all of CAP’s
sites. Check out CAP’s channel at http://www.youtube.com/
CalArtsCAP
Airborne Toxic Event releases first album
and is spotlighted in Los Angeles Times
Noah Harmon, CAP instructor and CalArts School of Music
alumnus, released his first record with his band Airborne
Toxic Event on December 15 and will be aired on local radio
stations throughout Los Angeles. Recently, Airborne Toxic
Event was named one of three “bands to watch” in L.A.
by the Los Angeles Times. Noah teaches music classes
in CAP music programs at Art-in-the-Park and Plaza de
la Raza. Check them out at http://www.myspace.com/
theairbornetoxicevent
Jon Gomez exhibits at Green Sea Gallery
CAP instructor, former CAP youth participant, and CalArts
School of Film/Video alumnus Jon Gomez celebrated the
opening of his solo show at Green Sea Gallery in Montecito,
near Santa Barbara, on Friday December 14, 2007. Most of
the work consisted of powerful drawings in various media.
The show is up through January 18, 2008. Jon is a graduate
of the Character Animation program at CalArts.
CAP Students win Barbara Schreter
Scholarship from Inner-City Arts
Wednesday Torres and Alan Ruiz were awarded the Barbara
Schreter Award at Inner-City Arts’ Gala event on November
3, 2007. Wednesday and Alan are both participants in
the CAP Animation Program on Saturdays at ICA. Each
participant received a check for $1,500 for tuition, supplies
and books. Now in its second year, the award supports
graduating seniors in their pursuit of higher education and
honors the memory of former Inner-City Arts board member
Barbara Schreter.
Shizu Saldamando featured in Giant Robot
Shizu is one of the artists featured in Giant Robot
Magazine’s latest issue celebrating its 50th issue. The issue
includes an interview with Shizu, entitled “Loca Motion” by
Giant Robot’s co-founder, Martin Wong. Shizu is a graduate
of CalArts’ School of Art MFA program and was a CAP
instructor in Self-Help Graphics & Art Digital Media and
Printmaking class. This feature comes after a slew of group
shows included her work across Los Angeles and a solo
show this past summer at Tropico de Nopal.
CAP Youth Participant, Gabriel Torres,
shines on the big screen
If you went to the movie theater last fall, you might have
seen a very familiar face filling the movie screen. It is the
face of CAP participant Gabriel Torres acting alongside
Ben Stiller in “Heartbreak Kid.” Gabriel is putting his acting
skills learned from CAP’s Theater Program at Plaza de la
Raza to use on the big screen, and already has performed
in four films, including “Walkout”. At only fourteen years of
age, and a high school freshman, Gabriel is also a member of
the Screen Actors Guild and has his own agent. So keep your
eyes open for this rising young actor!
If you are a CAP youth participant, a former CAP youth participant,
CAP student instructor, CAP alumni instructor, or CAP faculty member,
please send your news to cap@calarts.edu for the CAP Activating section.
Joan Dooley receives
Teacher of the Year Award
Joan Dooley is the winner of the 2007 Patron Saint of
Photography Award, awarded by Center, a non-profit
organization dedicated to recognizing outstanding teaching
in photography. This annual award recognizes and rewards
a high school, college or post-graduate level educator for
their dedication and passion in the teaching of photography.
Ms. Dooley has taught photography at Bell High School
Humanitas Academy for eleven years and is an outstanding
partner in CAP’s video class at Bell High School led by School
of Film/Video faculty Nancy Buchanan. As this year’s firstprize
winner, Joan was also awarded a cash prize. We are so
proud of Joan for receiving this award and all the wonderful
work she does with so much care for all her students.
“The Three Little Pigs vs. Godzilla”
takes Japan by storm
Finally, Godzilla has met his ultimate match. The Three
Little Pigs show no mercy to this feared monster in a short
animated film entitled “The Three Little Pigs vs. Godzilla”
by Sony Pictures Media Arts Program/CAP animation
students and guided by CAP instructors Jenny Walsh and
Steven Brown at William Reagh Los Angeles Photography
Center. On October 6-8, 2007, “The Three Little Pigs vs.
Godzilla” was screened at the Kids for Kids Animation Film
Festival at Otemae University in Kyoto, Japan. The film is
also a candidate in the festival’s Animation Contest, in their
category for 13-15 year olds.
“May Not Be Suitable For All Audiences”
On October 13 and 20, 2007, many CAP instructors, faculty
and former participants organized, performed and exhibited
their work in “May Not Be Suitable For All Audiences.”
The multi-disciplinary group show took place at the Market
Gallery in the Garment District of downtown Los Angeles
and included performances by Douglas Kearney, Vicky Grise,
Luis Lopez and included photographs by David Jovel. CAP
instructor and CalArts School of Art student C. Francisco
Martinez was one of the organizers.
Romina de los Santos is honored
with Graduate Enrichment Fellowship
at Top Dance Program
Former CAP youth participant Romina de los Santos was
recently accepted to Ohio State University’s MFA Dance
Program this fall with a prestigious Graduate Enrichment
Fellowship. OSU’s Dance Program is currently the top ranking
dance program in the nation.
CAP Youth Participants elected
best musician and best artist of the year
at Hart High School
CAP youth participant Alessandra Barrett just received
Hart High School's Best Musician Award. Alessandra has
participated in the CAP/Santa Clarita Valley Arts Partnership
Photography program. Another CAP youth participant,
Chelsea Kowitz received the Best Artist Award, also at
Hart High School. Chelsea is a participant in the CAP photo
program. Their proud smiling faces can be found in Hart High
School’s “Best of” section of their yearbook.
Damian Berdakin, New Assistant Conductor
of the Santa Clarita Valley Youth Orchestra
Damian Berdakin, CAP instructor and CalArts School of Music
student, has been hired as the new Assistant Conductor
of the Santa Clarita Valley Youth Orchestra. Damian has
been working at SCVYO since 2006 when he began teaching
lower strings (cello and bass) to high school students as
a CAP instructor. This past summer, he was invited to
teach at their summer music program where he was able
to put his skills to work by conducting two pieces in the
orchestra’s summer concert. Now, Damian will be conducting
and assisting SCVYO conductor Paul Sherman. He will
also continue teaching in CAP’s Saturday Music Program.
Congratulations, Damian!
10 11
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NEWS BRIEFS

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January 24
CAP Forum Series: Mady Schutzman
Joker Runs Wild
CalArts, Lund Theater, 4:00 - 5:30pm
C A L A R T S C A P
Spring 2008 Calendar
A presentation on the work of Brazilian social activist and theatre
director, Augusto Boal. Boal’s Theatre of the Oppressed which seeks to
transform passive spectators into “spect-actors,” and has been used by
activists, therapists, educators, and artists on seven continents as a form
of “rehearsal for revolution” in everyday life. Mady Schutzman will discuss
her own adaptations of Boal’s work with social welfare students at USC
and in the making of a documentary film about a Homeland Security antiterrorism
training site in New Mexico.
The CAP Forum Series brings leading artists, intellectuals, civic leaders,
community activists and policy makers in conversation with the CalArts
community. The series promotes learning and critical dialogue about
artistic practices and strategies committed to community engagement,
collaborative approaches and the arts as a catalyst for social change.
CalArts is located at 24700 McBean Parkway, Valencia, CA 91355.
This event is free and open to the public.
January 26
CAP Student Instructors Literacy Training
CalArts, Langley Hall, 10:00am-12:00pm
This is a required training session for all CAP instructors. The training will be
led by CalArts School of Critical Studies Faculty Doug Kearney. The training
will focus on teaching strategies that can be implemented to address student
literacy in all areas of the teaching of art.
CalArts is located at 24700 McBean Parkway, Valencia, CA 91355.
This event only open to CAP instructors.
January 26
CAP Forum at Arts for the One World Conference Using
Theater of the Oppressed Techniques in the Teaching and
Making of Youth Theater in East LA
Coffee House Theater, CalArts, 2:00-3:30pm
UPSET! is an award-winning original CAP play written in 2006 by Mady
Schutzman in collaboration with youth participants in the CAP/Plaza de
la Raza Theater program. The play incorporates many elements from
the Theater of the Oppressed Joker system in its acute re-visiting of the
LA riots and the events leading up to them. This forum will focus on the
implementation of the Joker System in writing and creating contemporary
issue-based youth theater. The forum will be led by Mady Schutzman,
CalArts School of Critical Studies and CAP faculty, and BJ Dodge, CAP/Plaza
de la Raza Theater Program Director.
CalArts is located at 24700 McBean Parkway, Valencia, CA 91355.
This event is free and open to the public.
January 29
CalArts Latin Jazz Ensemble performs
at Pico Canyon Elementary School
Pico Canyon Elementary School, Santa Clarita , 1:00pm and 3:00pm
CAP brings the CalArts Latin Jazz Ensemble led by CalArts School of Music
faculty David Roitstein to Pico Canyon Elementary School as part of CAP’s
Share the World Program, through a partnership with the City of Santa
Clarita Arts and Events Department. Through this program, students in
public schools in the Santa Clarita Valley can experience more than twenty
diverse CalArts dance and world music ensembles ranging from the soulbearing
music of Persia, to the warm voices of West Africa’s talking drums,
to the eclectic playfulness of jazz and contemporary improvisation.
Pico Canyon Elementary School is located at 25255 Pico Canyon Road, Stevenson
Ranch, CA 91381. This event is open to the students and teachers of Pico Canyon
Elementary School.
