Express yourself through art in an intensive college art studio

Guest Artists

Daily studio work is enhanced by special programming. Participants are exposed to a range of media and contemporary art practices with presentations by both UCLA Department of Art faculty and visiting artists.

Student Gallery

Please visit the Art Summer Institute Student Gallery for sample projects.

Applications are reviewed and admission to the program is granted on a rolling basis starting February 15^th. Applying at your earliest convenience is highly recommended.

The program has application requirements for admission. Eligible applicants who successfully submit all requirements will be reviewed and notified via email of an admission decision within 3 weeks.

Applicants are required to provide the following during the online registration process:

• An unofficial transcript from grade 9 to present reflecting a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or higher
  • If your school transcript utilizes a different grading system, please submit your transcript as is. If available, please attach a translation/equivalency guide.
  • INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS: If you are an international student, a transcript refers to your complete secondary academic record. To learn more about converting your grades into a US-based GPA, please click here.
    • If your school has a translation/equivalency guide, please also include it with your transcript. If you do not have a translation/equivalency guide, please still submit your most up-to-date transcript as is for staff to review.
• Value statement: At the time of registration, ALL applicants will be prompted to submit a few short sentences reflecting on their pursuit of participation in a UCLA Precollege Summer Institute. Please note that students are strongly discouraged from relying on ChatGpt/AI tools for their application responses and are encouraged to submit original and authentic answers.
• Upload four examples of your original and recent artwork in JPEG format (width greater than 500 pixels, length lesser than 1024 pixels at 72 dpi).
• Complete a brief questionnaire answering the following questions:
  • What is your main reason for applying to the Art Summer Institute? What do you hope to learn?
  • What art experience do you have, if any?
  • How would you best describe the kind of art that you make now?
  • The Art Summer Institute is an intensive work environment that requires students to be self-motivated, engaged, and creative in their use of time and resources. Describe a project that you initiated or worked on independently that demonstrates these qualities and your readiness to participate in the program.
  • College level art classes can be very social and diverse environments. Students share the studio and equipment to execute their artwork and are often asked to work together. Students are, also, expected to support each other in their artistic work. Describe a situation where you worked in a group, and what your role was.
  • Provide the name, email address, and phone number of one previous art teacher.
  • Provide the name, email address, and phone number of a second teacher.

For more information about the application, including questions about GPA or other requirements, please reach out to summerart@arts.ucla.edu.

Art Summer Institute – Session B.1 is a residential program.

The residential track is ONLY available to students who will be 17 years of age or older by June 23, 2025. NO EXECPTIONS are made to this eligibility requirement.

All residential precollege programs feature scheduled non-curricular evening and weekend activities that all students are expected to participate in. The nature of these scheduled activities is at the sole discretion of the individual academic department offering the program, and are not operated by UCLA Summer Sessions. To learn more about when your selected program will host such activities, please consult the schedules for each program, or contact the department in question directly: summerart@arts.ucla.edu

Most of our residential precollege programs will hold check-in on the Sunday before the start of the program between 4-6pm, and hold check-out the Saturday after the final day of class at 11am. Please contact the department in question directly to confirm check-in and check-out times: summerart@arts.ucla.edu

For more information on UCLA housing precollege programs, please see the Housing for Minors page.

Art Summer Institute – Session B.2 is a commuter program. There is NO on-campus housing available for the commuter program through the summer institute or UCLA Summer Sessions.

Participants of the Art Summer Institute commuter program must commute to the UCLA campus each day of the program. Specific location information (e.g. classroom) will be provided to enrolled students closer to the start of the program.

Parking
Summer Sessions parking permits will be available on a first-come, first-served basis. Students have the option to purchase a summer term permit or a daily permit.

Coursework
ART 70; 3 units

Grading
Students will be graded on a Pass/No Pass basis upon completion. See University Credit, Grades and Transcripts for more information about academic credit.

In order to successfully complete the program, students must not have more than 2 excused or unexcused absences.

UCLA Summer Sessions Summer Scholars Support

Qualified students attending grades 9th – 11th in Spring 2025 in the state of California may be eligible for Summer Scholars Support, a need- and merit-based scholarship offered by the UCLA Summer Sessions Office. Students must be 15 years old by the first day of Summer Sessions 2025 on June 23rd in order to participate in a Precollege Summer Institute and/or apply for Summer Scholars Support. A limited number of full and partial scholarships are available to support enrollment in SCIP/eSCIP, one Summer Course, or a Precollege Summer Institute.

Summer 2025 deadline to apply: March 15.