CALARTS : Program Will Combine Arts, Writing Skills

An unusual program aimed at developing a rare hybrid--a seasoned writer trained in scholarship as well as the range of artistic fields--is to begin soon at the California Institute of the Arts in Valencia.

Typically, universities make it difficult to study writing as well as one of the arts, CalArts administrators said.

Students tend to prepare themselves to become professors of arts or humanities or to become journalists, and rarely do members of either of those groups study together.

CalArts representatives said the program, supported by a $275,000 grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, is aimed at addressing that separation.

“The fellows should be able to translate the complexities of theory into practical writing for magazines, journals, newspapers, dailies, weeklies or what have you,” said Prof. Martin Van Buren, acting dean of critical studies, who initiated the grant.

“I see CalArts as the ideal institution in which dialogues between artists and critics could be expanded.”

Set to begin in September, the program will invite four professional critics in fields such as art, theater, music and film to become writing fellows for an intensive yearlong program.

The fellows must have either a doctorate in an arts or humanities-related field or a master’s degree in journalism.

The fellows will attend an extended seminar on critical theory and study with professional artists on the CalArts faculty.

The grant also provides for distinguished critics to join the faculty as visiting professors to help train the fellows in writing criticism.