February 21
CalArts Latin Jazz Ensemble performs
at Hoover High School
Hoover High School Auditorium, 11:45am-2:00pm
CAP brings the CalArts Latin Jazz Ensemble to Hoover for our popular annual
concert of Latin music from yesterday and today. The performance will be
followed by a master workshop lead by CalArts School of Music faculty David
Roitsten with Hoover High School students in Mr. Craig Kupka’s Latin Jazz Band.
This event is part of the CAP Jazz and World Music Program, which brings free
performances by CalArts music and dance ensembles to public high schools in
Los Angeles County.
Hoover High School is located at 651 Glenwood Road, Glendale, CA 91202.
This event is free and open to the students and teachers of Hoover High School.
February 22
CAP/ArtsCOOL Program Performance
Plaza de la Raza, 10:00am-12:00pm
This event will feature performances of Afro-Cuban percussion and dance, and
Brazilian music and dance by students from Robert Lewis High School, Ramona
High School and Eagle Tree High School participating in the CAP/ArtsCOOL program.
The ArtsCOOL Program was developed in 2002 as a partnership between the
CalArts Community Arts Partnership (CAP) program and the Los Angeles Unified
School District Arts Education Branch and Educational Options Program. The
options schools participating in this program each receive 30 weeks of arts
programs taught by teams of CalArts faculty artists, student artists and
alumni artists who share their expertise with up to 40 students in each school.
The schools are located throughout Los Angeles in the San Fernando Valley,
South Los Angeles, East Los Angeles, Hollywood, Venice, Pacific Palisades,
Huntington Park, Carson, Westchester, and downtown Los Angeles.
For further information please contact CAP’s ArtsCOOL Coordinator Betty Lee at
bettylee@calarts.edu. This event will take place at Plaza de la Raza, located at 3540
North Mission Road in Los Angeles and it is free and open to the public.
February 25
CAP Forum Series: Ricardo Dominguez and DJ lotu5
CalArts, Bijou Theater, 11:00am-12:45pm
Artists and activists Ricardo Dominguez and DJ lotu5 will give a presentation
about their recent work with the Electronic Disturbance Theater, the
Transborder Immigrant Tool, Hacklab and the Boredom Patrol of the
Clandestine Insurgent Rebel Clown Army. The presentation will be followed by
an open forum with the audience.
The CAP Forum Series brings leading artists, intellectuals, civic leaders,
community activists and policy makers in conversation with the CalArts
community. The series promotes learning and critical dialogue about artistic
practices and strategies committed to community engagement, collaborative
approaches and the arts as a catalyst for social change.
CalArts is located at 24700 McBean Parkway, Valencia, CA 91355.
This event is free and open to the public.
February 27
CalArts African Ensemble
at North Hollywood High School
North Hollywood High School Auditorium, 1:20pm
CAP brings the CalArts African Ensemble led by Beatrice Lawluvi, Andrew
Grueschow, and Yeko Ladzekpo-Cole. The performance will be followed by a
master workshop with North Hollywood High School music and dance students.
This event is part of the CAP Jazz and World Music Program, which brings free
performances by CalArts music and dance ensembles to public high schools in
Los Angeles County.
North Hollywood High School is located at 5231 Colfax Avenue, North Hollywood, CA
91601. This event is free and open to the students and teachers of North Hollywood
High School.
March 14
CAP/Plaza Dance Program Culminating Performance
Dance Studio, Plaza de la Raza, 5:00pm
This event will showcase individual and collaborative original modern dance
pieces choreographed and performed by the CAP participants. This program is
led by CalArts School of Dance faculty member Francesca Penzani and CalArts
School of Dance student instructors. The performance will take place in the
dance studio at Plaza de la Raza.
Plaza de la Raza is located at 3540 North Mission Road in Los Angeles.
This event is free and open to the public.
March 14 7:30pm
March 15 2:00pm
CAP/Plaza de la Raza Puppetry Program Performances
The Road to Nowhere:
How We Got There From Where We Started
Margo Albert Theater, Plaza de la Raza
Youth participants in the CAP/Plaza de la Raza Puppetry Program will present
an original piece of puppet theater created in collaboration with CalArts
student instructors and under the direction of CalArts School of Theater
alumna Shannon Scrofano and Diego Garza. The puppetry program at Plaza de
la Raza is a collaboration between the CalArts Community Arts Partnership,
Plaza de la Raza, and the Cotsen Center for Puppetry and the Arts.
The performances will take place at Plaza de la Raza located at 3540 North Mission
Road in Los Angeles. This performance are free and open to the public. Reservations are
advised. For reservations please call Plaza de la Raza at (323) 223-2475.
March 16
CAP/Plaza Music Program Culminating Concert
Music Studio, Plaza de la Raza, 2:00-4:00pm
Youth participants in the CAP/Plaza de la Raza Music Program will perform
pieces ranging from rock music, jazz, voice ensembles, and improvisational
works. This program provides instrumental instruction in piano, drums, guitar,
voice, and theory and composition. The program is taught by CalArts School
of Music student instructors and it is coordinated by CAP/Plaza Music Program
Coordinator and CalArts School of Music alumnus Noah Harmon.
The concert will take place at Plaza de la Raza located at 3540 North Mission Road in
Los Angeles. This performance is free and open to the public.
March 18
Sharp Three Ensemble performance
at Marshall High School
Marshall High School Auditorium, 10:15am
CAP brings the Sharp Three Ensemble, composed of three talented CalArts
School of Music alumni, to Marshall High School. This ensemble’s well-balanced
blend of Eastern and Western music will perform original pieces inspired by the
jazz, rock, Balkan, and Western classical music traditions. Their concert will
be followed by a master workshop with the members of the ensemble and Ms.
Donna Pakkarri’s Marshall High School music students. This event is part of the
CAP Jazz and World Music Program, which brings free performances by CalArts
music and dance ensembles to public high schools in Los Angeles County.
Marshall High School is located at 3939 Tracy Street, LosAngeles, CA 90027.This event
is free and open to the students and teachers of Marshall High School.
March 19
CAP Pedagogy Series with BJ Dodge
Serious Play: Integrating Games Into the Teaching and
Making of Art
Lund Theater, CalArts, 12:15-1:45pm
B.J. Dodge, CAP/Plaza de la Raza Theater Program Director, will present a
workshop on how to break the ice when teaching art to young people. These
exercises can morph across disciplines and give instructors a range of
strategies for community and team building. It will also provide some ideas
for integrating ritual activities into the culmination of art projects involving
youth. Theater games such as trust exercises, Liberation Theater games and
improvisational activities are easy for dedicated players: not just actors, but
writers, visual artists, dancers and musicians. Let's collaborate!
The CAP Pedagogy Series is a dynamic forum that brings together leading arts
organizations, artists and educators and CalArts students in presentations
and workshops about the teaching of the arts and the advancement of
arts education. This series will focus on innovative pedagogical tools and
approaches, strategies for community building through the arts, and the role
of the teaching artist in today's society.
CalArts is located at 24700 McBean Parkway, Valencia, CA 91355.
This event is free and open to the public.
April 3
CAP Forum Series with Sergio de la Torre
Screening of Maquilapolis followed by forum
with Sergio de la Torre
Bijou Theater, CalArts, 9:30am-12:00pm
The acclaimed documentary film MAQUILÁPOLIS provides a piercing look
at globalization through the eyes of Mexican factory workers. To create
MAQUILAPOLIS, filmmakers Sergio de la Torre and Vicky Funari brought
together factory workers in Tijuana and community organizations in Mexico
and the U.S. to collaborate on a film that depicts globalization through the
eyes of the women who live on its edge. The factory workers who appear in
the film have been involved in every stage of production, from planning to
shooting, from scripting to outreach. This collaborative process breaks with
the traditional documentary practice of dropping into a location, shooting
and leaving with the "goods," which would only repeat the pattern of the
maquiladora itself. The process embraces subjectivity as a value and a goal.
It merges artmaking with community development to ensure that the film's
voice will be truly that of its subjects.
The screening of Maquilapolis will be followed by a forum with Sergio de la
Torre, one of the film’s directors.
The CAP Forum Series brings leading artists, intellectuals, civic leaders,
community activists and policy makers in conversation with the CalArts
community. The series promotes learning and critical dialogue about artistic
practices and strategies committed to community engagement, collaborative
approaches and the arts as a catalyst for social change.
This forum is made possible by CAP, the First Year Experience Program and the School
of Art. CalArts is located at 24700 McBean Parkway, Valencia, CA 91355. This event
is free and open to the public.
April 10
CalArts Balinese Ensemble performance and
workshop at LA International High School
LA International High School, 1:30pm
CAP brings the CalArts Balinese Ensemble to LA International High School for
a memorable performance and workshop with the students. The ensemble
is led by two globally recognized masters of Balinese music and dance, and
CalArts School of Music faculty I Nyoman and Nanik Wenten. Musicians will
perform traditional and contemporary Balinese compositions while dancers,
in full Balinese dress, will accompany them. This event is part of the CAP Jazz
and World Music Program, which brings free performances by CalArts music
and dance ensembles to public high schools in Los Angeles County.
The school is located at 6218 Beard Street, Los Angeles, CA 90042. This event
is free and open to the students and staff of LA International High School.
April 13
CAP Saturday Music Program Culminating Concert
CalArts, Main Gallery, 4:00pm
Participants in the CAP Saturday Music Program, along with their CalArts
School of Music student instructors, will perform in a free concert in the
CalArts Main Gallery. The program will include classical, jazz, vocal ensemble
and world percussion pieces among others. This CAP program offers master
classes for up to one hundred elementary, middle and high school students.
