The California State Summer School for the Arts—also known as InnerSpark—is an intensive four-week training program in the visual and performing arts, creative writing, animation and film for talented artists of high school age. The program has 500 students and includes seven disciplines. The goal is to train, and retain, talented individuals in recognition of the key role fine arts and the performing arts play in the state’s culture and economy.  

In the early 1980s, California was facing increased competition from other states for its arts and entertainment industries, which represent the Golden State’s third-largest source of tax revenue. Film, television and recording studio complexes were being built in Florida, Texas and other states. Motion picture executives and producers were increasingly looking outside the state for production opportunities, and many states—and Canada—were all too willing to provide tax breaks and other incentives to attract more productions to move there.

The hit on California’s once-sacrosanct commercial arts and entertainment sector created a financial backlash that threw a scare into the state’s nonprofit fine arts institutions and its educational community. Those sectors took note of the losses and made a concerted effort to stem the tide.

Beginning in 1982, a three-year campaign was launched to establish an educational arts framework to overhaul the cultural climate of California’s arts sector by training generations of future artists who would contribute to and become advocates for the arts and working members of the state’s entertainment industry.

The philanthropic community that is part and parcel of California’s entertainment and arts sector rose to the challenge of making a stand to preserve the state’s longstanding leadership in the film, television and music industries.

The catalyst that kicked off the campaign was an activist member of the California Arts Council, an 11-member, policy-setting council appointed by the governor and the state Legislature that is charged with assisting with the development of arts leaders, promoting awareness and the value of the arts, and fund-raising. Wendy Goldberg, who had recently been appointed to the arts council by Governor Edmund G. Brown, Jr., provided that leadership. Goldberg generated public support for legislation sponsored by Democratic state Senator Alan Sieroty to launch a planning process.

That process led to the creation of a 24-member advisory council, chaired by Joan Newberg, that was made up of legislative, arts and industry leaders appointed by the California Arts Council and the State Board of Education to explore the cause of the talent drain and to recommend educational solutions. Among the panel’s findings was that many of the state’s most talented young artists and entertainers were leaving California to attend arts training programs in New York, North Carolina, Michigan and other states—and then staying on to live and work in those communities where they went to school. The solution was to create an educational facility that would keep them in California.

Goldberg enlisted MGM Chairman and CEO Frank Rothman to mobilize the entertainment community to support a bill by Bay Area state Senator John Garamendi that created the California State Summer School for the Arts.

The bill was signed into law on September 28, 1985, by Governor George Deukmejian. The major objectives of the legislation were:

1. To enable artistically gifted and talented students, broadly representative of the state’s socioeconomic and ethnic diversity, to receive intensive training through a multidisciplinary program;

2. To provide training for future artists, with the goal that some may practice the arts or pursue careers in major performing arts companies, and commercial and fine arts institutions in California; and

3. To establish a model for partnership between public and private sectors.

On July 6, 1987, 400 high school students showed up at the campus of the California Institute of the Arts in Valencia for the program’s inaugural four-week session. The first summer session was so successful that Governor Deukmejian signed follow-up legislation in September 1990 making the school a permanent state program. Two years later, Governor Pete Wilson signed legislation allowing the school to accept a limited number of students from outside California, thus making it a national program.

After the school was created, there was much excitement across the state as students in the 9th through 12^th grades began applying for admission. As outlined in the initial legislation, the students were to be selected from across the state, generally representing the state’s broad diversity.

Community arts organizations throughout California aggressively recruited students to apply for CSSSA. Some communities celebrated the success of their local sons and daughters by honoring them with public events.

For instance, The Union Democrat, a newspaper in Sonora, ran a headline on May 7, 1987: Lunch honors Jamestown girl. The story noted that Molly Hart, a junior at Sonora High School, had been accepted as a CSSSA finalist and that the local arts council was holding a reception for her. The public was invited to attend the luncheon to honor the student. Note that Ms. Hart had not yet been accepted into the program, the festivities were for her being a finalist.

And in Ventura County, a story on May 9, 1987, in The Press-Courier, under the headline 9 Fine Arts Students Get Work Honors, noted that nine county high school students had been honored “for outstanding talent in performing and fine arts” with “specially struck medallions from the state Legislature” at a ceremony co-sponsored by the county Arts Commission and the state Arts Council. The students had not been accepted to CSSSA, rather they had been recruited by the county commission to audition for admission to the first CSSSA class.

