CSU Summer Arts Contract Extended to 2005

The CSU Summer Arts Program has extended its contract with Fresno State through the 2005 season - the second extension since the program came to Fresno in 1999 - announced John D. Welty, president of California State University, Fresno this week.

"We are pleased to continue hosting this world-renowned program that offers outstanding instruction by highly qualified faculty and artists to promising arts and arts education students, especially to those who plan to make their careers in arts or arts education," Welty said of the CSU program that is now in now in its 17th year.

In addition to the specialized instruction, the $1.2 million CSU Summer Arts Program is also a festival in which visiting guest artists perform for the public almost every evening throughout July.

Fresno State's College of Arts and Humanities successfully competed for the opportunity to host CSU Summer Arts beginning in 1999. Last summer, the original three-year contract was extended through 2003. Now it has been extended through 2005.

"CSU Summer Arts has been a great success in Fresno, and the support of the campus and the community has been outstanding," said CSU Summer Arts director Jim Spalding in Long Beach. "The entire Summer Arts staff is happy to think of Fresno as our second home."

Prior to Fresno State, the program had been held at CSU campuses in San Luis Obispo, Humboldt and Long Beach.

This summer, the program will be bigger and better than ever before, Spalding said, with 19 course offerings - including a class in Florence, Italy - and 55 public performances from June 30-July 27 (except June 4 and 19).

Most will be at Fresno State, but some will be held at the Tower Theater, Arte Americas, the Fresno African American Museum and the Fresno Art Museum.

Highlights will include the Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra; Jimmy Heath and the Shelly Berg Trio; the Alexander String Quartet; and the Steppenwolf Theatre Company of Chicago's performance of William Saroyan's works.

Also planned are a mini-festival of films from India; dance performances by Risa Steinberg and Colin Conor and by San Diego's Lower Left; musical theater; and lecture/demonstrations by animators, photographers, children's authors and glass sculptors.

The program attracts nearly 500 students and 120 guest artists in residence to Fresno State and provides an economic boost for the community.

To register for a course or to find out more about the public performances, call (559) 241-6090 or visit the Web site: www.calstate.edu/summerarts.