California institute of the arts

Administrative History of the California Institute of the Arts Publications Collection

California Institute of the Arts, commonly known as CalArts, is located in Valencia, California, and grants degrees in the visual and performing arts. Incorporated on September 1, 1961, it was the first degree-granting institution of higher learning in the United States created specifically for students of both the visual and the performing arts. It was the dream and vision of Walt Disney to create such an institute and he provided funding for it in his will. Initially formed through the merger of the Chouinard Art Institute (founded 1921) and the Los Angeles Conservatory of Music (founded 1883), it opened at its present campus in Valencia, California, in November 1971.

California Institute of the Arts was incorporated on September 1, 1961, and the first Board of Trustees meeting was held the following March. Chouinard and the Conservatory began operating under the name of the Institute while the Trustees began working on the establishment of a permanent campus and a development program. Preparation continued in 1964, when the "Cal Arts Story" was dramatized on film by the Disney studios and shown at the world premiere of Mary Poppins at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, California. Prior to the Mary Poppins premiere (whose proceeds were donated to CalArts) Walt Disney and Mrs. Von Hagen introduced the Institute to an audience of 1,500 guests in a fifteen-minute special film. Among those who attended the Premiere were Julie Andrews, Dick Van Dyke, and numerous other Hollywood luminaries.

Land for a campus was acquired in 1967 and planning for the physical facilities was immediately undertaken. Disney interests had discovered a simple solution to their land acquisition problem – give CalArts part of the Golden Oaks Ranch in Newhall. The 728-acre ranch had belonged to Walt Disney Productions for years. In 1967 the gift property was sold back to the Disney interests so they could find a more spacious and suitable site. Price proposed a 60-acre site down the road from the Placerita Ranch, on the edge of the rural town of Valencia, located 32 miles northwest of downtown Los Angeles. At the time, the area was remote from Los Angeles, bordered by Placerita Canyon State Park and a national forest, yet readily accessible to downtown Los Angeles. Other locations had also been considered, such as the Hollywood Bowl area.

Ground was broken for the new campus on May 3, 1969. Construction was frustrated by torrential rains and labor troubles of every variety. So, instead the "new" school began its first year in the buildings of Villa Cabrini Academy, a former Catholic girls’ school on the edge of downtown Burbank. Woefully behind schedule and over budget, the Valencia campus finally opened in November 1971.

Admission to CalArts was based solely on artistic ability and potential. Students received intensive professional training in the area of their career focus without being cast into a rigid pattern. Instructional emphasis was placed on the development of the professional artist – the artist of tomorrow. "There is an urgent need," said Disney, "for a professional school which will not only give its students thorough training in a specific field, but will also allow the widest possible range of artistic growth and expression."

From the guide to the California Institute of the Arts Publications Collection, 1964-2009, (bulk 1971-2000), (California Institute of the Arts. Library.)

Administrative History of the California Institute of the Arts Photographic Materials Collection

The photographic materials in this collection belong to the California Institute of the Arts Public Affairs Department. Most of the images were taken by Public Affairs photographers, however some photographs were taken by photographers not associated with CalArts and were donated to the Public Affairs Department.

Chronology

• 1964: - CalArts has fundraiser at Mary Poppins premiere
• 1968: - Robert W. Corrigan becomes president of CalArts
• 1969: - Groundbreaking ceremony at Valencia site
• 1970: - Interim campus at Villa Cabrini in Burbank opens
• 1971: - Valencia campus opens
• 1975: - Robert J. Fitzpatrick becomes president of CalArts
• 1987: - Nicholas (Nick) England appointed acting president of CalArts
• 1988: - Steven D. Lavine named new president of CalArts

From the guide to the California Institute of the Arts Photographic Materials Collection, 1964-1993, (bulk 1970-1985), (California Institute of the Arts. Library.)

Administrative History of the California Institute of the Arts Collection

The California Institute of the Arts, commonly known as Cal Arts, was born in 1961 as Walt Disney’s dream of an ideal environment for artists of different media. Cal Arts is located in Valencia, California, and grants degrees in visual and performing arts. Incorporated on September 1, 1961, it was the first degree-granting institution of higher learning in the United States created specifically for students of both the visual and the performing arts. It was the dream and vision of Walt Disney to create such an institute, who provided funding for it in his will. Initially formed through the merger of the Chouinard Art Institute (founded 1921) and the Los Angeles Conservatory of Music (founded 1883), it opened at its present campus in Valencia, California, in November 1971.

