Support for CSSSA Programs
CSSSA Tuition Scholarships
The CSSSA Scholarship Fund ensures that no California student is denied access to CSSSA due to financial need. Admission to the school is solely merit-based; only after a student is accepted—based on artistic promise and accomplishment—is financial need addressed.
Thanks to our donors, the CSSSA Foundation provides approximately $210,000 in financial need scholarships annually. Since 1987, the Foundation has given over $4.5 million to help students attend CSSSA with scholarships.
Guest Artists Program
Professional artists are invited to CSSSA each summer to educate, and inspire the students. Many of these artists focus on disrupting the status quo, making art that matters and addressing social justice issues. They challenge students to work beyond perceived limitations at an increasingly professional level.
In honor of Rob Jaffe, the beloved former CSSSA Director, a special fund was created to support Guest Artists in perpetuity. The Rob Jaffe Memorial Fund helps ensure that this unique program continues to bring today's most innovative and accomplished artists to CSSSA.
Technology, Equipment, and Supplies
In order to provide a cutting-edge, pre-professional experience to students, the CSSSA Foundation facilitates the donation or use of high-tech equipment from generous sponsors. Equipment can include specialized tools, technology, software, hardware, and more.
In 2020, CSSSA Foundation began virtual programs and is providing hardware and software to students in need for CSSSA’s summer 2021 session.
The film program is particularly grateful to Sony Pictures Entertainment for its decades of support.
Outreach and Diversity Initiatives
Awareness + Targeted Outreach
The Foundation works with CSSSA to raise awareness among the general public and engage in targeted outreach to underrepresented sectors of California.
From billboards to cinema ads to radio and print, CSSSA Foundation is working to ensure generations of students and families know about the CSSSA opportunity.
Targeted outreach is deployed to underrepresented schools, organizations, and regions of the state to broaden the reach of the program and progress toward a more diverse and representative student body—and to ensure that talent finds CSSSA! This targeted outreach is about more than awareness and includes leveraging organizations on the ground and providing year-round, persistent information and encouragement to interested students.
Our Mission + Diversity
The mission of CSSSA includes representing the diversity of the State of California in the student body, and we have work to do! To that end, the Foundation and CSSSA work to assess historical and current demographics and find ways to target our outreach and address inequities in access and barriers to admission. In addition, the Foundation and CSSSA are working to assess our internal systems, practices, culture, and makeup to better align with our mission and values. You can see the 2020 joint Board statement on Black Lives Matter here.
Press & Media
Raising awareness about the value of CSSSA is an integral part of ensuring that every teen artist has a chance to attend. By reaching out to press and media and increasing our social media footprint, the CSSSA Foundation is working to strengthen CSSSA and support its students before, during, and after their session.
Community Partnerships
The CSSSA Foundation works to maximize its effectiveness by developing partnerships with community organizations with overlapping goals and interests. Through these partnerships, the CSSSA Foundation offers unique opportunities for academic and professional enrichment to ensure long-term success in the creative industries.
Advancement for CSSSA Graduates
Herb Alpert Emerging Young Artists Scholarships
Every summer, 21 CSSSA students are selected to receive prestigious Emerging Young Artists college scholarships from the Herb Alpert Foundation. In each of the seven disciplines, three outstanding students are selected by the faculty—two students receive a renewable award totaling $4,000, and one student receives a $10,000 scholarship renewable for up to four years for a total of $40,000 towards their college degree.
CSSSA Alumni Network
CSSSA alumni hold a unique bond with each other and with their shared experience. They consistently report that a CSSSA summer changed their lives! The CSSSA Foundation manages the Alumni Network to help foster these connections, strengthen professional networks, and engage the community. Through events and outreach for college-age and professional alumni, the Foundation is forming a lifelong hub to encourage and support alumni. Find us on social media via LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and sign up for our alumni emails to get event invitations, updates, and more.
College Partnerships
The CSSSA Foundation maintains strong relationships with arts colleges and arts departments across the country. Thirteen institutions provide exclusive tuition discounts for CSSSA students. Each school has its own process for determining how discounts are offered and applied. More information can be found on our College Partnerships page.
Sustaining Our Programs
The Unrestricted Fund
An unrestricted gift provides flexible funding for all areas of need, from general operating expenses to scholarships to college access and alumni success programs. It enables the Foundation to most effectively direct funds and provide adequate resources to administer them.
Endowment - Scholarships
Our Endowment ensures the security of CSSSA tuition scholarships in the years to come.
Endowment - CSSSA Foundation
The new Foundation Endowment will help provide stability and security for the future, and enable CSSSA Foundation to focus on supporting CSSSA students and programs.
You Make CSSSA Possible
Support CSSSA as it trains and empowers the next generation of artists. Your gift, no matter the amount, helps CSSSA Foundation achieve its mission and extend its impact far into the future.
Invest in the next generation of artists and give the gift of CSSSA…
California State Summer School Arts Foundation
6060 Center Drive, Floor 10
Los Angeles, CA 90045
To donate by phone, please call (213) 468-9905