California State Summer School for the Arts
The California State Summer School for the Arts, commonly known as CSSSA, is a rigorous four-week, pre-professional visual and performing arts training program for high school students held each summer at the California Institute of the Arts. The goal of CSSSA is to provide a supportive environment in which students acquire experience and training that extends beyond the practice and improvement of aesthetics and technique. Artistic disciplines offered by the program include: animation, creative writing, dance, film and video, music, theatre arts, and visual arts. Its purpose is to provide a training ground for future artists who wish to pursue careers in the arts and entertainment industries in California. Admitted students are designated California Arts Scholars. Upon completion of the program, the students are awarded a Governor's Medallion, the highest distinction in California for artistically talented students. Founded in 1987, CSSSA is a California State agency funded through a unique public/private partnership.
Admissions
Admission to the program is granted primarily to California state high school students, and up to twenty students from outside of California. The main criteria for admission is an applicant's potential for further professional development in the arts or creative fields after the end of the program. It's determined through an audition, portfolio review, screening, and teacher recommendations. Approximately one out of three applicants are accepted, parallel to the acceptance rate of CalArts.History
During the early 1980s, California was facing increasing competition from other states in the arts and entertainment industry, which is its third-largest source for tax revenue. Film, television, and recording studio complexes, traditionally built in California, were being built in Florida, Texas, among other places. With diminishing interest in the commercial art sector, many of California's non-profit fine arts institutions and the state's educational community were feeling the effects of a financial backlash.In 1982, a three-year effort by the state's legislature began to create an educational environment for California's young artists. State Senator Alan Sieroty sponsored legislation to begin the planning process. A 24-member Advisory Council of legislative, arts, and industry leaders was appointed by the California Arts Council and the State Board of Education to explore the cause of talent drain and recommend statewide educational opportunities. One of the problems that the Advisory Council discovered was that many of California's young talents were leaving California to attend art programs in New York, North Carolina, Michigan, and other states — and would eventually stay to live and work there while they went to school.
The research by the Council concluded on September 28, 1985 when Governor Deukmejian signed the bill, authored by State Senator John Garamendi, which created the California State Summer School for the Arts. The first session was held in the summer of 1987.
The program would prove to be highly successful. By September 1990, Governor Deukmejian signed follow-up legislation to make it a permanent program of the state. By 1992, Governor Pete Wilson signed legislation to enable the program to accept a limited number of students from outside California, thereby making it a national program.