Idyllwild Arts Foundation encompasses two institutions in
Idyllwild, California for training in the arts:
Idyllwild Arts Academy
Idyllwild Arts Academy is a private school located in Idyllwild, in the San Jacinto Mountains and San Bernardino National Forest, within western Riverside County, California. The school was founded in 1946. It was previously known as Idyllwild S ...
(IAA) and the Idyllwild Arts Summer Program. The institution was formerly known as Idyllwild School of Music and the Arts (ISOMATA).
The Idyllwild Arts Foundation is in the San Jacinto Mountains above
Palm Springs, California
Palm Springs (Cahuilla: ''Séc-he'') is a desert resort city in Riverside County, California, United States, within the Colorado Desert's Coachella Valley. The city covers approximately , making it the largest city in Riverside County by land a ...
in the
San Bernardino National Forest
The San Bernardino National Forest is a United States National Forest in Southern California encompassing of which are federal. The forest is made up of two main divisions, the eastern portion of the San Gabriel Mountains and the San Bernard ...
, at an elevation of , and is a 2 hour drive from Los Angeles, 2 hours from San Diego and 1 hour from Palm Springs.
History
Idyllwild Arts Foundation was founded by Dr. Max Krone and his wife, Beatrice. Envisioning a remote place where people of all backgrounds could come together to experience the arts, they established the Idyllwild Arts Foundation in 1946 and purchased land in the San Jacinto Mountains on which to build. In 1950, approximately one hundred adult students began attending summer classes in the arts.
Over the years, summer activities have continued to grow, expanding to include programs for children of all ages, a Family Camp, Metals Week, Native American Arts Festival and the Chamber Music Festival. Classes in music, dance, theatre, visual arts, film, writing and Native American arts are offered to students from age 5 to adult. Each year over 1800 adults and children attend Idyllwild Arts Summer Program courses.
Norman Corwin
Norman Lewis Corwin (May 3, 1910 – October 18, 2011) was an American writer, screenwriter, producer, essayist and teacher of journalism and writing. His earliest and biggest successes were in the writing and directing of radio drama during the ...
,
Ansel Adams
Ansel Easton Adams (February 20, 1902 – April 22, 1984) was an American landscape photographer and environmentalist known for his black-and-white images of the American West. He helped found Group f/64, an association of photographers advoca ...
,
Herbert Zipper Herbert Zipper (April 24, 1904 in Vienna, Austria – April 21, 1997 in Santa Monica, California) was an internationally renowned composer, conductor, and arts activist. As an inmate at Dachau concentration camp in the late 1930s, he arranged to ha ...
, Marguerite N. Clapp, Mark Wilke, Bella Lewitzky,
Fritz Scholder
Fritz William Scholder V (October 6, 1937 – February 10, 2005) was a Native American artist. Scholder was an enrolled member of the La Jolla Band of Luiseno Indians, a federally recognized tribe of Luiseños, a California Mission tribe. Schold ...
,
Maria Martinez
Maria Montoya Martinez (1887, San Ildefonso Pueblo, New Mexico – July 20, 1980, San Ildefonso Pueblo) was a Native American artist who created internationally known pottery. Martinez (born Maria Poveka Montoya), her husband Julian, and o ...
, Lucy Lewis,
Pete Seeger
Peter Seeger (May 3, 1919 – January 27, 2014) was an American folk singer and social activist. A fixture on nationwide radio in the 1940s, Seeger also had a string of hit records during the early 1950s as a member of the Weavers, notably ...
and Meredith Willson taught courses there in the summer.
In 1964, the school was given to the
University of Southern California
The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in C ...
(USC) under the terms of an agreement with the Idyllwild Arts Foundation. In 1983, the Foundation exercised its option to resume independent management and resumed sole ownership of the school. In 1985, the first independent boarding high school for the arts in the western United States, the Idyllwild Arts Academy, was established.
Idyllwild Arts Academy
Idyllwild Arts Academy, the boarding school, offers a college preparatory program for grades 9–12 and post-graduates, with training in music, theater, dance, visual art, creative writing, film and interdisciplinary arts. An audition or portfolio is required for admission.
Idyllwild Arts Summer Program
The Idyllwild Arts Summer Program which began in the summer of 1950,
includes more than 95 workshops. These are taught by professional artist-teachers, in dance, music, theatre, visual arts, creative writing, poetry, filmmaking, and Native Arts.
The program for young people features a Children's Center whose participants range in age from 5 to 12 and who select classes and workshops in a variety of arts including multi-arts, dance, piano, theatre, visual arts, poetry and journal writing.
Junior Artist's Center (ages 11–13) and Youth Arts Center (ages 13–18) offer courses to accommodate a broad range of skill levels and a wide variety of art experiences. Music opportunities include musical theatre, piano classes, jazz workshop, two bands, two orchestras and chamber music. Visual artists can select courses from introductory art exploration to ceramics, advanced painting and drawing, jewelry, photography, computer animation, mixed media, and video production. Writers can take poetry, fiction and playwriting workshops. Dancers participate in ballet, jazz and modern. Actors may take up to six weeks of Theatre Festival workshops, each of which includes a major performance.
Each year, Idyllwild Arts provides financial aid for young people with limited financial resources: twenty-five percent of young people who participate in an arts workshop are awarded financial aid totaling approximately $500,000.
Part of the program involves theme-related workshops, seminars and performances featuring artists, poets and musicians. Programs include: Native American Arts, Metals Week & the Chamber Music Festival.
The culmination of the Summer Program is celebrated with a concert by the Festival Choir, Festival Wind Ensemble and the Festival Orchestra. In previous years this concert ended with a performance of
Meredith Willson
Robert Reiniger Meredith Willson (May 18, 1902 – June 15, 1984) was an American flutist, composer, conductor, musical arranger, bandleader, playwright, and writer. He is perhaps best known for writing the book, music, and lyrics for the 195 ...
's "In Idyllwild" by the combined ensembles.
References
External links
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Arts organizations based in California
Art schools in California
Education in Riverside County, California
San Jacinto Mountains
Educational institutions established in 1986
Arts organizations established in 1986
1986 establishments in California