The Los Angeles Conservatory was founded by Emily J. Valentine in 1883. Originally located at 408 South Main Street, the Conservatory eventually occupied buildings on South Figueroa Street and Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood as well as the Pilgrimage Theatre, which was part of the Hollywood Bowl facilities. In September 1962, the Conservatory joined Chouinard in the California Institute of the Arts and moved to 607 South Park View Street, Los Angeles.

Chouinard Art Institute was a professional art school founded in 1921 in Los Angeles, California by Mrs. Nelbert Chouinard (1879-1969), and was incorporated in 1935 as a non-profit educational institution. Between 1955 and 1957 Chouinard received accreditation from the Western Association of Schools and Colleges. In less than a decade the Chouinard Art School was listed among the top five art schools in the nation, a position it occupied for the rest of its fifty-one-year history. But, in 1955 Chouinard was in financial trouble. The financially fragile school asked for and received money from the Walt Disney Studio. It was at this time that Walt Disney began his efforts to straighten out the managerial and financial affairs of the school. During the next five years Walt injected the planning, the funds, and the management talent required to resuscitate the school, and set it toward the goal that he envisioned for the school. Until his death, Walt Disney made up Chouinard’s deficit each year.

Coincidentally, while Walt was investigating the possibility of Cal Arts, the Los Angeles Conservatory of Music was undergoing financial difficulties of its own. After three-quarters of a century of existence, the Conservatory, too had suffered reverses and needed help. This help was supplied by Mrs. Lulu von Hagen and Thornton Ladd of its Board of Trustees. In this period, Mrs. Von Hagen and Mr. Ladd were brought together with Walt Disney, and out of a union of Chouinard and the Conservatory, Cal Arts emerged.

California Institute of the Arts was incorporated on September 1, 1961, and the first Board of Trustees meeting was held the following March. Chouinard and the Conservatory began operating under the name of the Institute while the Trustees began working on the establishment of a permanent campus and a development program. Preparation continued in 1964, when the “ Cal Arts Story ” was dramatized on film by the Disney studios and shown at the world premiere of “ Mary Poppins ” at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, California. Prior to the “ Mary Poppins ” premiere, whose proceeds were donated to Cal Arts, Walt Disney and Mrs. Von Hagen introduced the Institute to an audience of 1500 guests in the fifteen-minute special film. Following the showing of the short film and “ Mary Poppins,” the guests attended a champagne reception hosted by Technicolor Corporation. Among those who attended the Premiere were Julie Andrews, Dick Van Dyke, and numerous other Hollywood luminaries.

Walt’s dream would cost a great deal of money. Administrators devoted much of their time to investigating government loans and finding affluent patrons around Southern California. In October 1965 James Jackson was elected Director of the Institute by the school’s Board of Trustees. Jackson had joined Cal Arts in 1964 as a consultant in planning and development, after which he served as Acting Director. As Director, Jackson drew up the applications necessary to secure federal assistance in the construction of the campus. The eventual result of these applications was a $2.2 million federal grant and a $2.8 million federal loan, which, together with the guarantees provided by the Disney Foundation, assured the building of the new campus.

Land for a campus was acquired in 1967 and planning for the physical facilities was immediately undertaken. Disney interests had discovered a simple solution to their land acquisition problem – give Cal Arts part of the Golden Oaks Ranch in Newhall. The 728-acre ranch had belonged to Walt Disney Productions for years. In 1967 the gift property was sold back to the Disney interests so they could find a more spacious and suitable site. Price proposed a 60-acre site down the road from the Placerita ranch, on the edge of the rural town Valencia, located 32 miles northwest of downtown Los Angeles. At the time, the area was remote from Los Angeles, bordered by Placerita Canyon State Park and a national forest, yet readily accessible to downtown Los Angeles. Other locations had also been considered, such as the Hollywood Bowl area.

Ground was broken for the new campus on May 3, 1969. The proposed grand opening in October 1970, however, would come and go by the time classes were to begin. Construction was frustrated by torrential rains and labor troubles of every variety. So, instead the “new” school began its first year in the buildings of Villa Cabrini Academy, a former Catholic girls’ school on the edge of downtown Burbank. Woefully behind schedule and over budget, the Valencia campus finally opened in November 1971.

Harrison Price, vice-chairman of Cal Arts board of trustees, led the search for a president competent to run the vast program planned for Cal Arts. The search ended with the appointment of Dr. Robert W. Corrigan as the first president of the Institute. Corrigan, former dean of the School of Arts at New York University, was attempting to create a similar mix of artistic disciplines as those that were going to be attempted at Cal Arts.

