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The Creative Student's Guide to Los Angeles Art Education and Careers

...for students of art, design, fashion design, photography, film/video, advertising, interior design and other creative fields.

Visit our Complete Directory of
Los Angeles Art Schools and Art Colleges!

by C.J. Gustafson
ArtSchools.com Contributing Writer

art schools in Los Angeles

In 1781, the Spanish governor of California decided it would be a strategically wise move to establish a town along the River Los Angeles, north of the Mission San Gabriel. That settlement would eventually become the city of Los Angeles, or "the angels."

The largest city in California and the second most populated in the United States, Los Angeles is home to nearly 400,000 people. The population of Los Angeles County is estimated as high as 16 million people over 498.3 sq. miles. The urban sprawl and large freeways connect several metropolitan areas along the California coast, making it seem as if Hollywood, Santa Barbara, Burbank, and other surrounding areas are all part of one all-encompassing metropolis. In fact, discussions about tourist attractions, employment, education and other city features often overlap. Los Angeles is full of events, including annual extravaganzas such as the Academy Awards and the Tournament of Roses Parade. Year-round attractions abound as well, including the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), with enough holdings to fill a dozen specialty museums, and permanent collections such as Japanese art, German expressionism, pre-Columbian art and costume.

art in Los Angeles Other art museums of note are the Getty Museum, the American Film Institute, Museum of Contemporary Art, Museum of Neon Art, and the Museum of Latin American Art.

The list of other L.A. attractions and places of cultural importance would fill pages. The website for the City of Los Angeles contains a wealth of information about the area, as do several other sites devoted to city, such as LA.com and the Los Angeles Convention and Visitors Bureau site.

Art Schools and Programs

With its large population and high demand for trained visual arts professionals, Los Angeles has one of the largest offerings of arts education schools and programs in the world. A partial list of institutions includes Otis College of Art and Design, The Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising, Westwood College - Los Angeles, and the Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc). The Art Institutes have two campuses in the Los Angeles area -- the California Design College in Wilshire, and another in Santa Monica.

Public and general studies colleges and universities with visual arts schools and programs include California State University - Los Angeles, Department of Art, American InterContinental University - Los Angeles Campus, Academy of Art and Technology, Los Angeles Mission College's, Department of Arts and Letters, Loyola Marymount University's School of Film and Television and their Department of Art and Art History, Mount St. Mary's College, Art Program, and Platt College - Los Angeles.

art student in Los Angeles The University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) offers the School of the Arts & Architecture, School of Theater, Film and Television and an Animation Workshop, while the University of Southern California includes the School of Architecture, School of Fine Arts and School of Cinema Television.

Other schools of note that offer professional training include the American Film Institute, Los Angeles Academy of Figurative Art, Brentwood Art Center School of Fine Arts, Cinema Training Center, L.A. School Of Illustration, Los Angeles Film School, and Vision21 Art School.

L.A.'s extensive list of arts education facilities provides students with opportunities to earn virtually any type of art degree including Advertising degrees, Interior Design degrees and Graphic Design degrees. They receive training for architectural careers, photography careers, fashion careers and a staggering number of other careers in the visual arts. With the proximity of Hollywood, Disneyland and Universal Studios, the area provides unique potential for training in film, animation, architecture and design. In an article entitled, "Riding the beast - Los Angeles' art scene" in the July-August, 1999 Afterimage journal, Thomas McGovern commented on the role Hollywood plays in the Los Angeles arts community. "Movie-making, with its crass commercialism, might seem incongruous with the heady act of artmaking but both share an intense relationship with aesthetics and, if nothing else, a profitable industry that can provide day jobs to artists."

There are a host of art centers and studios also that offer art classes and workshops. The fact that the list is too lengthy to include here is proof of the incredible volume and diversity of arts education opportunities in the Los Angeles area. This abundance of opportunity, both educational and in visual arts careers, makes Los Angeles a perfect choice for students who enjoy life in the big city and all that the exciting California coast has to offer.

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