California State Summer School for the Arts (InnerSpark) is a rigorous, pre-professional, month-long residential training program for talented students aspiring to careers in the arts and entertainment industries. It is a unique opportunity for gifted young artists to unleash their creativity in an educational environment devoted solely to the arts. What sets InnerSpark apart from other schools for the arts and similar arts programs are: 1) The high quality of its student body, which is determined through rigorous competition; 2) The socioeconomic and ethnic diversity of the students, which is due to the fact that no Californian is denied admission solely because of the inability to pay the tuition and fees; 3) A curriculum which emphasizes process over product. Established by the California State Legislature in 1985 as a state agency funded through a public/private partnership, InnerSpark selects high school students from grades 9 through 12 based on individual applications in animation, creative writing, dance, film and video, music, theatre and the visual arts. The admissions process for InnerSpark is highly competitive. Fewer than one in three applicants are typically accepted each year. Students from California’s more than 2,700 public and private secondary schools may apply. Approximately 500 are selected. In addition, a limited number of students from outside of California are invited to attend the program. The students selected for InnerSpark are named California Arts Scholars and receive the Governor’s Medallion, California’s highest distinction for artistically talented students. The California State Summer School Arts Foundation provides financial aid for InnerSpark students based on need. Over its nineteen year history, more than nine thousand and two hundred young artists have honed their skills in the school’s intensive, multi-disciplinary artistic environment. InnerSpark teachers are accomplished artists, entertainment professionals and distinguished college and university instructors. The school strives to engage teachers who are practicing, professional artists. Faculty members are selected based on their artistic achievements, in addition to their teaching abilities. Along with regular faculty, many internationally prominent artists, writers and performers have worked with students at the school, including composer John Adams, choreographer Donald Byrd, composer/songwriter Mike Stoller, author Iris Dart, actress Helen Hunt, Pulitzer Prize winner cartoonist/playwright Jules Feiffer, and others.