CalArts Gets $25-Million FEMA Grant : Rebuilding: Funds will reimburse the school for costs of quake repairs. Sen. Feinstein and officials will tour campus today.

California Institute of the Arts, which was heavily damaged during the Northridge earthquake, has been awarded almost $25 million in federal funds for repairs, officials with the Federal Emergency Management Agency confirmed Wednesday.

FEMA Director James Lee Witt and Sen. Dianne Feinstein are scheduled to tour the 60-acre campus at 2 p.m. today to view ongoing earthquake repair efforts.

“We’re going to give them a little tour and thank them for their support,” said John Fuller, CalArts vice president.

Officials at the private arts college estimated the earthquake caused $20 million in damage to the campus, not including the cost to relocate classes.

Fuller credited both FEMA and Feinstein for the rapid approvals the Valencia college has received to reimburse money spent for earthquake repairs.

FEMA spokesman Russ Edmonston said Wednesday that CalArts has been authorized to receive $24,973,574 to rebuild earthquake-damaged structures. The majority of the funds--about $23 million--will repair structural damage to CalArts’ 500,000-square-foot main building.

The main building houses art galleries, dance studios, rehearsal rooms, theaters, the cafeteria and classrooms, among other things.

The college was in its first week of the spring semester when the Jan. 17 earthquake struck.

As quake repairs began, courses were held in a variety of impromptu locations. Temple Beth Shalom in Newhall, a vacant Lockheed research center in Valencia, the Magic Moments Theatre at Six Flags Magic Mountain amusement park, the Santa Clarita YMCA, a health club at the Vista Village shopping center and Le Studio in Pasadena all served as CalArts classrooms in the weeks following the temblor.

Contractors are expected to complete the bulk of the repairs Friday, and new-student orientation for the fall semester is scheduled Tuesday, Fuller said.

Although final enrollment figures are not available, campus officials predicted they will be near the pre-quake level of about 1,000 students.

“I think we’ll be back where we ought to be,” Fuller said.

CalArts was founded in 1961 by Walt Disney as a merger of the Los Angeles Conservatory of Music and the Chouinard Art Institute. It moved to its permanent campus in Valencia in November, 1971.