Corrigan was installed in December 1967. In February 1968, Corrigan was joined by his friend, Herbert Blau, then co-director of the Repertory Theatre of New York’s Lincoln Center. Blau was named provost of the Institute and Dean of the School of Theatre and Dance. Corrigan and Blau worked together to choose the new deans and key faculty people for Cal Arts, who would then select faculty for their own departments. Following Corrigan’s installation, the Development Office at Retlaw Enterprises, Inc. was closed, and development activities were transferred to Cal Arts. The Board of Trustees primary charge to Corrigan was to create totally new programs, “A Community of the Arts” through inter-related schools of Music, Theatre, Film, Art, and Design. By November 1971 all five schools moved to the new, permanent site of Cal Arts in Valencia.

Corrigan held his position until 1972, when he was replaced by William S. Lund, a Disney son-in-law, a Stanford B.A., active in business, real estate, and economic counseling. Lund assumed the position of Chairman of the Board of Trustees as well as Chief Administrative Officer for the Institute. In February 1975 Robert John Fitzpatrick accepted the presidency of Cal Arts. Prior to his installation as president, Fitzpatrick had been dean of Students at John Hopkins Hospital University in Baltimore, Maryland since 1972, and a member of the Baltimore City Council since 1971. Fitzpatrick was getting ready to run for Congress when Cal Arts called to offer him the presidency of the institution. Fitzpatrick took strident measures to open up the campus, develop new bases of financial support, and strengthen the board of trustees.

Admission to Cal Arts was based solely on artistic ability and potential. Students received intensive professional training in the area of his/her career purpose without being cast into a rigid pattern. Instructional emphasis was placed on the development of the professional artist – the artist of tomorrow. “There is an urgent need,” said Disney, “for a professional school which will not only give its students thorough training in a specific field, but will also allow the widest possible range of artistic growth and expression.”

Chronology

• 1883: Los Angeles Conservatory of Music founded
• 1921: Chouinard Art Institute founded
• 1961: Los Angeles Conservatory of Music and Chouinard Art Institute merged under the leadership of Walt Disney into the California Institute of the Arts, 1961
• September 1, 1961: Cal Arts Incorporated; Mrs. Richard R. Von Hagen, first chairman of the Board of Trustees
• July 1963: Women’s Board (later Women for California Institute of the Arts) established.
• January 1964: Accredited by Western Association of Schools and Colleges
• November 1966: Need and Concept – a major planning study – approved
• December 1966: Death of Walt Disney.
• April 1967: Valencia, California, selected as permanent site for the Institute
• September 1967: Harrison Price elected chairman of Board of Trustees
• December 1967: Robert W. Corrigan appointed President
• February 1968: Herbert Blau appointed Provost and dean of the School of Theatre and Dance
• July 1968: The President and Provost assumed office.
• January 1969: Expansion of Board of Trustees initiated
• March 1969: Announcement of $54 million fund raising goal, spurred by $5 million Disney Foundation grant
• March 21, 1969: President Nixon presented Walt Disney Medal to Mrs. Walt Disney. Members of the Walt Disney Associates (Founded February 1969) a support group of the Institute’s Development Program received bronze replicas of the original gold medal.
• April 1969: First student accepted
• May 3, 1969: The "Great Ground Breaking" at Valencia
• July 1969: Deans and their staff in residence
• September 1969: First Institute catalog published
• November 1969: Student selection process begun
• December 5, 1969: Walt Disney Associates established
• August 1970: Villa Cabrini, Burbank, selected as interim campus. Faculty (approximately 80) in residence
• September 1970: Faculty – 126 in residence
• October 5, 1970: Sessions begin
• October 12, 1970: First 12 month academic year begins with 659 students at provisional campus
• September 1971: Second academic year began in Valencia at permanent campus

From the guide to the California Institute of the Arts Archival Collection, 1925-1988, (bulk 1960-1972), (California Institute of the Arts. Library.)

Administrative History of the California Institute of the Arts Feminist Art Materials Collection

California Institute of the Arts, commonly known as CalArts, is located in Valencia, California, and grants degrees in the visual and performing arts. Incorporated on September 1, 1961, it was the first degree-granting institution of higher learning in the United States created specifically for students of both the visual and the performing arts. It was the dream and vision of Walt Disney to create such an institute and he provided funding for it in his will. Initially formed through the merger of the Chouinard Art Institute (founded 1921) and the Los Angeles Conservatory of Music (founded 1883), it opened at its present campus in Valencia, California, in November 1971.

