In its ongoing mission “to empower creativity and leadership in indigenous arts and cultures through higher education, lifelong learning and outreach,” the Institute of American Indian Arts announced the formation of a new partnership with the California Institute of the Arts. The partnership will allow the schools to collaborate and influence each other through student and faculty exchanges.

“CalArts is at the beginning of a process of Indigenization, and we’re looking to IAIA for how to best approach that,” said Dr. Chad Hamill (Spokan), CalArts President’s Fellow for Indigenous Arts and Expression.

While the Institute will provide guidance to CalArts in its Indigenization efforts, CalArts, located in Santa Clarita, will offer Institute students accessibility to cutting-edge and experimental art-making technologies and future job opportunities. The school has deep ties to animation and film studios, theater and music industries and experience-design companies.

“As a school that has been in existence for 60 years, the Institute has built connections with many institutions interested in indigenous arts and artists. The Institute has long had informal community connections with CalArts through our students, alumni and faculty. Through this partnership, we will build a reciprocal and collaborative relationship for the future,” said Felipe Colón (Laguna Pueblo) Institute Academic Dean.

CalArts is a nonprofit interdisciplinary art institute offering undergraduate and graduate degrees through numerous programs of study including traditional and digital media arts, filmmaking, performance and music. Its mission is “to promote a community of artists that, through artistic practice, seeks to transform themselves, each other and the world.”

As CalArts enters its 51st year, the school seeks to diversify its student body, staff, faculty and curriculum by building collaborations and sharing resources with indigenous artists, educators, nations and institutions like Institute of American Indian Arts, the only college in the world dedicated to the study of contemporary Native American and Alaska Native arts.

CalArts President and Chief Executive Officer, Ravi Rajan said the missions of both schools are complementary and their shared goals can form a strong foundation for mutual growth and exchange.

“IAIA’s mission is something that’s very, very important,” he said. “It stands to amplify indigenous voices within the space of arts and culture through contemporary practice and that’s conspicuously absent in the space of contemporary culture in the United States.”

“As an indigenous institution, we believe that Indigenous ideas and values are not exclusively Indigenous,” said Colón. “Indigenous people have a lot to teach the world. By exposing more of who we are to the students at CalArts, they will learn Indigenous values, practices and in some cases, techniques that they can impart in their work, their practice, and their consciousness as artists.”

Potential areas for cooperation may include Cinematic Arts and Technology, Creative Writing and Museum Studies, as both schools already have established programs. Early ideas involve joint educational collaborations, public engagements like performances, seminars, symposia and conferences and exchanges between faculty and students.

Abigail Severance, Interim Dean of the School of Film and Video, praised Institute President Dr. Robert Martin (Cherokee) for ensuring that student experiences and opportunities were at the forefront of the partnership’s framework.

“Student exchanges would be of strong interest, and that seems natural and organic in the way that we’ve already worked with other schools,” she said.

Eve LaFountain (Chippewa), CalArts Assistant Director of Admissions for the School of Film and Video, grew up in Santa Fe and attended CalArts.

“On a personal level, it’s exciting to see these things come together. Everything I knew about contemporary art before I left home came from IAIA,” she said.

LaFountain has family who went to the Institute and she participated in special programs at CalArts as an undergraduate.

She said the one-on-one conversations about the Institute she has had with her CalArts peers have resulted in enriching exchanges and she looks forward to seeing what opportunities emerge as a result of the Institute/CalArts partnership.

“I’m just really excited to be part of it,” said LaFountain.

The agreement is in its exploratory stages and school presidents Rajan and Martin agree that the structure of the partnership should form organically in response to the needs and desires of both communities.

“If we force some issue here, it isn’t likely to last,” said Rajan. “This is something we want to establish and make sure it stays for a long time.”