Founded in 1907 by Frederick Meyer, a German cabinetmaker, whose vision was shaped by the Arts and Crafts movement, California College of the Arts (CCA) is noted for the interdisciplinarity and breadth of its programs.

Mission

California College of the Arts educates students to shape culture and society through the practice and critical study of art, architecture, design, and writing. Benefitting from its San Francisco Bay Area location, the college prepares students for lifelong creative work by cultivating innovation, community engagement, and social and environmental responsibility.

Values Statement

As an educational and cultural institution, CCA believes in fostering the artistic and academic excellence of our students and faculty.

We cultivate intellectual curiosity and risk-taking, collaboration and innovation, compassion and integrity.

As a global citizen and good neighbor, CCA believes in its role as a proponent of social justice and community engagement.

We promote diversity on our campus by improving access and opportunities for underrepresented groups, and we see this endeavor as vitally enriching for everyone.

We value sustainability and believe that as a school of the arts we have a unique ability and an ethical responsibility to shape a culture that is more environmentally responsible.

We understand the importance of creative economies and the role of artists, designers, architects, and writers in solving social, cultural, environmental, and economic problems.

Description

Private, nonprofit
Coeducational, residential
We offer degree-seeking students 22 undergraduate and 13 graduate majors in the areas of fine arts, architecture, design, and writing.

Location

Two campuses, one dynamic college
The Bay Area is a known global hub for technological and cultural innovation. Our two uniquely positioned campuses place you among the most exciting environments for career inspiration:

• business & technology
• entrepreneurial arts & crafts
• fine arts galleries
• international communities
• manufacturing & design
• nonprofit social justice
• sustainability & ecology
• writing and literature festivals

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San Francisco: CCA's San Francisco campus is located in the Potrero Hill neighborhood, next to the city's design district and within just blocks of the University of California at San Francisco's Mission Bay research campus.

The San Francisco campus location is in what is now referred to as the "innovation corridor."

Oakland: Four beautifully landscaped acres in the charming Rockridge district comprise the historic Oakland campus, located just two miles south of the University of California at Berkeley.

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Campuses combined, CCA currently enrolls approximately 1,950 full-time students.

Accreditation & Degrees

CCA is accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC), the National Association of Schools of Art and Design (NASAD), the National Architectural Accrediting Board (NAAB), and Council for Interior Design Accreditation (CIDA).

Degrees Offered

• bachelor of architecture (BArch)
• bachelor of arts (BA)
• bachelor of fine arts (BFA)
• master of architecture (MArch)
• master of arts (MA)
• master of business administration (MBA)
• master of design (MDes)
• master of fine arts (MFA)
• minor in Visual Studies
• minor in Writing and Literature
• minor in Social Action and Public Forms

Center for Impact

The Center for Impact focuses on important issues in community development, service learning in arts education, new models of practice in community-based arts, and cultural diversity and youth development through the arts.

CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts

The Wattis serves as a forum for the presentation and discussion of international contemporary art and curatorial practice.

Alumni

Among the college's noted alumni:

• painters Nathan Oliveira and Raymond Saunders
• ceramicists Robert Arneson, Viola Frey, and Peter Voulkos
• filmmaker Wayne Wang
• conceptual artists David Ireland and Dennis Oppenheim
• designers Lucille Tenazas and Michael Vanderbyl

CCA offers 12 professional graduate programs of study.

See Graduate Admissions (or the Apply page within the program):

• MA in Curatorial Practice
• MA in Visual and Critical Studies
• Master of Advanced Architectural Design (MAAD)
• Master of Architecture (MArch)
• MBA in Design Strategy
• MDes in Interaction Design
• MFA in Comics
• MFA in Design
• MFA in Film
• MFA in Fine Arts
• MFA in Writing

The Future of Culture

CCA is a distinguished leader in graduate-level education. Our programs provide significant professional education in a highly creative environment.

The San Francisco Bay Area, a global hub for ecology, technology, innovation, and creativity, is home to distinguished cultural institutions, an extraordinary number of innovative companies, progressive thinking, and alternative movements.

This unique positioning makes the Bay Area the perfect launch site for your career. Additionally, graduate students have access to excellent state-of-the-art facilities, tap into world-renowned organizations for internships, enroll in phenomenal partnerships in sponsored courses, and exert an ever-growing influence on the future of culture in the Bay Area and beyond.

An Engaging Community

CCA has been known throughout its history as a leader in the arts and crafts movement, where our faculty, students, and alumni foster collaborations that cross disciplinary boundaries, while developing connections and life-long opportunities to make meaningful and engaging new modes of practice.

Through meaningful investigations and conversations, our students seek to make significant contributions to the fields of art, design, architecture, film, criticism, curation, writing, and business.

At CCA you will make an impact by engaging today’s social issues and making a difference.

Dual Degree Opportunities
CCA's dual-degree options give exceptional students the opportunity to integrate two distinct degree options and complete them concurrently in three years.

Dual-degree options with Visual and Critical Studies
Design MFA/MBA in Design Strategy dual-degree option