Although CSSSA’s first session was at Cal Arts in Valencia, where it is housed today, over the years it has also been held at Loyola Marymount in Los Angeles, Mills College in Oakland and Fresno State University. Since it opened its doors, the school has trained more than 12,500 students.

Among alumni of the CSSSA program are:

James Franco, Golden Globe winner, Oscar-nominated; movies include “Spiderman,” “Milk” and “127 Days.”

Dave Franco, actor, “Superbad,” “Privileged.”

Zac Efron, actor, “Charlie St. Cloud,” “High School Musical.”

Kirsten Vangsness, actress, “Criminal Minds.”

Teal Wicks, actress/singer, “Wicked.”

Craig McCracken, Emmy-award winning animator for “Powerpuff Girls.”

Katharine McPhee, actress, “Smash.”

Nato Thompson, curator

Matthew Monahan, visual artist

Sophie Buhai, fashion designer.

Stephen Gregory, Sanjay Patel, Bobby Podesta, Mark Walsh and Tasha Harris—visual artists who helped create the computer animation hits “Toy Story 1,2,3” “A Bug’s Life,” “Monsters Inc,” “Finding Nemo” and “Ratatouille.”

Civic Leader Is Catalyst for Southland Arts (by Mary Lou Loper, Los Angeles Times)

History of the California State Summer School for the Arts (CSSSA Foundation)

The California State Summer School for the Arts, also known as InnerSpark, is an intensive four-week training program in the visual and performing arts, creative writing, animation and film for talented artists of high school age. The school and its instructors provide a supportive environment so that students can hone acquired skills and explore new techniques and ideas in their chosen area of artistic expression.

The program, which has been expanded to 500 students, includes seven disciplines and is open to California students from grades 9 through 12. Twenty slots are available for students from outside California. Students are selected in the spring on the basis of talent and creativity as demonstrated through assignments and teacher recommendations. In 2011, fewer than half of the applicants in each discipline were admitted; in some disciplines as few as one in three. Upon completion of the program, the students are named California Arts Scholars and receive a state Arts Scholar Medallion.

The instructors for each program are typically working professionals, in many cases the tops in their field. The links provided below for each discipline include a listing of that program’s faculty. Each link also includes a downloadable application and a detailed description of the application requirements.

Animation: Students explore the theories and techniques of animation in studio workshops conducted by leading artists in the field. Course work in two-dimensional animation, life drawing, movement and related subjects is augmented by visits from world-renown guest animators. Students attend screenings of animations that demonstrate the history and breadth of the art form. Students complete several projects during the program, involving zoetrope, flipbooks, stop-motion and cutout animation techniques. Over the course of the session, each student produces five animated projects. At the end of the program, they have acquired an extensive toolbox for expressing themselves through the art of animation.

Creative Writing: Students receive individualized instruction in poetry, fiction, and scriptwriting. They work with an award-winning faculty in small groups and have opportunities to learn from visiting writers, literary agents, journalists, and poets. Students and faculty members share their work with the school community in weekly open readings and publish an anthology at the end of the session. The curriculum has seven basic components: core class, focus section, independent collaborative project, discussions and presentations, writers stage, individualized master class and literary anthology.

Dance: The program offer a rigorous curriculum that includes intensive training in ballet, modern, and body conditioning mat technique; choreography; dance history; and jazz. All dancers are required to participate in mandatory ballet and modern technique classes as well as improvisation and composition classes. Repertory workshops and seminars are included, as well as master classes and rehearsals. The program culminates in a demonstration for the rest of the school of works that have been developed over the course of the program.

Film/Video: Students receive instruction and experience in film and video production techniques. They work with Super-8 and 16-mm film and a variety of video media to create short works individually and in collaboration with other students. They view more than 50 exemplary films and videos, and attend lectures and presentations by visiting artists working in the field. The program is very learning-intensive, and ideal for self-starters who want to challenge both themselves and the boundaries of film and video production while developing their own critical thinking and artistic visions.

Music: The program for vocalists, instrumentalists and composers features classes and experiences in music history and theory, a mix of Western and non-Western chamber music, composition and improvisation, technology, collaboration with other art forms – such as dance, theatre and animation – and traditional instruction. Students receive private lessons and participate in student ensembles. The school presents a wide range of leading professional musicians in concerts and master classes. 

