The city of Santa Clarita has recently completed the installation of dark fiber at the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) campus. The installation has created a direct path between Santa Clarita City Hall and the CalArts campus, with a plan to connect to Downtown Los Angeles in the near future. Once active, the fiber strands will allow for greater internet bandwidth and stronger connectivity for the CalArts community.

In July 2020, the city of Santa Clarita announced a three-year agreement with CalArts to license two City-owned dark fiber strands and provide lit transport service. The new agreement allows for cost savings and more Internet Service Provider (ISP) choices for CalArts, along with revenue generation for the City. The City continues to strive for improvements in internet connectivity and technology to better support the outstanding businesses and organizations that call Santa Clarita home.

“The partnership with the city of Santa Clarita to provide new fiber-optic connectivity is a major technological advance for CalArts,” said CalArts’ new Vice President for Institute Technology and Chief Technology Officer Allan Chen. “We are deeply excited about the opportunities this opens for our campus community. Internet connectivity, even before the work- and learn-from-home environment we find ourselves in today, is critical to the productivity of the Institute. This new project provides a direct link to the largest hub of connectivity on the west coast, opening new doors that will improve redundancy, performance and capacity. The successful culmination of this multiyear effort is also indicative of the collaborative spirit of the project.”

To learn more about the recent fiber installation at CalArts, Fiber Optic Network and more, please contact the city of Santa Clarita’s Information Technology Manager, Benny Ives, at bives@santa-clarita.com.

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California Institute of the Arts has set the pace for educating professional artists since 1970. Offering rigorous undergraduate and graduate degree programs through six schools—Art, Critical Studies, Dance, Film/Video, Music, and Theater—CalArts has championed creative excellence, critical reflection, and the development of new forms and expressions. As successive generations of faculty and alumni have helped shape the landscape of contemporary arts, the Institute first envisioned by Walt Disney encompasses a vibrant, eclectic community with global reach, inviting experimentation, independent inquiry, and active collaboration and exchange among artists, artistic disciplines and cultural traditions.