Classes include theory, composition, vocal ensemble, percussion, chamber
ensemble, jazz ensemble, and more. This program is coordinated by School of
Music alumnus and CAP Saturday Music Program Coordinator Drew Jorgensen.
CalArts is located at 24700 McBean Parkway, Valencia, CA 91355.
The recital is free and open to the public and will be followed by a reception.
April 24
SHOW UP! Art, Community
Engagement and Social Change
REDCAT Theater, 7:00pm
This free forum, organized by the CalArts Community Arts Partnership (CAP)
invites a renowned group of artists, performers and writers whose practice is
centered on their commitment to community to engage the audience in dialogue
about the possibilities of social change through art. Members of the panel will
discuss some of their current projects and will share their perspectives on
trends and strategies used to engage diverse communities and institutions while
affecting lasting change in the fabric of society.
Panelists include Karen Atkinson, Nancy Buchanan, Harry Gamboa, Nobuko
Miyamoto, and Amy Shimson-Santo.
REDCAT is located in downtown Los Angeles at 631 W. 2nd Street, on the northeast
corner of the intersection with Hope Street. This event is free and open to the public.
For reservations please call the REDCAT’s Box Office at 213 237-2800.
April 26
CAP/Watts Towers Arts Center Piano Program concert at
Watts Towers Arts Center
Watts Towers Arts Center, 1:00pm
Participants in the CAP/Watts Towers Arts Center piano program will perform
in a public piano recital at the Watts Towers Arts Center. The students
attended a 24-week piano course taught by CalArts School of Music alumna
Brenda McGee.
Watts Towers Arts Center is located at 1727 East 107th Street, Los Angeles, CA 90002.
This concert is free and open to the public.
April 26
Santa Clarita Valley Youth Orchestra Concert,
“Music from the New World”
Performing Arts Center, College of the Canyons, 7:30pm
The Santa Clarita Valley Youth Orchestra is one the few orchestral music
programs available in the Los Angeles area that trains students to perform
masterpieces from all periods of the orchestral and chamber music repertoire.
Through a partnership with CAP, CalArts School of Music students have been
coaching SCVYO sectionals and will be performing with the students. The
program will include 17th century masterworks by D’vorak and Copeland.
The Santa Clarita Performing Arts Center at College of the Canyons is located at 26455
Rockwell Canyon Road in Santa Clarita, CA 91355.For tickets please contact the College
of the Canyons Performing Arts Center’s Box Office at 661 362-5304.
May 1, 2, 3, 9 7:30pm
May 10 2:00pm and 7:30pm
CAP/ Plaza de la Raza Theater Program
performances of “Private Eddie U.S.A.”
Margo Albert Theater, Plaza de la Raza
This year’s spring production from the CAP/Plaza de la Raza Youth Theater
Program is a new drama written by Culture Clash member Herbert Siguenza
and staged with a cast of 45 middle and high school-age CAP participants.
A play inspired by El Soldado Razo –the classic work by Luis Valdez that was
first performed in 1971 in connection with the Chicano Moratorium antiwar
movement—Private Eddie U.S.A. takes a hard look at the impact of the war
in Iraq as mourners at a funeral enact scenes from a fallen soldier’s life.
Plaza de la Raza is located at 3540 North Mission Road in Los Angeles.
These performances are free and open to the public. Reservations are advised.
For reservations please call Plaza de la Raza at 323 223-2475.
May 2
CAP 18th Anniversary Celebration
Plaza de la Raza, 10:00pm
Join us as we celebrate CAP’s 18th birthday! We will be salsa dancing to
the music of the CalArts Latin Jazz Ensemble led by master pianist and
CalArts School of Music faculty David Roitstein.
Plaza de la Raza is located at 3540 North Mission Road in Los Angeles.
This event is free and open to the public.
May 3
Animation, Photography and Video Screening
REDCAT Theater, 2:00pm
This free screening event features the premieres of works by Los Angeles
teenage filmmakers, animators and photographers from the CalArts
Community Arts Partnership (CAP) programs with Inner-City Arts, Los Angeles
Center for Photographic Studies, Santa Clarita Valley Boys and Girls Club,
Self-Help Graphics and Art, Visual Communications, and Bell High School.
This screening will take place at the REDCAT Theater located at 631 West 2nd Street
in downtown Los Angeles. For reservations please call the REDCAT’s Box Office at 213
237-2800. This event is free and open to the public.
May 4
CAP/Art-in-the-Park Teen Music Concert
REDCAT Theater, 2:00pm
This free concert will showcase talented young musicians and performers
from the Art-in-the-Park Lalo Guerrero School of Music. The eclectic program
will include performances by vocal ensembles, rock bands and guitar
ensembles among others.
The concert will take place at the REDCAT Theater located at 631 West 2nd Street in
downtown Los Angeles. For reservations please call the REDCAT’s Box Office at
213 237-2800. This event is free and open to the public.
May 7
CAP/William Hart High School Creative
Writing Program Culminating Reading
William Hart High School, 5:00pm
The event will celebrate the publication of an anthology of writings by
William Hart High School E.S.L. students participating in this CAP creative
writing program. Students will be reading and performing a selection of texts
written during this year-long creative writing program. This program is a
collaboration among the CalArts Community Arts Partnership (CAP), William
S. Hart High School, the CalArts School of Critical Studies and the Los Angeles
County Commission on Human Relations. The program is lead by CalArts
School of Critical Studies faculty member Mady Schutzman and three teams of
CalArts School of Critical Studies graduate students.
William Hart High School is located at 24825 Newhall Avenue, Newhall, CA 91321.
This event is free and open to the public.
May 7
CAP/Inner-City Arts Elementary
Animation Program Screening
El Sereno Elementary School, Time to be determined
Each semester, CAP, in partnership with Inner-City Arts, brings animation
education to an elementary school in Los Angeles. This event will feature an
original collaborative animated film conceived, edited and directed by fifth
graders under the guidance of CalArts School of Film/Video Assistant Dean and
Character Animation faculty Leo F. Hobaica, Jr. and CalArts School of Film/Video
students and alumni.
This event is free and open to the public. The screening will take place at El Sereno
Elementary School. For event time please contact the CAP office at 661 291.3037
May 20
CAP/My Friend’s Place Creative Writing
Program Culminating Reading
My Friend’s Place, 1:00-2:30 pm
Participants attending the CAP/My Friend’s Place Creative Writing program
will be reading their works of poetry, stories, and essays exploring personal
identity and social issues. As part of this event an anthology of writings and
artwork created by the participants and published by the CalArts Community
Arts Partnership will be launched.
This event will take place at My Friend’s Place located at 5850 Hollywood Blvd.,
in Hollywood.
May 23
CAP/SCVYO Concert
“Baroque Pearls of the Old to the New”
Performing Arts Center, College of the Canyons, 7:30pm
The Santa Clarita Valley Youth Orchestra is one the few orchestral music
programs available in the Los Angeles area that trains students to perform
masterpieces from all periods of the orchestral and chamber music repertoire.
Through a partnership with CAP, CalArts School of Music students have been
coaching SCVYO sectionals and will be performing with the students. The
program will include works by Haydn, Schubert and the world premiere of a
new commissioned work by CalArts School of Music student and CAP Music
Instructor Derrick Spiva Jr.
The Santa Clarita Performing Arts Center at College of the Canyons is located at 26455
Rockwell Canyon Road in Santa Clarita, CA 91355.For tickets please contact the College
of the Canyons Performing Arts Center’s Box Office at 661 362.5304
May 23-24
CAP/Plaza de la Raza Theater
Program Performances of "Private Eddie U.S.A."
REDCAT Theater, 7:30pm
This year’s spring production from the CAP/Plaza de la Raza Youth
Theater Program is a new drama written by Culture Clash member Herbert
Siguenza and staged with a cast of 45 middle and high school-age CAP
participants. A play inspired by El Soldado Razo –the classic work by Luis
Valdez that was first performed in 1971 in connection with the Chicano
Moratorium antiwar movement—Private Eddie U.S.A. takes a hard look
at the impact of the war in Iraq as mourners at a funeral enact scenes
from a fallen soldier’s life.
These performances are free and open to the public and will take place at the
REDCAT Theater located at 631 West 2nd Street in downtown Los Angeles.
For reservations please call the REDCAT’s Box Office at 213.237.2800
June 5
CAP/ArtsCOOL Program Screening
REDCAT Theater, 10:00am-1:00pm
This free screening features original short videos and animated films
created by students participating in the ArtsCOOL program at Del Rey,
Jack London, Phoenix, Will Rogers and Walt Whitman high schools. The
ArtsCOOL Program was developed in 2002 as a partnership between the
CalArts Community Arts Partnership (CAP) program and the Los Angeles
Unified School District Arts Education Branch and Educational Options
Program. The options schools participating in this program each receive
30 weeks of arts programs taught by teams of CalArts faculty artists,
student artists and alumni artists who share their expertise with
up to 40 students in each school. The schools are located throughout
Los Angeles in the San Fernando Valley, South Los Angeles, East Los
Angeles, Hollywood, Venice, Pacific Palisades, Huntington Park, Carson,
Westchester, and downtown Los Angeles.
