California State Summer School for the Arts (CSSSA)

# California State Summer School for the Arts (CSSSA) CSSSA is a state-funded summer training program that offers pre-professional instruction to approximately 500 talented high school students each summer, with a 3:1 student-to-instructor ratio. Students choose one of eight disciplines - Animation, Architecture & Environmental Design, Dance, Film, Music, Theater, Visual Arts, or Writing - and spend four weeks immersed in it; the 2026 session ran July 4 to August 1, hosted at Cal Poly Pomona. ## What You'll Do - Train daily in your chosen discipline with professional artist-teachers - Build a body of work - performances, films, portfolios, or manuscripts - over four residential weeks - Collaborate with hundreds of serious young artists from across California - Earn the California Arts Scholar designation awarded to CSSSA alumni ## Who Should Apply California residents enrolled in grades 8 through 12 are eligible to apply; a limited number of out-of-state students are also admitted each year. Participants are selected in the spring based on talent and creativity demonstrated through discipline-specific assignments submitted with the online application ($20 fee). The 2026 application closed February 28, 2026; the 2027 application typically opens in winter. ## Outcomes CSSSA is one of the strongest arts credentials available to California students: admission is selective, training is conservatory-style, and many alumni continue to top arts programs. Tuition for the 2026 session was $5,174 for California residents ($10,475 out-of-state), and financial aid is available for California residents - in 2024, nearly 60% of students received full or partial scholarships.