California Institute of the Arts supplemental essays

These prompts are program-specific.

They apply only if you’re applying to the named program or school.

• BFA Character Animation (Film/Video)Required

  Character Animation statement

  1. What inspires you to make your art? 2. Why are you applying to the Character Animation program at CalArts? 3. What are your artistic goals?

  How to approach it

  This is a why-us prompt. The trap is describing the school back to itself. Rankings and a pretty campus read as filler. Name two or three things you’d actually use. A program, a professor’s work, an open curriculum. Then tie each one to something you’ve already done.

• BFA Acting (Theater)Required

  Acting artist statement

  1. What informs your artmaking practice? 2. Why are you applying to the Acting program at CalArts? 3. What are your artistic goals? 4. What stories are you most interested in telling, and/or what communities do you hope to reach through your work? 5. What do you find artistically inspiring about the current moment in history?

  How to approach it

  This is a why-us prompt. The trap is describing the school back to itself. Rankings and a pretty campus read as filler. Name two or three things you’d actually use. A program, a professor’s work, an open curriculum. Then tie each one to something you’ve already done.

• BFA ArtRequired1000 words max

  Art artist statement

  Applicants should address at least three of the following: your primary sources of artistic inspiration; your reasons for applying to the program and what you expect from the CalArts experience; specific faculty members you wish to study with and why; and the desired impact of your work on communities and audiences.

  How to approach it

  This is the most literal question on the application. Why this training, for your goals. Answer in that order. Name the goal first. Then point to the two or three parts of the program that serve it. Then show one thing you’ve already done that proves the goal is real.

• BFA DanceRequired

  Dance artist statement

  1. What is most important to you as a person and as a dancer, and why? 2. What are your artistic and personal goals? 3. Why are you applying to the BFA in Dance Program at CalArts?

  How to approach it

  This is a why-us prompt. The trap is describing the school back to itself. Rankings and a pretty campus read as filler. Name two or three things you’d actually use. A program, a professor’s work, an open curriculum. Then tie each one to something you’ve already done.

• BFA Experimental Animation (Film/Video)Required

  Experimental Animation statement

  1. What issues and concerns inform your artmaking practice? 2. Why are you interested specifically in the program in Experimental Animation at CalArts? 3. What are your artistic goals?

  How to approach it

  This is a why-us prompt. The trap is describing the school back to itself. Rankings and a pretty campus read as filler. Name two or three things you’d actually use. A program, a professor’s work, an open curriculum. Then tie each one to something you’ve already done.

• BFA Film and VideoRequired1000 words max

  Film/Video artist statement

  1. What issues and concerns inform your artmaking practice? 2. Elaborate on your relationship with experimental, independent, or avante garde film making and why you think this program is a good fit for your development as a filmmaker. 3. What are your artistic goals?

  How to approach it

  This is the most literal question on the application. Why this training, for your goals. Answer in that order. Name the goal first. Then point to the two or three parts of the program that serve it. Then show one thing you’ve already done that proves the goal is real.

• BFA Experience Design and Production (Theater)Required

  Experience Design statement

  Your artist's statement should discuss your goals and their relationship to your past experience, as well as evidence of your interest in performance-based design whether in theater, film, installation, writing, or other related forms.

  How to approach it

  Goals prompts fail when they stay noble and vague. Pick one real problem you care about. Connect it to something you’ve already touched in real life. Make the goal clear enough that a reader could disagree with it. Specific beats impressive.

• Music (all 7 BFA specializations: Composition and Experimental Sound Practices, Experimental Pop, Instrumental Arts, Jazz, Performer-Composer, VoiceArts, World Music Performance)Required500 words max

  Music artist statement

  Your portfolio must include an artist statement of 250 to 500 words that includes all of the following: 1. Your background in the study and practice of music, including a crucial moment in your artistic development. 2. Your main musical passions and artistic influences right now – what you are currently listening to. 3. Genre(s) of music you are interested in performing and studying. 4. What you are interested in exploring or experimenting with at CalArts. 5. What attracts you to the particular Specialization to which you are applying. You may include a CalArts class, faculty, and/or offering that excites you the most. 6. Your long-term goals as a professional musician.

  How to approach it

  This is a why-us prompt. The trap is describing the school back to itself. Rankings and a pretty campus read as filler. Name two or three things you’d actually use. A program, a professor’s work, an open curriculum. Then tie each one to something you’ve already done.