For further information please contact CAP’s ArtsCOOL Coordinator Betty Lee at
bettylee@calarts.edu. This screening will take place at the REDCAT Theater located
at 631 West 2nd Street in downtown Los Angeles. For reservations please call the
REDCAT’s Box Office at 213.237.2800 This event is free and open to the public.
June 8
CAP/Sony Pictures Media Arts Program Screening
REDCAT Theater, 2:00pm
The Sony Pictures Media Arts Program is CAP's after-school program for
middle school students who learn drawing, animation, and new media and
create original films each year at Banning's Landing Community Center in
Wilmington, Center for the Arts Eagle Rock in Eagle Rock, San Fernando
Gardens Community Service Center in Pacoima, Watts Towers Arts Center
in Watts, and at the William Reagh Los Angeles Photography Center near
MacArthur Park in Los Angeles. SPMAP is a partnership among the CalArts
Community Arts Partnership (CAP), the City of Los Angeles Department
of Cultural Affairs, and Sony Pictures Entertainment. The screening will
showcase the animated work conceived, edited and directed by the CAP/
SPMAP participants.
This screening is free and open to the public and will take place at the CalArts
REDCAT Theater located at 631 West 2nd Street in Downtown Los Angeles.
For reservations please call the REDCAT’s Box Office at 213 237.2800
June 10 and 11
CAP/ArtsCOOL Program Culminating
Exhibition and Performances
CalArts, 10:00am-1:00pm
This two-day event will feature an exhibition of artwork by high school
students who participated in CAP’s ArtsCOOL Program with Los Angeles
Unified School District Option Schools. The exhibition will take place in
CalArts Galleries D300 and D301. The event will also feature performances,
readings, and dance and music ensemble performances by student
participants in the ArtsCOOL program. The gallery exhibition will include
works by students from Central East Los Angeles, Independence, Lewis,
Monterey, San Antonio, Thoreau and Wooden high schools. Students from
Eagle Tree, Amelia Earhart, Einstein, Hope, Jefferson, Leonis, Ramona,
Temescal and Wooden high schools will present performances.
The ArtsCOOL Program was developed in 2002 as a partnership between
the CalArts Community Arts Partnership (CAP) program and the Los
Angeles Unified School District Arts Education Branch and Educational
Options Program. These options schools participating in this program
each receive 30 weeks of arts programs taught by teams of CalArts
faculty artists, student artists and alumni artists who share their
expertise with up to 40 students in each school. The schools are located
throughout Los Angeles in the San Fernando Valley, South Los Angeles,
East Los Angeles, Hollywood, Venice, Pacific Palisades, Huntington Park,
Carson, Westchester, and downtown Los Angeles.
This event is free and open to the public. For further information please contact
CAP’s ArtsCOOL Coordinator Betty Lee at bettylee@calarts.edu. This event will take
place at CalArts located at 24700 McBean Parkway, Valencia, CA 91355.
13

CAP
AFTER-SCHOOL
PROGRAMS:
All CAP After-School programs are free. No previous experience is
required and registration is open to students ages 13 to 19, with
the exception of the media arts programs for middle school students
(ages 10-14). Register on the first day of class. Parent’s/Guardian’s
signature will be required on the participant’s registration form.
Attendance to all sessions is required.
Art-in-the-Park Music Program
This twenty-week music program features small group
and individualized music instruction for teenagers ages 13
to 19. The program culminates with public performances
in April and May at Art-in-the-Park, REDCAT, and other
community performance venues.
class dates jan 28 - april 8, 2008
times
bass mondays, 4:00 - 4:30 pm
music theory mondays, 4:30 - 5:00 pm
band mondays, 5:00 - 6:00 pm
beginning guitar mondays, 6:00 – 7:00 pm
percussion wednesdays, 4:00 - 7:00 pm
percussion fridays, 4:00 – 7:00 pm
instructors calarts school of music alumnus noah harmon
and calarts school of music student instructors
held at Art-in-the-Park
5568 via marisol los angeles ca 90042 t: 323 259.0550
Banning’s Landing Community Center Sony Pictures
Media Arts Program (SPMAP)
This thirty-week media arts program is held twice a week,
after-school for middle school students (ages 10 to 14) at
the Banning’s Landing Community Center in Wilmington.
The workshops cover drawing, painting, animation and
media arts, taught by CalArts faculty, alumni and students.
The middle school students learn drawing and painting
techniques, drawing from the model, how to animate, how
to put together an art portfolio and how to create artwork
on computers. The program culminates in a public exhibition
and screening of the artwork produced by the students. This
program is part of the Sony Pictures Media Arts Program,
a partnership between the CalArts Community Arts
Partnership, the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural
Affairs, and Sony Pictures Entertainment.
class dates jan 21 - june 11, 2008
time mondays & wednesdays, 4:00-7:00 pm
instructors calarts school of film/video alumni
ruben esqueda and levi brewster, and calarts
student instructors
held at Banning’s Landing Community Center
100 w water street wilmington ca 90744
t: 310 522.2015
CalArts/CAP Digital Media Arts Program
Entitled “Going Green”, this class includes discussions
and hands-on conceptual projects using Adobe Creative
Suite software, scanners and digital cameras. Large-format
color posters will be produced based on environmental
themes such as eco-friendly living, sustainable landscapes
and green roofs, reducing our carbon footprints, creating
cleaner and healthier communities, clean energy, and global
warming. This class is for productive high school students
who are willing to form personal views for content in their
work. Students will be encouraged to focus on contentbased
social statements, political comments, or cultural
narratives. Regular attendance is preferred for working in
class.
class dates feb 5 - may 27, 2008
time tuesdays, 4:30 - 7:00 pm
instructors calarts school of art faculty shelley stepp
and calarts student instructors
held at CalArts Mac Lab
24700 mcbean parkway valencia ca 91355
t: 661 222.2708 (cap)
Center for the Arts Eagle Rock Sony Pictures
Media Arts Program (SPMAP)
This thirty-week media arts program is held twice a week,
after-school for middle school students (ages 10 to 14) at
the Center for the Arts Eagle Rock in Eagle Rock. The
workshops cover drawing, painting, animation and media
arts, taught by CalArts faculty, alumni and students.
The middle school students learn drawing and painting
techniques, drawing from the model, how to animate, how
to put together an art portfolio and how to create art
work on computers. The program culminates in a public
14
exhibition and screening of the artwork produced by the
students. This program is part of the Sony Pictures Media Arts
Program, a partnership between the CalArts Community Arts
Partnership, the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural
Affairs, and Sony Pictures Entertainment.
class dates jan 23 - june 13, 2008
time wednesdays & fridays, 3:30 - 6:30 pm
instructors calarts school of art faculty chris peters,
calarts school of film/video alumnus pouya afshar,
and calarts student instructors
held at the Center for the Arts Eagle Rock
2225 colorado boulevard los angeles ca 90041
t: 323 226.1617
Inner-City Arts High School Animation Program
This CAP program begins in October and continues through
May. Twenty-four weeks of workshops are held for 20 to 40
high school students. The students learn basic animation,
zoetropes, flip books, hand animation, computer animation,
and drawing on film. The class includes a 24-hour animation
marathon weekend in which students produce collaborative
films. The students each create an animated short and
collaborative film which is screened in culminating festivals
at Inner-City Arts, the REDCAT Theater, CalArts, and other
venues. All students receive DVDs of their work.
class dates jan 26 - may 3, 2008
time saturdays, 10:00 am - 1:00 pm
instructors calarts school of film/video faculty leo
hobaica and calarts student instructors
held at Inner-City Arts
720 kohler los angeles ca 90021 t: 213 627.9621
Los Angeles Center for Photographic Studies
(LACPS) Youth Photography/Public Art Program
The Spring Semester LACPS/CAP program provides twelve
Saturday workshops for up to 50 high school students.
The course takes place in the state of the art Photography
Facility of the Art School at CalArts. LACPS/CAP students
work closely with faculty and student instructors and are
taught a variety of darkroom skills, and computer skills
while they focus on creative assignments and work towards
a public exhibition. An exhibition of photographs and mockups
of the posters is presented at CalArts and other venues.
The bus shelter images are displayed in many public
locations throughout the city of Los Angeles.
class dates march 1 - may 24, 2008
time saturdays, 10:00 am - 4:00 pm
held at California Institute of the Arts
24700 mcbean parkway valencia ca 91355 t: 661
222.2708 (cap)
instructors calarts school of art faculty john bache,
andy freeman, calarts school of art alumnus lewis
mauk, and calarts student instructors
Van pickups are available at 9:00am at Franklin, Cleveland, and
Lincoln High Schools.
Plaza de la Raza Advanced Music Training Program
This CAP program provides advanced instrumental instruction
for up to 100 teenagers in trumpet, guitar, bass, drumset,
voice, piano, songwriting, music theory and composition and
several music ensembles, including salsa band. Eighteen
weeks of instruction takes place at Plaza de la Raza beginning
in October and continuing through March. The workshops
culminate in a recital at Plaza de la Raza in March.
class dates
jan 11 - march 14, 2008
times
drums wednesdays, 4:00 - 4:30 pm
music appreciation wednesdays, 4:30 - 5:00 pm
bass wednesdays, 5:00 - 6:00 pm
violin wednesdays, 5:00 - 6:00 pm
guitar wednesdays, 6:00 – 7:00 pm
music appreciation wednesdays, 4:00 - 7:00 pm
music appreciation fridays, 4:00 – 7:00 pm
bass fridays, 6:00 – 7:00 pm
voice lessons fridays, 4:00 - 7:00 pm
music appreciation fridays, 4:00 – 7:00 pm
guitar fridays, 6:00 – 7:00 pm
guitar ensemble fridays, 6:00 – 7:00 pm
rock band fridays, 6:00 – 7:00 pm
instructors calarts school of music alumnus
noah harmon and calarts school of music
student instructors
held at Plaza de la Raza
3540 north mission road los angeles ca 90031
t: 323 223.2475
SPRING 2008 CAP CLASS SCHEDULE
Plaza de la Raza Modern Dance Program
This 18-week program for middle and high school students
focuses on modern dance techniques and choreography.