Theatre: The program provides an intensive acting course that emphasizes the development of physical and vocal awareness and control as essential elements of the actor's craft. Classes are held in tai chi chuan, acting, movement, voice, story, stage combat, physical comedy, stage acrobatics and musical theater. There are special forums, workshops, and guest lecturers. There is no performance component to the Theatre Program, and no big show at the end. Process takes priority over product. In addition to required classes, seminars and performances, theatre students have opportunities to collaborate with participants from other departments in the development of scripts, monologues, films and performance art projects.

Visual Arts: Students take studio classes in figure drawing, design, painting, digital media, printmaking, sculpture, ceramics and photography. The program is dedicated to helping students meet the challenges of contemporary art-making through assigned lessons that address critical thinking and problem-solving, the consideration of historical parallels, and the application of rigorous studio art practices. Special workshops and performances by a number of distinguished visiting artists are offered, along with field trips to local museums, private galleries and artists' studios.  Studios are open in the evenings for students to complete class projects and accomplish personal work.

The total fee for room, board and tuition for California residents is $1,550; the fee for students from out of state is $5,000. Students must pay an additional credit registration fee if they wish to receive California State University credit. Animation, Visual Arts and Film/Video students pay additional materials fees of $150. The nonrefundable application fee is $20. A deposit of 50% is required upon acceptance.

CSSSA provides financial aid for applicants based on demonstrated need. Nearly 40% of the students who have attended CSSSA have had from 20% to 90% of their tuition paid by the California State Summer School for the Arts Foundation. Financial aid is available to California residents only.

Students who successfully complete the summer session can receive three units of college extension credit from the California State University system (Humboldt State University Office of Extended Education). By law, a student may not receive high school credit for attending CSSSA unless his or her school district arranges to pay all costs and fees for program attendance.

Most of CSSSA’s budget is covered by the state General Fund. By law, the state’s commitment must range between 50% and 75% of the school’s budget. The school charges tuition, but 39% of students over the years have availed themselves of financial aid from the California State Summer School Arts Foundation.

In collaboration with the California Department of Education, CSSSA’s board of trustees developed the process by which scholarships are awarded by the foundation. Eligibility is based on an assessment formula relating to family income, using the Congressional Methodology. The scholarship program works in tandem with CSSSA’s outreach and recruitment initiatives that target low-income, minority students who attend Title I schools and participate in free and reduced-cost lunch programs.

The foundation has doled out $4 million in scholarships since 1987; 176 students received $180,000 in 2011. It is supported by a long list of individual and entertainment and arts companies.

The bulk of CSSSA’s $2.2 million budget in 2012-13, roughly $1.9 million, goes toward operating expenses, including the program’s selection process, purchase of course equipment, staff and faculty and the rental of classroom and residential space.

$258,000 goes toward covering CSSSA’s four staff positions. Another $94,000 is spent on staff benefits. The director is paid $87,000.

Top 10 Contractors: The California State Summer School of the Art's largest service contractors in 2012, according to the  State Contract & Procurement Registration System (eSCPRS) in the Department of General Services, were:

3-Year Budget (pdf)

Funding Law for CSSSA (California Education Code Section 8957)

Buried “Treasure”

Toward the end of 1993, Alice Walker, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of “The Color Purple” who had adopted California as her home, learned that she was to be honored in the literature category of the fifth annual Governor’s Award for the Arts, designating her a “state treasure.” The other inductees were film director Steven Speilberg, actor Hal Holbrook and artist David Hockney. The presentation was to be made by Governor Pete Wilson on March 25, 1994, at a gala benefit in Los Angeles for the California State Summer School for the Arts—a massive fund-raising event for CSSSA.

Early that March, Walker learned that two of her writings, “Roselily,” a short story involving the reflections of a black Christian woman on the altar about to marry a Muslim man in rural Mississippi, and “Am I Blue?” an essay built around the relationship between a woman and a horse, had been pulled from the state achievement test for 10^th graders. The action by the State Board of Education was the result of complaints from conservative Christian groups that believed “Roselily” was anti-religious, and that “Am I Blue?” was “anti meat-eating.”

Walker was outraged by the banning of her works. “Roselily” had already appeared on the 1993 test with no fanfare. The San Francisco Chronicle reported on March 9 that in response to the banning, Walker wrote a one-sentence note to Governor Wilson: “Under the circumstances . . . I cannot accept the Governor’s Award for Literature.” She asked the other recipients to reconsider accepting their awards as well. Speilberg and Hockney had no comment, but Holbrook said that he intended to receive his award, and for his acceptance speech he was going to read her banned works.

