Despite slashes in school arts programs, there is one resource in California for outstandingly talented high school students who have financial need. The California State Summer School for the Arts (InnerSpark) is now welcoming applications for 520 motivated high school-aged visual, literary, media and performing artists for its 23rd session in July 2009. The selected students will have the unique opportunity to spend four weeks studying and working with professional artists, writers and performers of national stature.
One of the unique features of the school is its ability to provide financial aid to its students. According to Robert M. Jaffe, InnerSpark director, “InnerSpark is committed to providing quality artistic training amidst the decrease in statewide art programs. No student who has the drive and talent to succeed in the application process will be denied admission, solely on the basis of inability to pay. On average, 40 percent of our students receive financial aid; some are asked to pay as little as $100. We expect to equal or surpass that record in 2009.”
California State Summer School Arts Foundation (CSSSAF), a non-profit organization created to support InnerSpark in achieving its mission via a unique public and private sector partnership, has awarded nearly $4 million in scholarships since 1987 to more than 39 percent of the highly talented students who have attended InnerSpark.
“At the cornerstone of CSSSAF’s mission is assuring that no student is denied admission to InnerSpark, because of an inability to pay the tuition and fees,” said Joan Newberg, executive director of CSSSAF. “We are committed to provide InnerSpark students the same level of financial aid despite these difficult economic times.”
To date, InnerSpark has provided its esteemed summer arts program to 10,508 talented high school students. Instruction is offered in the fields of Animation, Film/Video, Creative Writing, Dance, Music, Theater, and the Visual Arts. The talented teenagers who successfully complete the program receive three units of California State University course credit. Selected teenagers are designated California Arts Scholars, receive the Governor’s Arts Scholar Medallion, and attend one of the country’s premier summer arts institutes on the campus of the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) in Valencia, this year from July 11 – Aug. 7, 2009.
California students, whose families have the means to pay, are charged a comprehensive fee of $1,415 to cover room, board and tuition for the four-week 2009 summer session. Students from outside of California must pay a comprehensive fee of $4,600. Applications to InnerSpark are due by Feb. 28, 2009, for the summer 2009 program.
InnerSpark is also able to help its students with college aid through the distribution of Herb Alpert Scholarships for Emerging Young Artists. An agreement between InnerSpark and the Herb Alpert Foundation, which has committed $1.2 million in funds for this project, means that 18 students each year are designated Scholarship recipients. The scholarships are awarded every summer to three students in each of six categories: Animation and Film/Video, Creative Writing, Dance, Music, Theater, and the Visual Arts. In 2009 in each category, one outstanding student will receive $40,000 to be awarded over the course of four years, and two students will receive single-year awards of $2,500.
“InnerSpark is an incredible opportunity for talented young people,” said Jaffe. “The value of our program will not only affect these motivated students well into their college years, but into their professional lives as well.”
Those wishing to learn more about InnerSpark or obtain application forms and instructions should visit www.innerspark.us on the web, or call the Sacramento headquarters at (916) 274-5815.
About California State Summer School for the Arts
Since 1987, the California State Summer School for the Arts, known colloquially as InnerSpark, has offered instruction in the fields of animation, music, dance, film and video, theatre, creative writing and the visual arts. More than 10,000 young Californians have attended since the program’s inception. For many, it was the first step to important and successful careers in the arts and related industries.
Alumni of the program include actor and Golden Globe recipient James Franco, featured in the Spiderman movies and the films Annapolis, Pineapple Express, and Milk; Craig McCracken, the Emmy Award-winning animator and creator of The Powerpuff Girls; creative writer Dakila Davina, now managing editor of Parade Magazine; dancer Sharon Grimsley Teague, principal soloist for the Houston Ballet; award-winning fashion designer Sophie Buhai; 2006 American Idol runner-up Katharine McPhee and actress Kirsten Vangsness, seen as Penelope Garcia on the CBS series Criminal Minds.
About California State Summer School Arts Foundation
The California State Summer School Arts Foundation (CSSSAF) as mandated in the enabling legislation, was created in 1987 as a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization to be the private sector partner supporting InnerSpark to help achieve its mission by seeking corporate, foundation and individual contributions. This is a unique public and private partnership in California. At the cornerstone of the Foundation’s role is the CSSSA Scholarship Fund, to ensure that no talented student is denied admission to InnerSpark because of an inability to pay tuition and fees. CSSSAF has awarded nearly $4 million in scholarships to more than 39 percent of the highly talented students who have attended InnerSpark.
