Santa Clarita, CA- California State Summer School for the Arts (CSSSA), a rigorous pre-professional visual and performing arts training program for high school students, and Create CA, the state’s leading arts education advocacy organization, will convene the entire CSSSA student body for the 2023 Arts Advocacy Day on Saturday, July 15, 2023, on the CalArts campus. Check-in will begin at 10 am, with programming running until 4:30 pm. The event will include a keynote from actor and author Christopher Rivas, student-led panels, and 6 workshops led by student and adult artists and activists.
This year’s event will bring the entirety of the CSSSA 2023 class together, and all 500 students will spend the day learning the foundations of civic engagement, compared to last year’s total of 50 select students that helped launch the inaugural event. “Committing CSSSA to the largest student-focused arts advocacy training in the largest creative economy in the world is an important step in our programming to support not only the artists in their medium but also how they think about using their art and voice to create positive change in the world.” Matthew Gallagher, Director of CSSSA, on the urgency of the expanded program.
Growing this event so large in the span of a year felt necessary as students continue to be affected by a plethora of drastic changes to local, state, and federal education policy, including but not limited to evolving dynamics of diversity in curriculum readings and book bans, and the recent SCOTUS decisions to strike down Affirmative Action and student loan forgiveness. “Empowering and preparing students to face historical and contemporary challenges is crucial to building the sweeping change needed to create a more just and equitable society.” The intersection of civic engagement and arts education is what Create CA trains student advocates about through the Student Voices Program, which Lainoff manages. Since only 11% of California schools provide the visual and performing arts courses required by the California State Education Code, events such as Arts Advocacy Day are crucial to spreading awareness to students about the rampant inequitable learning conditions of their peers across the state.
Christopher Rivas, known for his work on the Fox series Call Me Kat!, is a multi-hyphenated artist who recently released Brown Enough, a social commentary-laced memoir about growing up Latinx, and will address the student body as the keynote speaker. “Arts and arts education saved my life, gave it direction and intention,” begins Rivas, “mostly, it brought me closer to myself. I worry about a nation that continues to defund the arts, knowing that artists are one of the most valuable and needed parts of a society…Art is at the he(art) of what it is to be human, what it means to be part of a civilization. Art will be part of the future, and it will help shape whatever future that will be.”
Participating students will choose from workshops centered around introductory organizing and coalition building led by prominent pillars of state and national-level advocacy, including East LA native Moctesuma Esparza, a leader of the Chicano movement of the ’60s, champion of Mexican-American educational equality known for the California walk-outs, and current entertainment entrepreneur, bringing Hispanic stories to life through Maya Cinemas, a theater chain servicing the United States Latino audience, and Premiere Entertainment Group. Other workshops include esteemed representatives of GENup, Arts for LA, Budding Artists, Project Knucklehead, and award-winning animation artist, Elizabeth Ito.
This event is for students enrolled in this year’s California State Summer School for the Arts program only.
Please find further details about our six different workshop offerings below and register for your spot by July 12. Don’t delay as space is limited – sign up now to ensure you get a spot! [Please note there is a cap of 80 students per workshop. If your desired workshop is full, you will be assigned another based upon availability.]
Workshop Descriptions | Workshop Leaders
Create CA advocates for high-quality arts education for all students by providing policy expertise and mobilizing a statewide network of advocates and allied partners. CreateCA.org
The California State Summer School for the Arts is a rigorous, preprofessional, month-long training program in the visual and performing arts, creative writing, animation and film for talented artists of high school age. CSSSA provides a supportive environment in which students hone acquired skills and explore new techniques and ideas for an intense and exciting learning experience. CSSSA.CA.gov
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Create CA is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.