The brouhaha quickly went national, with the NAACP, the ACLU, teachers and students rallying on Walker’s behalf. Wilson apologized publicly to Walker, saying that the banning was a result of slipshod staff work, and that he never intended to endorse the Board of Education’s decision to bar the works. “Nothing could be further from the truth,” Wilson wrote in his apology. “I oppose censorship of any kind.” Wilson pleaded with Walker to reconsider. After the Board of Education agreed to restore her works to the pool of writing used in testing, she agreed to attend the ceremony, and, according to a Biography of Alice Walker, decided to accept the award, using the ceremony as an opportunity to “speak for those without a voice.”

She told the assembled audience that what critics really found objectionable about “Roselily” was that the main character was a black unwed mother.

“They did not wish to give this young woman any space at all in society, not even in the imagination of our children. And yet, I ask you, what is the point of the rest of us being treasures to each other if any unwed mother, black or otherwise, is denied. She is the most isolated, the most vulnerable, the most scared, and, I believe, the most sacred.

“And this is what I ask of you: to the long list of California’s endangered treasures—you, me, the wild rivers, the black bear, the spotted owl, and the redwood tree—add the unwed mother.”

The story doesn’t quite end there. Walker’s then-most recent work was “Warrior Marks,” a book that accompanied a documentary on the mutilation of female genitals in Africa. The Governor’s Award for the Arts was a foot-tall sculpture of a nude woman’s torso – without arms, legs or a head. "Imagine my horror when, after four years of thinking about the mutilation of women, I was presented with a decapitated, armless, legless woman, on which my name hung from a chain," Walker told the San Francisco Chronicle, adding that she intended to keep the statuette in a box.

“Roselily” and “Am I Blue?” were later published in a volume titled “Banned,” along with essays and news clippings covering the various aspects of the incident. Her acceptance speech was later published in a collection of essays titled “Anything We Love Can Be Saved.”

Author Walker Rejects California Literary Award (by Nanette Asimov, San Francisco Chronicle)

Writer Upset Over Statuette Received at State Arts Awards (Associated Press)

Diversity

At the core of the legislation that created the California State Summer School for the Arts and set the standards and parameters for its programs are the Education Code sections that define precisely what the programs’ founders had in mind for an institution charged with ensuring the viability and credibility of California’s future arts and entertainment sectors. Education Code Sections 8950-8957 establish a governing board of trustees that “shall be broadly representative of the cultural, ethnic, and geographic diversity of the state, and shall be composed of artists, arts educators, university professors and administrators, arts administrators, representatives of foundations, corporations, and commercial arts industries, and other distinguished citizens of the state.” In other words – diversity.

Then, in defining the rules and regulations governing fees and admission procedures, the code states that the rules shall include “the requirement that pupils admitted to the California State Summer School for the Arts be broadly representative of the socioeconomic and ethnic diversity of the state.” In other words – diversity.

Clearly, making the state’s arts and entertainment sectors diverse bodies was as important, if not more important, than setting standards or boundaries on the students’ artistic expression. Perhaps it was assumed that a diverse group of students, under the tutelage of a diverse group of administrators and faculty, would pursue a diverse artistic agenda.

There is no debate about the numbers. As a loosely definable group, the film industry – or Hollywood – has long been associated with “liberal” political causes that typically support minorities. The industry is regularly criticized by “conservatives” for what it alleges is lockstep support of the Democratic Party. Without a doubt, this complicated issue blurs political lines, because the problem ultimately has nothing to do with politics.

Diversity Is Not an Issue

A snapshot of Hollywood—meaning the mainstream film industry, where many of CSSSA’s students would presumably ultimately be headed—shows little diversity in California’s most high-profile arts and entertainment industry, and in fact there are voices within the leadership of that industry who argue that diversity is not even a viable concern. Those who make such arguments are neither promoting nor defending gender or ethnic exclusion; rather they argue that the pursuit of artistic expression should be free of political consequences.

A Los Angeles Times study of the panel of voters who determine the winners of the Academy Awards, published February 12, 2012, found that of the 5,765 voting members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, 94% were Caucasian, 77% were male, about 2% were black and fewer than 2% were Latino. The median age of the group was 62, and people younger than 50 made up just 14% of the membership.

