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———— STEVEN D. LAVINE AND JANET STERNBURG SCHOLARSHIP ENDOWMENT CAMPAIGN
WHEN STEVEN LAVINE announced his plans to step down as CalArts’ president, in May 2017 after an unprecedented 29-year tenure, he also shared his plans to focus the remainder of his presidency on raising vital scholarships. He set a goal to raise $15 million in endowed scholarship funds to provide deserving students with access to a CalArts education regardless of their personal financial circumstances.
Providing scholarship support to CalArts students has been a priority since Walt Disney shared his vision for the Institute: “There will be a lot of scholarships at CalArts. Those who can pay will pay; those who can’t will get scholarships. We don’t want any dilettantes at CalArts. We want people with talent. That will be the one factor in getting into CalArts: talent.” To ensure access to the most talented students— given the high-cost model of personalized teaching in small classes—CalArts recognizes the critical need to provide increased scholarship support. Currently, 94 percent of all CalArts students receive some form of scholarship support yet many continue to graduate with significant student loan burdens. Once the campaign goal is reached, the new endowment funds will provide an additional $600,000 annually in scholarships. To date, a remarkable $9,476,904 has been raised toward the Scholarship Campaign. Many donors are choosing to give in honor of Lavine’s extraordinary service to CalArts. Others are honoring a family member or other individual with their support. All scholarship gifts count toward the Campaign goal. An anonymous donor has pledged $1 million if CalArts is able to raise $3 million in matching funds. You can help CalArts meet this generous match with your gift today! For more information, please contact Elizabeth Power Robison, Vice President for Advancement, at 661 253-7707 or eprobison@calarts.edu.
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—————— DUENDE CALARTS EXPLORES THE IMMIGRATION CRISIS IN SHELTER
ISSUES OF IMMIGRATION, sanctuary and depor-
tation have dominated national headlines in recent years, especially since 2014, when 69,000 unaccompanied Central American minors crossed into the United States through Mexico in search of asylum. An additional 10,000 minors entered the U.S. last fall. The dramatic, dangerous and heartbreaking stories of these children are given voice in a new play, Shelter, written by CalArts School of Theater faculty Marissa Chibas and directed by Mexico City-based guest artist Martín Acosta, with choreography by Fernando Belo (Theater MFA 13) and scenic design by Efren Delgadillo Jr. (Theater MFA 03). A production of the institute-wide Center for New Performance (CNP) and its Latino(a) theater initiative, Duende CalArts, Shelter premiered in East Los Angeles’ Lincoln Park in April. In the research phase of the project, Chibas captured authentic voices and narratives by interviewing high school students and immigration rights volunteers throughout the city. She and Acosta conceived two versions of the play. In the first, the “site-responsive” version, the story takes place in and around a 20-foot shipping container constructed to suggest travel on la bestia, the infamous train that immigrants ride to the border. In the second, a “mobile theater” version enacted by seven actors on seven chairs can be easily performed in non-theatrical settings such as community centers or conference rooms. Throughout Shelter’s initial run in East L.A., workshops, talkback sessions, and learning
CalArts students perform Shelter in a park in East L.A.
curricula were available to deepen understanding of the issues addressed in the play, and to facilitate community engagement. CNP is a participant in the Global Connections— IN the LAB program, funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and administered by Theatre Communications Group, the national organization for professional not-for-profit American theater. Shelter is supported, in part, by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts and also, in part, by the office of Los Angeles City Councilmember Gilbert Cedillo.
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SPRING 2016