Participants create individual original pieces as well as
collaborations with the entire class. The dance classes are
held once a week in the dance studios at Plaza de la Raza. The
dance program students perform in a year-end dance recital
at Plaza de la Raza.
class dates jan 11 - march 14, 2008
time fridays, 4:00 - 6:00 pm
instructors calarts school of dance faculty
francesca penzani and calarts school of dance
student instructors
held at the Plaza de la Raza
3540 north mission road los angeles ca 90031
t: 323 223.2475
Plaza de la Raza Puppetry Program
This 18-week puppetry production class gives students
an opportunity to collaboratively create a puppet play.
Instructors teach workshops in puppet and mask making
using a variety of materials including cardboard, cloth, paper
maché, and found objects. Creative writing and visual art are
also important components of the class as well as filming
and video editing using state-of-the-art digital equipment.
All of these elements culminate in public performances in the
Spring at Plaza de la Raza.
class dates jan 9 - march 22, 2008
time wednesdays, 5:00 - 7:00 pm
instructors calarts school of theater alumna shannon
scrofano, calarts school of art alumnus diego garza
and calarts student instructors
held at Plaza de la Raza
3540 north mission road los angeles ca 90031
t: 323 223.2475
Plaza de la Raza Youth Theatre Program
This CAP program provides approximately 45 high school and
junior high school students with thirty weeks of instruction
in acting, movement, and voice. Students collaborate with
teachers, a composer, and a playwright to create an original
piece of theater. Artist specialists such as costume, set and
lighting designers will join the process in layers during the
course of the work to further collaborate in making a full
production. A class in design will be offered as an optional
supplement for those who are interested in design and technical
aspects of production. Classes are held three evenings per
week, beginning in October and continuing through May. Free
public performances are held in May at Plaza de la Raza and at
the REDCAT Theater in downtown Los Angeles.
class dates jan 14 - may 31, 2008
times
beginning theatre mondays, 6:00 - 8:00 pm
movement for theatre tuesdays, 6:00 - 8:00 pm
int/adv theatre thursdays, 6:00 - 8:00 pm
theatre design saturdays, 10:00 – 12:00 pm
(jan 14 - may 31, 2008)
instructors former calarts school of theater faculty
barbara june dodge, calarts school of theater faculty
marvin tunney and calarts student instructors
held at Plaza de la Raza
3540 north mission road los angeles ca 90031
t: 323 223.2475
Classes will meet for rehearsals everyday (Monday thru Friday) from
5:00-8:00pm starting on March 17th until the opening of the play in May.
San Fernando Gardens Community Service Center
Sony Pictures Media Arts Program (SPMAP)
This thirty-week media arts program is held twice-weekly
after-school for middle school students (ages 10 to 14) at the
San Fernando Gardens Community Service Center in Pacoima.
The workshop covers drawing, painting, animation and
media arts, taught by CalArts faculty, alumni and students.
The middle school students learn drawing and painting
techniques, uses of various media, animation production, and
basic uses of the video camera. The program culminates in a
public exhibition and screening of the art work produced by
the students. This program is part of the Sony Pictures Media
Arts Program, a partnership between the CalArts Community
Arts Partnership, the City of Los Angeles Department of
Cultural Affairs, and Sony Pictures Entertainment.
class dates jan 21 - june 10, 2008
time mondays & tuesdays, 4:00 - 7:00 pm
instructors calarts school of film/video faculty john
mahoney, calarts school of film/video alumnus jonny
gomez and calarts student instructors
held at San Fernando Gardens Community Service Center
10896 lehigh avenue pacoima ca 91331 t: 818 834.9266
Santa Clarita Valley Arts Partnership
Saturday Music Program
This program offers twenty weeks of Saturday master
classes for up to one hundred elementary, middle and high
school students. Classes include theory, composition, vocal
ensemble, percussion, strings ensemble, chamber ensemble,
jazz ensemble , and more. The program culminates with
semester-end recitals performed in the CalArts Main Gallery.
class dates jan 26 - april 12, 2008
times saturdays, 1:00-5:00pm
theory i 1:00-2:00pm
theory ii/composition 2:00-3:00pm
computer music 2:00-3:00pm
is rhythm a payne in your class 2:00-3:00pm
vocal ensemble 3:00-4:00pm
strings ensemble 3:00-4:00pm
jazz ensemble a 3:00-4:00pm
latin/world percussion ensemble 3:00-4:00pm
chamber ensemble 4:00-5:00pm
jazz ensemble b 4:00-5:00pm
computer music 3:00-4:00pm
latin ensemble 4:00-5:00pm
instructors calarts school of music student instructors
under the direction of calarts school of music
associate dean susan allen and calarts school of
music alumnus drew jorgensen
held at CalArts, School of Music, Rehearsal Rooms
24700 mcbean parkway valencia ca 91355 t: 661 222.2708
Santa Clarita Valley Youth Orchestra
The Santa Clarita Valley Youth Orchestra is the premiere
youth orchestra in the Santa Clarita Valley. The organization
has three levels of orchestras for elementary through college
age students and performs a variety of music from the
classical genre. CalArts student instructors play alongside
the students as section leaders/mentors. Classes culminate in
a performance at the College of the Canyons Performing Arts
Center. Registration for the classes is handled by the College
of the Canyons.
times
advanced orchestra mondays, 6:00 - 8:30 pm
intermediate orchestra saturdays, 9:00 - 12:30 pm
instructors damian berdakin, russell moss, melinda rice,
tara schwab and chris wheeler
held at College of the Canyons
24655 rockwell canyon road santa clarita, ca 91355
more info at www.scvyo.org
Classes are held in the fall and spring sessions. Please call COC for
registration details: Tara Schwab, Orchestra Manager, 310.422.4509
Self-Help Graphics & Art Digital Media Program
This is a 30-week, free-of-charge program for teenagers
(ages 15 to 18) which takes place once-a-week at Self-Help
Graphics & Art. Students learn computer design applications,
printmaking, T-Shirt design, screen printing and digital video
production. The program culminates with an exhibition of the
work at Self-Help Graphics & Art, at the California Institute of
the Arts, as well as with a screening at REDCAT.
class dates jan 15 - may 27, 2008
time tuesdays, 4:00 - 7:00 pm
instructors calarts school of theater alumnus
reggie coleman and calarts student instructors
held at Self-Help Graphics & Art
3802 cesar chavez avenue ca 90063-1896 t: 323 881.6444
Watts Towers Arts Center Sony Pictures
Media Arts Program (SPMAP)
This 30-week media arts program is held twice a week, afterschool
and on Saturdays for middle school students (ages 10
to 14) at the Watts Towers Arts Center in Watts. The workshops
cover drawing, painting, animation and media arts, taught
by CalArts faculty, alumni and students. The middle school
students learn drawing and painting techniques, drawing
from the model, how to animate, how to put together an
art portfolio and how to create art work on computers. The
program culminates in a public exhibition and screening
of the art work produced by the students. This program is
part of the Sony Pictures Media Arts Program, a partnership
between the CalArts Community Arts Partnership, the City of
Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, and Sony Pictures
Entertainment.
class dates jan 23 - june 14, 2008
times wednesdays 4 -7 pm & saturdays, 11 am - 2 pm
instructors calarts school of critical studies faculty
betty lee, calarts school of film/video alumnus pouya
afshar and calarts student instructors
held at Watts Towers Arts Center
1727 east 107th street los angeles ca 90002 t: 213 847.4646
Watts Towers Arts Center Piano Program
This 24-week CAP course is an introduction to playing the
piano for young people held at the Watts Towers Arts Center.
Students learn the basics of music although all levels of
experience are welcomed. The program culminates in a public
piano recital held at the Watts Towers Arts Center in the Spring.
class dates jan 23 - april 26, 2008
times wednesdays, 3 - 7 pm & saturdays, 10 am - 4 pm
instructor calarts school of music alumna brenda mcgee
held at Watts Towers Arts Center
1727 east 107th street los angeles ca 90002 t: 213 847.4646
William Reagh Los Angeles Photography Center
Sony Pictures Media Arts Program (SPMAP)
This thirty-week media arts program is held twice a week,
after-school and on Saturdays for middle school students
(ages 10 to 14) at the William Reagh Los Angeles Photography
Center near MacArthur Park. The workshops cover drawing,
painting, animation and media arts, taught by CalArts faculty,
alumni and students. The middle school students learn
drawing and painting techniques, drawing from the model,
how to animate, how to put together an art portfolio and how
to create art work on computers. The program culminates in
a public exhibition and screening of the art work produced by
the students. This program is part of the Sony Pictures Media
Arts Program, a partnership between CalArts Community Arts
Partnership, the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural
Affairs, and Sony Pictures Entertainment.
class dates jan 23 - june 14, 2008
time wednesdays 4 - 7 pm & saturdays 11 am - 2 pm
instructors calarts school of film/video alumni
javier barboza and jonny gomez, and calarts
student instructors
held at William Reagh Los Angeles Photography Center
2332 w fourth street los angeles ca 90057 t: 213 382.8133
CAP
IN-SCHOOL
PROGRAMS:
CAP is also engaged in in-school programming in many school sites
throughout Los Angeles County. These free arts workshops are
available to students in the partner schools and organizations.
