State Unveils Summer Arts Program : Real-Life ‘Fame’ School in Works

Bolstered by a promise from veteran actor Walter Matthau to teach, sing and “even recite from Shakespeare” for it, state officials Friday unveiled plans for a statewide summer school of the arts for 500 to 600 talented high school students.

“I think it’s a magnificent idea,” said Matthau, because it might provide some youths with the encouragement that the actor said he never received early in his career.

The California State Summer School for the Arts will provide artistically gifted teen-agers with “an intense emotional and educational experience” in dance, drama, music, writing, visual arts and film, state Supt. of Public Instruction Bill Honig said. The announcement was made during a press conference on the Culver City set of “Fame,” the television series set in a fictional New York high school of the arts.

State Sen. John Garamendi (D-Walnut Grove), who authored the legislation creating the program, said the school will help provide California’s arts and entertainment business, the state’s third-largest industry, with trained workers.

Low Priority

It also will help focus attention on the need to bring the arts back into the mandatory curriculum, the officials said. Because of less money and tougher academic requirements, arts education in public schools has been a low priority for years.

High school students are required to take either a year of art or foreign language. Most opt for the foreign language, according to Honig. A recent state survey showed that only 26% of high school students take a full year of any kind of arts instruction.

In the Los Angeles school district, only six of the 49 high schools have an orchestra, and many lack a band or a full range of art classes, according to a district official. On the elementary school level, fewer than 100 of the district’s 400 grade schools have their own music teacher, in contrast to 15 years ago, when every school had a music specialist.

‘Magnets’ Fill In

The district has tried to fill the gap with special “magnet” schools, but these have limited enrollments and focus.

The year-old Los Angeles County High School for the Arts, operated by the county Office of Education on the campus of California State University, Los Angeles, also was formed in an effort to improve arts education.

Like the county school, the new state school, scheduled to run for six weeks next summer, will benefit only those students judged to be the cream of the crop. Officials expect the program to draw 5,000 applicants, with only 500 to 600 participants to be chosen. Fifteen regional judging panels will select the students, who will earn the designation of “California Arts Scholars.”

The first year’s budget has been set at $1 million, Garamendi said. The David and Lucile Packard Foundation and AT&T; have contributed $50,000 each, while the state will provide from $200,000 to $400,000. Program organizers expect to generate an additional $200,000 from tuition fees.

Some Scholarships

Tuition has not been set, but the state law says it cannot exceed $750. Scholarships will be available for students who cannot afford the fee.

Matthau said the school will offer artistically inclined students a “triggering point” for their talent.

“That’s the point when 90% of the people who want to be artists fail. . . . This (school), for a true artist, might be a spur,” Matthau said.

He recalled his first two acting auditions as abysmal failures that ended with kindly suggestions from the director to look for a job in the garment industry or as a shipping clerk.

“That was the kind of encouragement I got as a boy,” he said.

“Now there is a school that will . . . actually encourage kids to continue,” the actor said. “I will do anything I can to bring it about.”

Alternate Campuses

No site for the summer school has been chosen, but UCLA, USC, California Institute of the Arts in Valencia and California State University, Northridge, have expressed interest in hosting it, Garamendi said. Plans call for alternating between a Northern and Southern California campus each year.

A search for a director has begun, and proposals from private and public colleges and universities that wish to host it will be solicited next month.

Student applications will be available this fall through school district offices, and auditions and portfolio reviews will be held during the winter and next spring.