CSSSA Foundation

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CSSSA Foundation

CSSSA Foundation supports the next generation of California artists.

The CSSSA Foundation supports an intensive, four-week residential arts training program for talented and motivated high school students called the Calilfornia State Summer School for the Arts. The program is held each summer on the campus of California Institute of the Arts in Valencia. Its mission is to nurture and train the next generation of artists and arts professionals in animation, creative writing, dance, film, music, theater and visual arts.

09/03/2026

One month later, the joy, comradery, and excitement of CSSSA 2026 are no longer the unbelievable reality of the moment - they are the undeniable experiences that have shaped everyone involved.

535 students left CSSSA this year as newly-minted California Art Scholars, and went back into the world to continue making their art and sharing their stories, with a new collection of skills, experiences, and friends to help them along their journeys.

🏅🏅🏅CSSSA 2026 Alumni, what was your favorite moment from CSSSA this year!?

08/27/2026

We are excited to share our 2021–2025 Impact Report.

Five years. Thousands of students. One commitment: to ensure students accepted to CSSSA aren’t turned away because of financial need. Explore the full report at the link in the comments!

08/26/2026

Alumni spotlight! ✨ An art installation by 2003 CSSSA alum Martine Syms is currently on display at Walker Art Center in Minneapolis.

From their website: "The Borrowed Lady (2016) examines how decontextualized gestures circulate online. Against an all-purple backdrop, four video monitors stand in a circle, facing inward. The artist Diamond Stingily appears in patterned blips across each screen—snapping, calling out, shifting her body. Evoking the public sphere of the internet, the installation replicates the web’s dense network of posts, reposts, and clapbacks."

If you're in the Minneapolis area, visit Walker Art Center between now and May 2027 to see this installation for yourself. Congratulations, Martine!

08/25/2026

Thank you to everyone at Cal Poly Pomona for making CSSSA 2026 such an incredible experience! Your state-of-the-art facilities and expansive campus helped our students to learn, create, and connect. We deeply appreciate all you did to make this year's CSSSA successful!

08/19/2026

During CSSSA 2026, Emmy Award-winning composer W.G. Snuffy Walden held a masterclass for our students! Snuffy Walden is known for his TV and film soundtracks, including theme music for The West Wing, The Wonder Years, Roseanne, Ellen, and My So-Called Life. We're so grateful he could join us!

08/14/2026

Ryman Arts offers free college-level classes in drawing and painting for high school students. There is still space available at their Cal State San Bernardino campus for classes this fall, with classes on Saturday afternoons beginning on August 29. CSSSA alumni are especially welcomed to apply! If interested, contact Rebecca Tuynman at [email protected] today. For the Cal State Fullerton and Otis College of Art & Design campuses, the next deadline is December 2nd for the spring 2027 semester. Learn more at rymanarts.org.

08/11/2026

We had a blast at Animation Alumni Day! We reconnected with CSSSA Animation alumni and got to celebrate the remarkable work of this year’s students. Our CSSSA 2026 Animation students are truly a talented group! 🫶

08/07/2026

Congratulations to this year's CSSSA graduates! 🥳 We're thrilled to see everything you've achieved in your time at CSSSA. This summer, you've grown as artists, built lifelong friendships, and created inspiring works of art—and we can't wait to see what you do next!

You've officially joined the CSSSA family, a vibrant community of artists, arts advocates, educators, and creatives. As you move on to college, find careers in the arts, or continue creating in your own way, we'd love to keep cheering you on and telling the story of your success. Stay in touch and be sure to tag us!

08/03/2026

CSSSA Visual Arts students visited Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art & Culture of the Riverside Art Museum! Students in Hanieh Khatibi's class got to explore the center's current exhibitions, learning about and drawing inspiration from the hundreds of pieces of art on display. Thanks to Hanieh Khatibi for taking and sharing photos!

07/29/2026

Introducing CSSSA Film visiting artist, Ava Cahen! 👋

Ava Cahen has been the Artistic Director of La Semaine de la Critique at the Cannes Film Festival since the 61st edition (2022). In 2017, she co-founded the website frenchmania.fr, dedicated to French and Francophone cinema, and is still its co-chief editor. She has been a commentator on Canal+’s Le Cercle since 2014, and she regularly takes part in Le Masque et la Plume programs on France Inter. She has published several books on cinema and series (Nos premiers films, Woody Allen, profession cynique, Cheforama, la gastronomie au cinéma, FrenchMania la r***e, Game of Thrones, décodé). She regularly takes part in juries and workshops at international festivals such as Sundance, Morelia, Busan, Reykjavik, Xining, Jerusalem, Marrakech, and Sarajevo.

Address

Los Angeles, CA

Telephone

+12134689905

Website

http://www.csssaf.org/

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