Maker / Meets / Future

CCA’s $123 million campaign reimagines arts education for the future on a campus like no other—a living, learning laboratory in the heart of San Francisco, where students, faculty, and the community come together to engage in the power of creative work.

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Vision

The college of the future

“CCA is creating a dynamic model for education that will be a resource for innovation in San Francisco, the region, and beyond.”

— Lorna Meyer Calas

CCA Board of Trustees Chair

With a philanthropic investment of $123 million, CCA will:

1 – Build the college of the future, a maker’s laboratory steeped in sustainable practice

2 – Expand accessibility and excellence through student scholarships and faculty support

3 – Unleash creativity and change-making in the community by reinventing industry and neighborhood partnerships

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A maker’s laboratory

Rendering of Double Ground's lower ground, housing shops, studios, and flexible outdoor courtyards called maker yards.

Double Ground is so named because it will have, essentially, two ground levels. The lower ground will house shops, studios, and flexible outdoor courtyards called maker yards. The upper ground features an outdoor plaza and welcoming green spaces for fostering a sense of connectedness, collaboration, and community.

Learning

CCA launched the two-year construction of Double Ground, the centerpiece educational facility of our expansion, in fall 2022. Designed by Studio Gang, an architectural firm noted for its innovative use of materials and commitment to environmental sustainability, Double Ground is a 90,000-square-foot complex for hands-on learning, an open and interconnected laboratory that is flexible and environmentally responsible.

Drone view of Founders Hall on the CCA campus in San Francisco.

Founders Hall, opened fall 2020, provides affordable on-campus housing for more than 500 students, as well as dining facilities for students, faculty, and the public.

Living

An essential piece of CCA’s expansion is creating affordable, on-campus student housing. At a time when the housing crisis is driving out artists and makers, CCA’s San Francisco campus will be a haven for creative young people to live in and shape the city. Unification introduced two new state-of-the-art buildings to CCA: Blattner Hall opened in fall 2018 and is located two blocks south of campus; and Founders Hall opened fall 2020 directly on campus and located adjacent to first-year studios. These two new residence halls accommodate 700 students (50% of CCA enrollment) in housing below market rate.

Image rendering of Double Ground featuring two ground levels of an outdoor plaza and maker yards.

Double Ground is so named because it will have two ground levels. The upper ground features an outdoor plaza, a park-like garden, and views of the maker yards on the lower ground. Rendering courtesy of Studio Gang.

Advancing sustainability

Environmental responsibility is at the core of our campus design, construction, and operations. CCA is committed to addressing climate change and generating renewable resources on a platform that teaches and inspires the next generation of creative leaders to proliferate these practices. The following are sustainability systems and practices central to our new campus:

  • CCA will harvest and store solar energy via a microgrid system with an operation goal of net zero.
  • Smart controls will monitor everything from cooling and heating to ventilation to LED lighting, helping to cut energy consumption.
  • CCA launched a comprehensive minor in Ecological Practices, enabling all CCA students to pair advanced working knowledge of “green” maker practices with their curriculum in art, architecture, and design.
CCA isn’t just a present-day wonder, it’s a great gift to the future. And like all great things, it should grow.”
Holland Cotter
Co-Chief Art Critic, New York Times, Pulitzer Prize Winner

Student and faculty support

A group of smiling students stand in front of a desk posing for the photo.

Student scholarships and housing aid

To create the world we envision, we must invest in a richly diverse community of young artists and designers—one that represents students of many backgrounds, points of view, and talents. CCA scholarships and housing grants are key to realizing this vision.

Over 25% of CCA’s student population are first in their family to attend college and 37% come from low income households. These students rely on scholarships and CCA aid to earn their degrees. Overall, CCA and its generous donors provide 79% of students with scholarships and/or housing grants. Yet each year, the need outstrips our resources.

A film professor instructs two students on how to use a piece of film equipment.

Faculty

CCA’s renowned practitioner faculty play a critical role in catalyzing the next generation of creative leaders. Fully 88% of CCA teachers are accomplished practitioners coming from their own firms, studios, and world-leading companies to the classroom to train and inspire students. CCA is committed to expanding support for faculty research and travel funds, endowed professorships and chair positions, and visiting faculty fellowships—vital needs for attracting and retaining a diverse and outstanding faculty in every area.

As a first-generation college student, my proudest moment is being awarded a CCA scholarship. I am motivated every day knowing there are people who believe in me and my work.”
Thalia Martinez Bobadilla (they/she/ella)
BFA Illustration 2024, CCA Diversity Scholarship, CCA All-College Honors

Community

Looking down at an exhibition and people walking through a large space.

Our expanded campus will serve over 20,000 community members throughout the Bay Area.