ArtsCOOL Program
The ArtsCOOL Program was developed in 2002 as a partnership
between CAP and the Los Angeles Unified School District Arts
Education Branch and Educational Options Program. Currently,
ArtsCOOL offers programming at 20 Options High Schools in
Los Angeles County. These schools each receive 30 weeks of
arts programs which meet once-a-week for two hours per
class. The classes are taught by teams of CalArts faculty
artists, current CalArts students and CalArts alumni who
share their expertise in visual arts, writing, film/video, and
the performing arts. The schools are located throughout Los
Angeles in the San Fernando Valley, South Los Angeles, East
Los Angeles, Hollywood, Venice, Pacific Palisades, Carson,
Huntington Park, Westchester, and downtown Los Angeles
areas. Hundreds of high school students participate in the
culminating performances and exhibition held annually at
California Institute of the Arts, Plaza de la Raza, REDCAT
(The Roy and Edna Disney CalArts Theater) located in the
Walt Disney Concert Hall Complex, and other venues.
Option schools currently participating in
the CAP/ArtsCOOL Program are:
Central East Los Angeles High School
Del Rey High School
Eagle Tree High School
Amelia Earhart High School
Albert Einstein High School
John Hope High School
Independence High School
Miguel Leonis High School
Robert Lewis High School
Jack London High School
Monterey High School
New Jefferson High School
Phoenix High School
Ramona High School
Will Rogers High School
San Antonio High School
Temescal Canyon High School
Henry Thoreau High School
Walt Whitman High School
John Wooden High School
For more information about all CAP classes, please call 661 222-2708.
instructors calarts faculty members marvin tunney,
beatrice lawluvi, darcy huebler, steve brown, leo
hobaica, niki rousso-schindler, among others, and
calarts alumni reggie coleman, miyo hernandez, yeko
ladzekpo-cole, jahmad rollins, morena santos, pouya
afshar, chris armstrong, sandy ding, eddie felix, juliana
sankaran-felix, among others, along with calarts
student instructors, and visiting artist rose portillo.
This program is available only to high school students attending the
LAUSD Options High Schools participating in this program.
If you would like further information about this program please contact
CAP’s ArtsCOOL Coordinator at323.304.1599
Bell High School/Visual Communications
Video Program
This is a 20-week program for teenagers (ages 15 to 18)
which takes place after-school, once-a-week at Bell
High School during the school year. The course includes
learning basic video techniques, lighting, sound, interview
techniques, story development and story boarding, and
digital editing on state-of-the-art digital equipment. The
workshops culminate in screenings of the students’ videos
at Bell High School, Visual Communications, CalArts, at
REDCAT Theater, on the World Wide Web and other venues.
All students receive DVDs of their work.
class dates jan 23 - apr 30, 2008
classes are on wednesdays
Bell High School teacher joan dooley
time 2:00 - 4:00 pm
held at Bell High School
4328 bell avenue bell ca 90201 t: 323.560.1800
instructors calarts school of film/video faculty nancy
buchanan and calarts student instructors
Franklin High School Playwriting Workshop
This two-semester long CAP program is a collaboration
among CAP, Franklin High School, and the CalArts School
of Theater. Twenty to thirty students in Mr. David Levine’s
theater classes participate once-a-week with CalArts
instructors. The students learn theater games, exercises,
and work one-on-one with the CalArts graduate students
to create original five-minute plays. The plays are all
presented at CalArts’ New Works Festival in the Spring,
acted by the MFA acting students with the high school
playwrights on stage.
time & dates wednesdays
classroom teacher david levine
instructors calarts school of theater alumna vicky grise,
and calarts school of theater graduate students under
the direction of calarts school of theater faculty
marissa chibas
held at Franklin High School
820 north avenue 54 los angeles ca 90042 t: 323 550.2000
Gertz-Ressler High School – Vocal Program
The Alliance For College-Ready Public Schools
The vocal program takes place for 10 weeks during the Fall
semester and 10 weeks during the Spring semester. This
program focuses on classical vocal repertoire as well as
contemporary, jazz, and world music traditions. Through a
curriculum encompassing many musical idioms, students will
expand their technical and expressive boundaries with the
study of improvisation, extended vocal techniques, and vocal
techniques from around the world. The program culminates
with a public performance at the high school in the spring.
class dates feb 4 - april 14, 2008
time mondays, 3:45 - 5:00 pm
classroom teacher christine snyder
instructor calarts school of music student wendy vazquez
held at Gertz-Ressler High School
2023 south union avenue los angeles ca 90007
t: 213 745.8141 f: 213 745.8142
Principal howard lappin
Inner-City Arts Elementary School Animation Program
Each semester, CAP brings animation education to an
elementary school working with Inner-City Arts in downtown
Los Angeles. Approximately 32 fifth graders from LAUSD
elementary schools such as Frank del Olmo Elementary School,
Sierra Park Elementary School and Norwood Elementary School,
work twice-a-week with CalArts faculty and student instructors
to learn animation techniques and produce an animated short
film. This semester the instructors are working with students
from El Sereno Elementary School. The students explore
animation through making flipbooks and zoetropes, inventing
characters and writing stories, recording voices and sounds,
and creating cut-out puppet animation. The completed films
are screened in festivals at Inner-City Arts, REDCAT, and other
venues. All students receive DVDs of their work.
class dates feb 4 - may 5, 2008
times mondays & wednesdays 10:00am - noon
held at Inner-City Arts
720 kohler street los angeles ca 90021 t: 213.627.9621
instructors calarts school of film/video faculty leo
hobaica, calarts alumnus ruben esqueda, and calarts
student instructors
My Friend’s Place Creative Writing Program
The CAP Creative Writing Program works with students
individually and in groups to create works which express
a variety of concerns ranging from individual, social, and
political identity to the emotional dynamics of family and
interpersonal relationships. Because students at My Friend’s
Place are often at particular risk to homelessness and
marginalization, their work addresses commonly accepted
notions of background, present status, and of the future
with uncommon urgency. Working with faculty and graduate
instructors from the CalArts MFA Writing Program, students
produce poetry, stories, essays, artwork, photography,
and video in an expanded notion of the expressive limits of
“writing.” The year-long, two semester workshops culminate
in both the publication of an anthology of student work and
a public reading at My Friend’s Place.
class dates jan 15 - may 20, 2008
times wednesdays & fridays 12:30pm - 3:30pm
instructors calarts school of critical studies faculty
jon wagner and calarts mfa writing program
students instructors andrea spofford, dante zunigawest,
zane thimmesch-gill, and brittany goode
held at My Friend’s Place
5850 hollywood blvd hollywood ca 90028 t: 323 908.0011
Share the World Program
The CAP Share the World Program, a partnership with the
City of Santa Clarita and the six local Santa Clarita School
Districts, brings CalArts world music and dance ensembles
to provide performances and workshops for students in
elementary, middle and high schools throughout the Santa
Clarita Valley. The ensembles available range from jazz,
Latin jazz, Balinese Gamelan to North and South Indian
music, and African music and dance among many other
offerings. The program begins in October and continues
through May.
If you are associated with a public elementary, middle or high
school in the Santa Clarita Valley, and would like to schedule
a concert/workshop or receive further information about
this program please call the CAP Public Programs Coordinator
at 661.291.3037
Watts Towers Arts Center Jazz
and World Music Program
The CAP Jazz and World Music Program with the Watts
Towers Arts Center brings free performances by CalArts
music and dance ensembles to high schools in the Watts,
South Central Los Angeles, the San Fernando Valley and East
Los Angeles areas. The ensembles available range from jazz,
Latin jazz, Balinese Gamelan, to North and South Indian
music, and African music and dance, among many other
offerings. Over two thousand young musicians take part
in this program which includes master classes in specific
instruments. The program begins in October and continues
through May.
If you are associated with a high school in Los Angeles County,
and would like to schedule a concert/workshop or receive
further information about this program please call the CAP
Public Programs Coordinator at 661.291.3037
background image
{ arts and crafts by Coral Fowler }
William Hart High School Writing Program
This two-semester, twenty week-long writing program is a
collaboration among the CalArts Community Arts Partnership
(CAP), Wiliam S. Hart High School, the CalArts School of
Critical Studies and the Los Angeles County Commission on
Human Relations. The program is lead by CalArts School of
Critical Studies faculty member Mady Schutzman and three
teams of CalArts School of Critical Studies graduate students.