In that same year, CalArts faculty members and noted artists Judy Chicago and Miriam Schapiro co-founded the Feminist Art Program (FAP). Based on the experimental program Chicago had started at Fresno State College the previous year, the FAP at CalArts was one of the first in the country to offer team taught courses on female art history taught exclusively by women for women only. Also founded in 1971 was the Women’s Design Program, led by Sheila de Bretteville. Like the FAP, the Women’s Design Program was a one-year program that focused on participation in various processes by which art is created, including group consciousness raising sessions, performance workshops, and reading of feminist literature.

Approximately twenty-five young women artists joined the FAP during the program’s opening year. Work on the program’s first class project, “Womanhouse," began on November 8, 1971. The purpose of “Womanhouse" was to “provide a better understanding of women artists by themselves and by the predominately male art community." Together the artists transformed a deserted, seventeen-room, Los Angeles mansion into an exhibit space. Each artist chose a portion of the house in which she had complete freedom to “explore aspects of female experience" through her art.

The completion of “Womanhouse" coincided with the West Coast Women Artists’ Conference, hosted by CalArts. Despite its name, the conference included participants from states all over the country. On the evening of Friday, January 21, 1972, the conference commenced with a tour of “Womanhouse" followed by performances presented in the living room of the house. The next morning, Schapiro opened the official conference during which various women artists gave talks, showed slides of artwork, and discussed the exclusion of women from major museum exhibits and gallery spaces. “Womanhouse" opened for public exhibition on January 30, 1972. Approximately 4,000 visitors viewed the house and attended the evening performances over the course of the installation’s exhibit period.

Activities related to feminist art continued to emerge throughout the early 1970s. On June 6, 1972, an exhibit entitled “Ablutions," created by Chicago and three students, Suzanne Lacy, Aviva Rahmani and Sandra Orgel opened for public exhibition off-campus. In 1973, Chicago, de Bretteville, and art historian Arlene Raven founded the Feminist Studio Workshop (FSW), the first independent school for women artists. That same year, the Woman’s Building in Los Angeles was also founded. Other events held at CalArts included the Feminist Art Festival which took place from May 27-31, 1974. However, despite the positive impact of such activities, the FAP dissolved, mainly as a result of Chicago and Schapiro’s departures in 1973 and 1975 respectively.

Although many of the organized feminist art programs at CalArts formally ceased to exist, beliefs and ideas cultivated from the programs of the early 1970s continued to be influential. In May 1998, CalArts students, alumni, and faculty began meeting to discuss those programs and their effects on feminist art. Based on these meetings, the Feminist Art Workshop took place from September 28-October 3, 1998. Individuals from CalArts, as well as people from other Southern California art institutions, participated in various discussions, events, and workshops. From March 5-10, 2007, a student-organized event entitled “Exquisite Acts and Everyday Rebellions" was held consisting of exhibitions, performances, workshops, and a day-long symposium of panel discussions. Such events are responsible for preserving the role CalArts played in the feminist art movement of the 1970s.

Chronology

• 1970: Judy Chicago founds Feminist Art Program (FAP) at Fresno State College.
• 1971: Judy Chicago and Miriam Schapiro co-found Feminist Art Program (FAP) at CalArts. Sheila de Bretteville founds Women’s Design Program at CalArts.
• November 1971: CalArts opens at present campus in Valencia, California. Work begins on FAP’s first exhibition, “Womanhouse."
• January 21 - 23, 1972 : West Coast Women Artists’ Conference held at CalArts.
• January 30, 1972: “Womanhouse" opens for public exhibition.
• June 6, 1972: “Ablutions" opens for public exhibition.
• 1973: Woman’s Building in Los Angeles founded. Chicago, de Bretteville, and art historian Arlene Raven found the Feminist Studio Workshop (FSW). Chicago leaves FAP/FSW to work on collaborative project entitled “The Dinner Party."
• May 27 - 31, 1974 : Feminist Art Festival held at CalArts.
• 1975: Schapiro leaves FAP.
• 1981: FSW closes.
• September 28 - October 3, 1998 : Feminist Art Workshop held at CalArts.

From the guide to the California Institute of the Arts Feminist Art Materials Collection, 1971-2007, (bulk 1972-1977), (California Institute of the Arts. Library.)