Summer Arts program to draw creative crowd

By Megan Farrell
The Collegian

After 21 years of teaching students, serious amateurs and professionals, the 22nd annual California State University Summer Arts program is taking applications for the 2007 session.

This summer, the program will be offered with special sesions in Florence, Italy and on Fresno State’s campus. The program is sponsored by the College of Arts and Humanities.

Courses being offered are in the visual arts, creative writing, music, dance and theater.

Each course has a course coordinator who is in charge of finding the instructors and specialists in the specific field as well as answering questions to any and all who inquire.

Participants can range from high school graduates to college undergraduates or graduate students and professionals in the field.

Participants as young as 16 have been accepted before but they must show extreme maturity, Jackie Doumanian, the Community Relations Specialist for the Summer Arts Program, said.

Doumanian has been with the program for two years.

The programs can run anywhere from 12-14 hours a day. “The program is very intense,” Doumanian said.

The workshops are offered from June 17-30 in Florence. The first session at Fresno State is July 1-14 and the second is July 15-28.

Participants can earn three to six units of transferable college units; depending on how many classes they take. Coordinators suggest that participants in the first session at Fresno State stay on for the session to earn the remaining three units.

“All six units are paid for in the tuition payment,” Doumanian said. “Most participants choose to stay and take the matching component in the following session.”

One of the programs offered is Character Development for Animation and Television Production.

Guest artists for the program include Andrew Gordon from Pixar Animation Sudios, and award-winning animator Charles A. Harvey. Gordon worked on films such as “The Incredibles” and “Monster, Inc.” Harvey worked on Disney animated films such as “Robin Hood” and “The Little Mermaid.”

Another program is The Second City. This program is based on improvisation and comedy. Alumni include Jim Belushi, Bill Murray and several Saturday Night Live actors.

“It’s amazing to be able to work with people working in their field,” Jacque Babb said. Babb is a senior theater major at Fresno State. “You throw yourself for two weeks into your craft.”

This year, there are not any coordinators from Fresno State. The coordinators include faculty from CSU Chico, CSU Los Angeles, Cal Poly Pomona and CSU Stanislaus.

Summer Arts has been offered at Fresno State for the past nine years. Every year, Doumanian said, campuses bid for the program to be held on that campus. Fresno State has facilities that are great for the program, Doumanian said.

Students are encouraged to apply for scholarships when they apply for the program. 80 percent of applicants receive some sort of aid, Doumanian said. The scholarships are based on need.

Summer Arts applications are available csusummerarts.org.

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