As the first higher education institution in the nation to offer undergraduate and graduate degrees in the visual and performing arts, the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) is in the top tier of highly competitive art schools. Established in 1961 by Walt and Roy Disney, CalArts emerged with a bold new paradigm for arts education, promising the freedom to create with boundless imagination, unfettered by conventional expectations. Located on a campus 25 miles north of Hollywood, the Institute has helped fuel several movements in the arts, its graduates fanning out internationally in every major arts arena. CalArts’ commitment to nurturing and exploring the artistic process and its concomitant pedagogy rooted in intense mentorship causes it to stand out—not only to provide a top-quality education to its students, but also to serve as a global model for others to study and emulate.