The program involves a group of approximately fifty E.S.L.
students from William S. Hart High School in an intensive
creative writing workshop that will culminate with readings at
CalArts and at William S. Hart High School on May 7, 2008, with
the publication of a collection of the students’ writing.
class dates jan 16 - march 19, 2008
times wednesdays 10:30-11:30am and 1:00-2:00pm
thursdays 11:20am-12:20pm
instructors school of critical studies faculty member
mady schutzman and calarts mfa student instructors
dan baker, kate guthrie (group 1), stephanie martin,
sara finnerty, kia parks (group 2) and sarah burghauser
and jen hawe (group 3).
held at William S. Hart High School
24825 newhall avenue newhall ca 91321 t: 661 259.7575
Assistant Principal maria lacy
Teachers diane babko and katrina dolinsky
CAP
SUMMER ARTS
PROGRAM:
CAP Summer Arts Program
July 7-July 24, 2008
Application deadline: June 2, 2008
CAP’s Summer Arts Program is a free three-week intensive
arts program in July for teens entering grades 10 through
12 or having just graduated from high school. The program
offers exciting and creative experimentation in the arts
and offers workshops in Music, Visual Arts, Dance, Creative
Writing, and Film/Video. Students choose to work in one of
these five disciplines. Workshops are lead by outstanding
faculty artists from the California Institute of the Arts
along with CalArts student instructors. Students in the
program build skills and deepen their understanding of their
chosen disciplines and their own creative process. Along
with working in their artistic fields, students will learn to
create a professional portfolio and prepare materials for
college applications. Moreover, they will learn about college
applications and financial aid programs, attend a college
fair, participate in several field trips to museums and live
performances, and will be involved in daily presentations
and workshops presented by visiting artists.
This program takes place at Plaza de la Raza
3540 north mission road los angeles ca 90031
t: 323 223.2475
For further information about this program and the application
process please contact the CAP Summer Arts Program
Coordinator Carribean Fragoza at cfragoza@calarts.edu
15

{ CalArts }
California Institute of the Arts
California Institute of the Arts educates professional artists in a unique
learning environment founded on the principles of artmaking excellence,
experimentation, critical reflection and the diversity of voices. Throughout
its history, CalArts has sought to advance the practice of art and promote
its understanding in a broad social, cultural and historical context. CalArts
offers students the knowledge and expertise of leading professional
artists and scholars and a full complement of artmaking tools. In return,
it asks for the highest artistic and academic achievement. Reflecting its
longstanding commitment to new forms and expressions in art, CalArts
invites creative risk-taking and urges active collaboration and exchange
among artists, artistic disciplines and cultural traditions.
at home in union station
{ Megan Broughton }
5
SANTA
CLARITA
ARROYO SECO JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL
SANTA CLARITA VALLEY YOUTH ORCHESTRA
SANTA CLARITA VALLEY BOYS & GIRLS CLUB
WILLIAM S. HART HIGH SCHOOL
CALARTS COMMUNITY ARTS PARTNERSHIP
210
DEL REY HIGH SCHOOL
COLLABORATING PARTNER ORGANIZATIONS
Arroyo Seco Junior High School
rhondi durand Principal
juliet fine Classroom Teacher
27171 north vista delgado drive valencia ca 91354
tel 661.296.0991 fax 661.296.3436
www.hartdistrict.org/aseco
Art-in-the-Park
berta sosa Director
arroyo seco park
5568 via marisol los angeles ca 90042
tel 323.259.0861 fax 323.369.2476
www.artinthepark.us
Banning’s Landing Community Center
leslie thomas Director
lisette garibay Administrative Assistant
100 e. water street wilmington ca 90744
tel 310.522.2015 fax 310.522.2003
cadharborarts@earthlink.net
www.wilmington-chamber.com/banlndct.htm
California Institute of the Arts (CalArts)
steven lavine President
24700 mcbean parkway santa clarita ca 91355
tel 661.222.2708 fax 661.222.2726
www.calarts.edu
Center for the Arts Eagle Rock
julia salazar Director
2225 colorado blvd eagle rock ca 90041
tel 323.226.1617 fax 323.226.0949
www.centerartseaglerock.org
SAN FERNANDO GARDENS COMMUNITY SERVICE CENTER
LEWIS HIGH SCHOOL
WOODEN HIGH SCHOOL
EINSTEIN HIGH SCHOOL
INDEPENDENCE HIGH SCHOOL
LEONIS HIGH SCHOOL
EARHART HIGH SCHOOL
SAN
170 FERNANDO
LONDON HIGH SCHOOL
2
ROGERS HIGH SCHOOL
PASADENA
THOREAU HIGH SCHOOL
101
134
LOS ANGELES CENTER FOR
WHITMAN HIGH SCHOOL
101 LOS
ANGELES
PHOTOGRAPHIC STUDIES FRANKLIN HIGH SCHOOL
CENTER FOR THE ARTS EAGLE ROCK
ART-IN-THE-PARK
RAMONA HIGH SCHOOL
TEMESCAL CANYON HIGH SCHOOL MY FRIEND'S PLACE
PLAZA DE LA RAZA
SANTA
MONICA
10
WILLIAM REAGH LOS ANGELES PHOTOGRAPHY CENTER
SELF-HELP GRAPHICS & ART
INNER-CITY ARTS CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL
GERTZ-RESSLER
10 MONTEREY HIGH SCHOOL
405 HIGH SCHOOL FRIDA KAHLO
COLLEGE-READY HIGH SCHOOL
ACADEMY
SAN ANTONIO HIGH SCHOOL
PHOENIX HIGH SCHOOL
HOPE HIGH SCHOOL
City of Santa Clarita, Arts and
Events Department
donna avila Events Program Coordinator
23920 valencia blvd ste 120 santa clarita ca 91355
tel 661.286.4145 fax 661.255.1996
www.santa-clarita.com/arts
Franklin High School
luis lopez Principal
820 north avenue 54 los angeles ca 90042
tel 323.550.2000
http://www.franklinhs.org
Gertz-Ressler High School / The Alliance
for College-Ready Public Schools
howard lappin Principal
2023 s. union avenue losangeles 90007-1326
tel 213.745.8141 fax 213.745.8142
www.laalliance.org
Inner-City Arts
cynthia harnisch Executive Director
bob bates Artistic Director
beth tishler Education Director
720 kohler street los angeles ca 90021
tel 213.627.9621 fax 213.627.6469
www.inner-cityarts.org
Los Angeles Center for Photographic
Studies (LACPS)
john bache President & Acting Executive Director
3034 angus street la ca 90039
tel 323.669.1897
www.cap.calarts.edu/partners.html
Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD)
333 south beaudry avenue los angeles ca 90017
tel 213.241.1000 fax 213.241.8442
www.lausd.k12.ca.us
The Community Arts Partnership is supported by the National Endowment for the Arts, the City of Los Angeles
Department of Cultural Affairs, the Hearst Foundation, Inc., the James Irvine Foundation, Susan Disney Lord,
Jamie Tisch, Janet Dreisen, Hilton Hotels Corporation, The Capital Group Companies Charitable Foundation,
Walter E.D. Miller, California Arts Council, the City of Santa Clarita, the Annenberg Foundation, the Herb
{ CAP }
Community Arts Partnership
The CalArts Community Arts Partnership (CAP), a program of the California
Institute of the Arts (CalArts), links the Institute and the diverse communities
of Los Angeles County through free, after-school and school-based
arts programs for youth. CAP provides the youth in these communities
challenging learning environments for artistic experimentation and creates
access to higher education. Through these CalArts faculty-mentored
programs, CAP provides CalArts students the opportunity to teach,
to refine their artistic abilities and to redefine the role of artists, arts
education, and the arts in society.
CAP, now in its eighteenth year, is a partnership between CalArts and
41 public high schools and community-based arts and youth organizations.
CAP offers in-depth arts training programs free-of-charge for high school
students in chamber music, jazz and world music, printmaking, photography,
video, drawing, graphic design, dance, digital media, theater, puppetry,
animation, and writing in 53 neighborhoods throughout Los Angeles County.
EAGLE TREE
HIGH SCHOOL
SAN
PEDRO
105
110
WATTS TOWERS ARTS CENTER
710
My Friend’s Place
shawn ingram Executive Director
heather carmichael Clinical Director
camilla brannstrom Special Projects
5850 Hollywood Blvd, Hollywood CA 90028
tel 323.908.0011 fax 323.468.1243
www.myfriendsplace.org
Plaza de la Raza
rose marie cano Executive Director
maria jimenez-torres Education Coordinator
3540 n. mission road la ca 90031
tel 323.223.2475 fax 323.223.1804
www.plazadelaraza.org
San Fernando Gardens
Community Service Center
suzell vargas Director
consuelo telfair Community Case Manager
10896 lehigh ave pacoima ca 91331
tel 818.834.9266 fax 818.896.3783
Santa Clarita Valley Boys and Girls Club
jim ventress Executive Director
24909 newhall avenue newhall ca 91321
tel 661.254.2582 fax 661.254.3278
www.scvboysandgirlclub.org
605
BANNING'S LANDING COMMUNITY CENTER
Santa Clarita Valley Youth Orchestra
at College of the Canyons
robert lawson Music Director
paul sherman Associate Conductor and Adjunct Faculty
24655 rockwell canyon road santa clarita ca 91355
tel 661.259.7800 x 3254 fax 661.259.8302
www.scvyo.org
Self-Help Graphics & Art
3802 cesar chavez ave la ca 90063-1896
tel 323.881.6444 fax 323.881.6447
www.selfhelpgraphics.com
Visual Communications
jeff liu Interim Executive Director
120 judge john aiso street
basement level la ca 90012
tel 213.680.4462 fax 213.687.4848
www.vconline.org
Watts Towers Arts Center
rosie lee hooks Director
rogelio acevedo Education Coordinator
1727 e. 107th street la ca 90002
tel 323.847.4646 fax 323.564.7030
www.trywatts.com/art_center.htm
William S. Hart High School
dr. colvin nielsen Principal
24825 newhall avenue newhall ca 91321
tel 661.259.7575 fax 661.254.6436
www.hartdistrict.org/hart/
William Reagh Los Angeles
Photography Center
ruben amavizca Director
2332 w. fourth street la ca 90057
tel 213.382.8133
Alpert Foundation, JL Foundation, B.C. McCabe Foundation, Getty Grant Program, Edison International,
Roth Family Foundation, Good Works Foundation, and the Talented Students in the Arts Initiative,
a collaboration of the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and the Surdna Foundation.