For perspective, according to the 2010 U.S. Census, blacks represented 12.6% of the population, people of Hispanic or Latino origin represent 16.3%, and “whites,” a demographic term that is similar to but broader than Caucasians—and not used by the Census Bureau—represent 72.4 percent of the population.

The Times found that some of the academy's 15 branches are almost exclusively white and male. As of early 2012, Caucasians made up 90% or more of every academy branch except actors, whose roster is 88% white. The academy's executive branch is 98% white, same as the writers branch. Men represented more than 90% of five branches, including cinematography and visual effects. Of the academy's 43-member board of governors, six are women; Cheryl Boone Isaacs, a public relations executive, is the sole person of color.

Academy President Tom Sherak said that the film industry itself (actors and craft groups) lacks diversity, making it difficult to diversify the academy membership. "We've been trying to reach out to the constituency and we're looking for help. You want to be on a committee? Tell us what committee. If you are sitting waiting for us to find your name in our make-believe book and we are going to call you, we are not going to do that. Come to us, we'll get you in. We want you in. That would help us a lot."

Asked about the demographics detailed in the study, Frank Pierson, an Academy board member and former president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences—and the Oscar-winning writer of “Dog Day Afternoon” and Oscar-nominated writer of “Cool Hand Luke”—told The Times reporters: “I don't see any reason why the academy should represent the entire American population. That’s what the People's Choice Awards are for. We represent the professional filmmakers, and if that doesn't reflect the general population, so be it."

William Goldstein, an academy member and Grammy- and Emmy-nominated composer (and member of the CSSSA board of directors since its inception), took exception to The Times article. In an op-ed article published by The Times under the headline Academy Awards: It’s about art, not political correctness, Goldstein wrote:

“The Times' story implies that diversity among voting members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is more important than excellence. The Times implies that experience in craft and in life that comes with age is not as valuable as that which comes from a presumably younger and more diverse demographic. The implication that Academy members have an agenda to deprive minorities of membership is insulting and speaks of a press interested only in stirring up controversy.”

Goldstein also wrote: “I understand the desire to cultivate artistic talent across all demographic lines; the California State Summer School for the Arts, where I have served on the board since its founding nearly 30 years ago, goes out of its way to make sure high school students of all backgrounds know about us and apply. I don't, however, support the recent push toward egalitarianism in the arts, which holds that we all have talent and that no art is ‘better’ than another’s. This view has serious implications for our culture and values. Such political correctness has no place in the arts, save for bringing the public’s attention to social injustices. The demographics of the academy are not a social injustice.”

In fact, there are dozens of events intended to foster greater diversity in Hollywood. The Producers Guild of America, for instance, holds an annual “diversity workshop.” The NAACP provides training and mentoring opportunities for minority college graduates in radio/TV news reporting, news management and TV/film production, and provides employment placement counseling. The various film craft groups – such as editing, cinematography, visual effects, sound – have oversight organizations that offer educational and mentoring opportunities for gender and ethnic minorities.

Academy Awards: It's about Art, Not Political Correctness [Blowback] (by William Goldstein, Los Angeles Times op-ed)

Oscar Voters Overwhelmingly White, Male (by John Horn, Nicole Sperling and Doug Smith, Los Angeles Times)

A Need for More Diversity

Some believe the academy should simply take the national ethnicity and gender figures and make them their own. Denzel Washington, who won a lead actor Oscar for “Training Day,” told the Los Angeles Times: "If the country is 12% black, make the academy 12% black. If the nation is 15% Hispanic, make the academy 15% Hispanic. Why not?"

And Glenn Llopis, a Hispanic who writes a column on the immigrant perspective for Forbes, had this to say in response to The Times study: “Unlike the African-American community, Hispanics have yet to prove that its leadership, talent and business acumen can create a sustainable multi-million dollar franchise in Hollywood.   While George Lopez and shows like Ugly Betty made progress, it’s time for Hollywood to find a profitable & sustainable solution quickly as the lack of progress is contributing negative to how Hispanics are viewed and how they perceive themselves in American society (especially young Hispanics that seek a positive identity that matters).”

The Oscars Prove that Hollywood Must Place Diversity at the Center Stage to Survive Long Term (by Glenn Llopis, Forbes)

Robert Mark Jaffe, 1987-2010