CalArts Alumni

10/02/2026

What a nightttt!

10/01/2026

Alums perform this Saturday in the SCV!

This Saturday: Alum and Reef Resident Ilse Castro Corona (Theater MFA 26) is directing and producing UN-FITTED, a new site-specific performance at Santa Clarita’s Business for Artists Conference at the Canyon Country Community Center.

The devised movement performance follows five players with different histories and heritages who share a dream of qualifying for a championship. Audience members are invited to share their own dreams, which the ensemble incorporates into the perfomance, exploring ambition, resilience, and the costs of pursuing those dreams.

Featuring alumni performers: Euseon Song, Tristan Samson, Ashwath Ram, and Miriam Randolph, with music composition by Rocco Lc Williams

📅 Saturday, Oct. 3 at 2:30 pm
📍 Canyon Country Community Center, 18410 Sierra Hwy, Santa Clarita, CA

More details: https://santaclaritaarts.pulse.ly/vgbqg8ozm5

10/01/2026

LFG 👏👏

Five CalArtians made TIME100 Art, the magazine's inaugural list of art's most influential figures shaping the future of art. Catherine Opie (Art MFA 88) and David Hammons (Chouinard 68) were named Icons, Adriano Pedrosa (Art-Critical Studies MFA 95) a Titan, and Tuan Andrew Nguyen (Art MFA 04) and Lauren Halsey (Art BFA 12) Innovators.

Dive more into their practices at 24700: https://calarts.pulse.ly/gs1trnyv8c

10/01/2026

Be sure to tune in this October (or stream away!).

Fine Cut has been bringing California student films to television audiences for 27 years, and this October, five CalArts shorts are part of it. Save the date for these student and alumni films air throughout October:

🎞️ Oct. 1: SEAGULL COFFEE by Yunqing "Sally" Pan
🎞️ Oct. 8: WILBUR HAROLD by Giovanni Edwards
🎞️ Oct. 15: HEART-BIT DIM SUM FRIENDS! by Veda Lee (Film/Video BFA 26) and THE OCEANARIUM by Matthew Lei
🎞️Oct. 22: DEATH IS A GIANT PEANUT by Amy Boisvert (Film/Video BFA 25)

Episodes are broadcast at 7 pm and stream on the PBS SoCal website and app.

Find trailers for each film at 24700:
https://calarts.pulse.ly/2jxpubevht

Image: PBS SoCal Fine Cut Festival of Films

10/01/2026

Let's go Clarisse!

Character Animation alum Clarisse Chua (Film/Video BFA 20) is featured in Variety's 10 Animators to Watch 2026.

Chua traces her love of animation back to a childhood movie outing with her dad, who took her to see Hayao Miyazaki's HOWL’S MOVING CASTLE. She is currently a story artist on fellow alum Brad Bird's (Film/Video BFA 76) RAY GUNN, arriving on Netflix in December.

View the full article:
https://variety.pulse.ly/pyv3fveils

09/29/2026

There's a new Genius in the CalArts family!!

Congratulations to alum Rodney McMillian (Art MFA 02) who has been named a 2026 MacArthur Fellow.

McMillian’s work spans across installation, sculpture, painting, video, and performance, and often incorporates discarded materials to examine the forces that perpetuate racial and economic marginalization.

Colloquially known as the MacArthur “genius grants,” the fellowships recognize individuals who have demonstrated exceptional creativity and the potential to make significant future contributions in their fields.

Learn more about McMillian’s practice at 24700: https://calarts.pulse.ly/r2m506opph
Image: Photo courtesy of John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.

09/28/2026

Let's go Ben!

CalArts alum Ben Tong (Art BFA 08, MFA 12) newest solo exhibition, IDEA OF NORTH, is now open at Night Gallery in Los Angeles.

It's Tong’s second solo show with the gallery, following his 2024 exhibit, THE VIOLET HOUR. Working in oil, Tong builds luminous, layered canvases where moons, rainbows, and starlike bursts emerge from fields of color, applying paint with brushes, rags, and a massage gun.

Learn more about Tong’s work and process at 24700, linked in bio.

📅 Open through Saturday, Oct. 31
📍 Night Gallery, 2050 Imperial Street, Los Angeles

Image: By Tyler Matthew Oyer (Art MFA 12) via Instagram.

09/28/2026

Anyone headed to the Bowl tomorrow?!

Lauren Halsey's (Art BFA 12) work is rooted in architecture, community engagement, and the visual culture of South Central Los Angeles. On Tuesday, Sept. 29, she brings that practice to the Hollywood Bowl with emajendat, an evening of music, art, and activities across the grounds.

Before the 8 pm concert, attendees can try ping-pong, double Dutch, face painting, mini golf, and more. The lineup features Erykah Badu, The Alchemist, DJ P*e .Wee, Flea, and the Charles Gaines Collective. Yvonne Orji hosts.

Find the full story at 24700: https://24700.calarts.edu/2026/09/25/calarts-alum-lauren-halseys-emajendat-transforms-hollywood-bowl

09/24/2026

What a special evening! Thanks to everyone who joined us. 🩷

09/24/2026

Music alum Becky Allen takes the cover of Wavelength's Fall 2026 issue!

Lifetime achievement: Unlocked.

We love seeing alumna Becky Allen (Music MFA 92) featured on the cover of WAVELENGTH’S Fall 2026 issue, where she shares her path from CalArts to a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Game Audio Network Guild.

Allen's CalArts years included studying electronic music with Morton Subotnick and joining CEAIT, an early digital and networked media initiative. "We were well-positioned even if the industry itself was just getting started," she said of the program.

Her three decades in interactive media span Microsoft, Plants vs. Zombies, and the Halo franchise, where she's now Audio Director at Halo Studios.

Discover more about Allen's career at 24700: https://calarts.pulse.ly/uowqflhljn

Image: Fall 2026 WAVELENGTH cover, via LinkedIn.