California Institute of the Arts
BOARD OF TRUSTEES
Joan Abrahamson
Aileen Adams
William H. Ahmanson
Austin M. Beutner
Chairman
David A. Bossert
Jacqueline Brandwynne
Manuel O. Castells
Edwin E. Catmull
Don Cheadle
V. Shannon Clyne
Joseph M. Cohen
Richard W. Cook
Timothy P. Corrigan
Robert J. Denison
Roy E. Disney
Steven D. Lavine President
Nancy Uscher Provost
Lynn Rosenfeld Vice President for Special Projects
Arwen Duffy Vice President for Advancement
Steve Anker Dean, School of Film/Video
Erik Ehn Dean, School of Theater
Stephan Koplowitz Dean, School of Dance
Tom Lawson Dean, School of Art
David Rosenboom Dean, School of Music
Nancy Wood Dean, School of Critical Studies
California Institute of the Arts Community Arts Partnership
FACULTY ARTISTS (since 1990)
Luis Alfaro
Susan Allen
Steve Anker
Kary Arimoto-Mercer
Karen Atkinson
Larry Attaway
John Bache
Eric Barber
Lee Barnette
Laurel Beckman
Fran Bennett
John Bergamo
Hartmut Bitomsky
Lawrence Blake
Steve Brown
Michael Bryant
Nancy Buchanan
Ben Caldwell
Theresa Chavez
Marissa Chibas
Bob Clendenen
Gay Crusius-Hoag
Robert Dansby
Barbara June Dodge
Scott Duncan
Alan Eder
Erik Ehn
Dave Emerson
Martha Ferrara
Julie Feves
Andy Freeman
Janie Geiser
Randy Gloss
Patricia Mabee Goldstein
Vinny Golia
Charlie Haden
Chad Hamill
Albert “Tootie” Heath
California Institute of the Arts Community Arts Partnership
VISITING ARTISTS (since 1990)
Kim Abeles
Geri Allen
Luis Alfaro
Gloria Alvarez
Alex Alferov
Michael Amescua
Rudolfo Anaya
Tomie Arie
Hector Armienta
Chris Armstrong
David Avalos
Glenna Avila
Judy Baca
Lita Barrie
Lelalois Beard
Geetha Bennett
Norma Bowles
Ed Bland
Chaz Bojorquez
Anne Bray
Peter Brosius
Sandip Burman
Barbara Carrasco
Srikanth Chary
Anna Chavez
Denise Chavez
Elaine Chen
Carl Cheng
Martha Chono-Helsey
Olivia Chumacero
Chris Cichoki
Joyce Clarke
Wendy Clarke
Eva Cockcroft
Reggie Coleman
Robbie Conal
Kiko Cornejo, Jr.
Jose Cruz Gonzalez
Vanessa Cruz
Cubanismo
Jessica Cusick
Danny De La Paz
Miguel Delgado
Nancy De Los Santos
Simeon Den
Juan Devis
Ulises Diaz
Prince Diabaté
Maya Emsden
Leslie Ernst
Ruben Esqueda
Eddie Felix
Cecil Fergerson
Koina Freeman
Harry Gamboa
Amparo Garcia
Margaret Garcia
Willie Garcia
Cheri Gaulke
Community Arts Partnership
CAP COUNCIL
Glenna Avila
Director & ex officio
George Nicholas Boone
Richard Burrows
Susan Disney Lord
Laura Donnelley
Janet Dreisen
CalArts Administration
CalArts Community Arts Partnership (CAP)
Glenna Avila Director
Evelyn Serrano Assistant Director of Programs
Wendy Vazquez Assistant Director of Operations
Drew Jorgensen Public Programs Coordinator and Saturday Music Program Coordinator
Carribean Fragoza Summer Arts Program Coordinator
Betty Lee ArtsCOOL Program Coordinator
Jan Smail Administrative Assistant
Tim Disney
Janet Dreisen
Robert B. Egelston
Michael D. Eisner
David I. Fisher
Harriett F. Gold
Leo F. Hobaica Jr.
Faculty Trustee
Charmaine Jefferson
Peter Kraus
Ex-Officio/Chairman,
Board of Overseers
Steven D. Lavine
President and Ex-Officio
Thomas L. Lee
James B. Lovelace
Michelle Lund
Dick Hebdige
Leo Hobaica
Darcy Huebler
David Johnson
Douglas Kearney
Dennis Keeley
Martin Kersels
Chandra Khan
Garland Kirkpatrick
Norman Klein
Stephan Koplowitz
Gordon Kurowski
Alfred Ladzekpo
Kobla Ladzekpo
Beatrice Lawluvi
Cristyne Lawson
Tom Lawson
Betty Lee
Ferdinand Lewis
Joe Lewis
Paul Livingston
John Mahoney
Mark Menzies
Jennifer Miller
Michael Mitchell
Roscoe Mitchell
Peter Miyamoto
Maggie Nelson
James Newton
Paul Novros
Darek Oles
Cynthia Overman
Christine Panushka
Francesca Penzani
Chris Peters
Bryan Pezzone
Astra Price
Vicki Ray
Joel Glassman
Barbara Goldstein
Pat Gomez
Gabriel Gonzalez
Patricia Gonzalez
Christina Gorocica
Wesley Groves
Suzanna Guzman
Diane Hall
Ayana Hampton
Patrick Hebert
David Henderson
Ingrid Hernandez
Miyo Hernandez
Karin Higa
Cesar Holguin
Peter Howard
Sulley Imoro
Flora Ito
Ulysses Jenkins
Maria Jimenez-Torres
Gregg Johnson
Jeffrey Kahane
Kim Kanatani
Brooke Keesling
Michael Kenna
Ravi Kiran
Eliam Kraiem
Cyril Kuhn
Yeko Ladzekpo-Cole
Jon LaPointe
Julie Lazar
Betty Lee
Alma Lopez
Juanita Lopez
Luciano Perna
Los Pochos
Toni Love
Eve Luckring
Gilbert Lujan
Otoño Lujan
Ming-Yuen Ma
Yo Yo Ma
John Malpede
Daniel Martinez
Tania Martinez-Lemke
Lewis Mauk
Anthony McCann
Adrian Mejia
Willie Middlebrook
Yong Soon Min
Michael Miner
K. Silem Mohammed
David Monkawa
Allesandra Montezuma
Joe Morton
Donna Mungen
Merilene Murphy
Eileen Myles
Peggy Funkhouser
Chair
John Hughes
Judy Johnson
Steven Lavine
President & ex officio
James Lovelace
Janice Pober
Rona Sebastian
James McCoy
Staff Trustee
Peter Norton
Anthony N. Pritzker
Lawrence J. Ramer
Araceli Ruano
David L. Schiff
Richard C. Seaver
Joe Smith
Jade Thacker
Student Trustee
Roger Wacker
Elliot D. Webb
Luanne C. Wells
Kenneth P. Wong
David Roitstein
Carlos Rosas
David Rosenboom
Niki Rousso-Schindler
Lisa Schoenberg
Mady Schutzman
Gary Schwartz
Aaron Serfaty
Susan Simpson
Ishmael Wadada Leo Smith
Michael Smith
Susan Solt
Poovalur Srinivasan
Shelley Stepp
May Sun
Paul Supkoff
Miroslav Tadic
Tomas Tamayo
Toby Tannenbaum
Rajeev Taranath
Frank Terry
Trang Kim Tran
Marvin Tunney
Naomi Uman
Allan Vogel
Darrell Walters
Jon Wagner
Djoko Walujo
A. C. Weary
I Nyoman Wenten
Nanik Wenten
Nancy Wood
Denise Woods
Laurie Woolery
Michael Worthington
Seung-Hyun Yoo
Nobuho Nagasawa
Alan Nakagawa
Katherine Ng
Al Nodal
Catherine Opie
Rosalie Ortega
Ruben Ortiz-Torres
Barbara Osborn
John Outterbridge
Janet Owens
Monica Palacios
Mike Plante
Rose Portillo
Paola Prato
Quetzal
Xavier Quijas
Marcos Ramirez ERRE
Leda Ramos
Irma “Cui Cui Rangel
Yvonne Regalado
Peter Reiss
Luis Reyes
Jolene Rickard
Aleida Rodriguez
Marcos Rosales
Leanna Rosas
Ron Ruiz
Aida Salazar
Ernesto Salcedo
Esa-Pekka Salonen
Ray Sandoval
Rodney Sappington
Larry Shapiro
Herbert Siguenza
Tammy Singer
Alex Slade
Rachel Slowinski
Bernardo Solano
Arjuna Soriano
Joe Smoke
Larry Stein
May Sun
Roderick Sykes
Tomas Tamayo
Rea Tajiri
Joel Tan
Janice Tipton
Adan Valdez
Patssi Valdez
Carol Wells
Glen Williams, Jr.
Pat Ward Williams
Havana Willis
Al Winn
Richard Wyatt
David Yamamoto
Kim Yasuda
Michael Zinzun
Evelyn Serrano
Assistant Director of
Programs and ex officio
Jamie Tisch
Nancy Uscher
Provost & ex officio
Wendy Vazquez
Assistant Director of
Operations & ex officio
Simbi Kali Williams