School of Critical Studies

Financial Aid Opportunities

Teaching Assistantships

Creative Writing Program students who are interested in gaining experience teaching college-level writing have the opportunity in their second year to serve as teaching assistants in a range of writing-intensive special topics courses at the BFA level. Each Spring, the admissions committee selects five MA Aesthetics and Politics applicants for a Teaching or Research Assistantship. Students interested in a Teaching or Research Assistantship are encouraged to mention this in their application.

The Truman Capote Literary Fellowships

Every year, The Truman Capote Literary Trust supports one exceptional applicant to the CalArts MFA Creative Writing Program with full-tuition fellowships. The recipient is selected by program faculty from the application pool, with no additional application process required. 

Peer Tutors

This is a salaried position to assist undergraduates in the Teaching and Learning Center situated in the Library.

Hauser & Wirth Residency

The School of Critical Studies MFA Creative Writing Program and MA Aesthetics and Politics Program offer four, four-month summer residencies (May-August) hosted by Hauser & Wirth, located in the downtown arts district of Los Angeles. This residency is eligible to students coming to the end of their first year in their Programs. Residents will be able to make free use of the Book & Printed Matter Lab at Hauser & Wirth, to develop a series of events or projects over the residency period. This is a great opportunity for students to place their work in the public domain, acquire hands-on curatorial skills, and to develop fruitful working relationships with their peers and new partners in the arts.

External Fellowships, Summer Schools, Residency Programs

• Whitney Independent Study Program
• Core Program, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
• École Européenne Supérieure de l’image (ÉESI) and École Nationale Supérieure d’art de Bourges (for MA2 Aesthetics and Politics, Fall Term only)
• The Institute for International Education
• The Fulbright Program
• The Belgian American Educational Foundation
• Terra Foundation for American Art
• German Academic Exchange Service
• Goldsmiths College (MA2 Aesthetics and Politics, Fall term only)
• The American-Scandinavian Foundation
• The Denmark-America Foundation
• The League of Finnish-American Societies
• The Icelandic-American Society
• The Norway-America Association
• The Sweden-America Association
• The School of Criticism and Theory

Creative Writing Internships

With mentor approval, students may receive 3 units of core MFA Creative Writing Program credit for publishing internships, on and off campus.

Les Figues

Interning at Les Figues provides valuable insight into the operations of a successful small press. While Les Figues Press internships are competitive and not restricted to CalArts MFA Writing students, the press has a longstanding relationship with our program and has provided internships to a number of our students, in addition to publishing several alumni. Interns assist in all aspects of Les Figues operations, including editorial, marketing, development and administrative tasks. These may include publicity projects, special events/readings, copy-editing, developing website content, grant writing, tracking and logging reviews, marketing research, data entry and more. Learn more.

Professional Development Course

Exit Strategies: Professional Development for Writers

“Exit Strategies” is a required course for all second-year graduate students in the MFA Creative Writing Program. It is focused around a series of panels in which guests discuss possible career paths for writers today, including publishing, editing, journalism, freelancing, reviewing, founding and running journals and small presses, curating reading series, web design, founding and managing art spaces and other non-profits, entering Ph.D programs, teaching, and more. We discuss submission processes to publishers, agents, and journals (both print and online), as well as the various apparatus of professional life, including websites, CVs, grant proposals, applications to residencies, and job applications. Students in “Exit Strategies” also attend and play an active role in the Visiting Writers series.