"CCA is the reason I'm in San Francisco, in this job, in the arts. It was in CCA's MFA program that I met some of my closest friends, my first KQED editor, and a network of professional artists who taught me how to make my way in the Bay Area art world. My final semester of grad school, I took a required class called "Real World." Taught by Stephanie Syjuco and Glen Helfand, it gave me a crash course in pragmatic skills:"
"The class represented what was different about CCA, especially in comparison to the more unruly, exclusively fine-art focus of SFAI. Local logic reasoned that CCA was the more stable art school. CCA's MFA program required everyone to write a thesis; it offered an MBA in design strategy; its alums got real jobs at places like Apple and Ideo. CCA spawned not just talented fine artists, but fiction writers, architects, industrial designers and fashion brands."
"Yet SFAI and CCA shared some crucial things in common. Both undertook expensive expansion projects. Both had declining enrollment rates. Both relied too much on tuition fees. The stories coming out of CCA over the past two years have been filled with familiar themes: a deficit of millions, layoffs, short-term stop-gap fundraising. And now, closure has become, according to CCA President David Howse, " the necessary step to take.""
An alum credits CCA with enabling a career in San Francisco arts, citing the MFA program's network and practical training. A required "Real World" class taught pragmatic skills for navigating a life in the arts. CCA emphasized professional pathways through thesis requirements, an MBA in design strategy, and alumni employment at firms like Apple and Ideo, producing varied creative professionals. Both CCA and SFAI undertook costly expansions, faced declining enrollment, and over-relied on tuition, leaving CCA with multimillion-dollar deficits, layoffs, and stop-gap fundraising. Closure was declared necessary, increasing uncertainty for students, faculty, and staff.
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