CCA’s new campus is designed with community collaboration foremost in mind. Every day will be “open house” as neighbors, businesses, nonprofits, and schools come together to learn through making, create dialogue, and shape culture. CCA is a unique and valuable resource for our community, and in 2019 served over 10,000 people through social impact projects, design-thinking blitzes, craft-based maker workshops, and exhibitions of international contemporary art, as well as public lectures by distinguished creative professionals, innovative executive education, and industry partnerships. By unifying and expanding in San Francisco, our goal is to increase community engagement by 50%.

Leaders

CCA’s $123 million campaign has the potential to alter how the world works, in as many ways as we have students.

Support from our community of alumni, parents, friends, and partners is essential to making this transformational project possible.

Total raised

$

$

Construction / Renovations / Unification

$

Student Scholarships & Support

$

Public Programs

$

Annual Fund

CCA is deeply grateful for the extraordinary vision and generosity of our Board of Trustees and lead campaign supporters.

Visionaries

  • C. Diane Christensen and Jean M. Pierret
  • M. Arthur Gensler Jr. Family
  • John and Leslie McQuown
  • Simpson Family
  • Jack and Susy Wadsworth

Innovators

  • The Coulter Family Foundation
  • The Fisher Family
  • Patricia W. Fitzpatrick*
  • Nancy and Pat Forster
  • Stanlee R. Gatti
  • Gensler
  • Ann Hatch
  • Kalmanovitz Charitable Foundation
  • The Estate of Michael J. Lopez (MFA 1963) and Jeannette Lopez
  • LoveFrom,
  • Lorna F. Meyer and Dennis Calas
  • Deborah and Kenneth Novack
  • Bernard and Barbro Osher
  • F. Noel Perry
  • Catherine and Michael Podell
  • Rotasa Fund
  • Helen and Charles Schwab
  • Judy and Bill* Timken
  • Diane B. Wilsey

Changemakers

  • John Atwater and Diana Nelson
  • Stephen Beal and Elizabeth Hoover
  • Kimberly and Simon Blattner
  • California Government Operations Agency
  • Anthony Conway
  • Hearst Foundations
  • Helzel Family Foundation
  • The Herbst Foundation, Inc.
  • George F. Jewett Foundation
  • The Fletcher Jones Foundation
  • LEF Foundation
  • Family of Marie McHugh
  • Steven and Nancy Oliver
  • John Pritzker Family Fund
  • Reuben & Muriel Savin Foundation
  • Abby and Gene Schnair
  • The Estate of Kenneth W. Swenson (Graphic Design 1953) and Cherie Swenson
  • Kimberlee Swig
  • Kay and Sandy Walker
  • Alyssa Warnock (BFA Graphic Design 2001) and Todd Berardi
  • The Westridge Foundation
  • Dr. Calvin and Sarajane Wheeler
  • Ms. Carlie Wilmans
  • Mary and Harold Zlot
  • Anonymous

Leaders

  • Annieglass
  • Johanna and Tom Baruch
  • Catherine Courage
  • Helen Frankenthaler Foundation
  • Joyce Linker
  • Michael Muscardini and Kate Eilertsen
  • Parker Family Foundation
  • Mauree Jane and Mark Perry
  • Toby and Sally Rosenblatt
  • The Sage Foundation
  • Anita Wornick
  • Anonymous

Supporters

  • Myra Block Kaiser
  • Chuck Bowes
  • Tammy Rae Carland
  • Andrew Fisher and Jeffry Weisman
  • Mark Freund and Trice Koopman
  • Maria Giudice and Scott Allen
  • Bruce Helmberger (BFA Painting & Drawing 1984) and Barbara Kuecker
  • Vivian Hu and Mark Guan
  • Gary Hutton (BFA Environmental Studies 1975)
  • Koret Foundation
  • Emily McVarish and Becky Bond
  • The Piston Family
  • Amanda and Bruce Spivey
  • Lucille Tenazas and Richard Barnes
  • Barbara and Stephan Vermut
  • Kevin Waldman

*In memory

Impact

Our new campus will magnify CCA’s vital role as a wellspring of creative talent

At CCA, you find the people who are literally inventing the future.”
Catherine Courage
VP, Ads & Commerce User Experience, Google
A students stands on a stool inside a structure made of PVC piping.

CCA brings the best art and design students from around the world to live, learn, and work in San Francisco and throughout the region.

Graduates are trained to cultivate intellectual curiosity, risk-taking, collaboration, innovation, compassion, and integrity and are at the forefront of innovations in technology, business, culture, and sustainability. They are highly sought after by companies such as Pixar, Disney, Apple, Intel, Facebook, Gensler, Google, IDEO, Autodesk, Mattel, and Nike, and many launch their own businesses. Alumni work is featured in major museum collections such as the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, MoMA New York, the Guggenheim Museum, the Whitney Museum, SFMOMA, and Tate Modern.

impact infographic

View the live webcam of the Double Ground work site.

News

The latest stories about CCA’s ambitious campus expansion campaign

Join Us

Your support is vital to making this visionary project possible

A group of students pose in front of a large wooden sculpture in the Nave.

CCA is building on 115 years of tradition, history, leadership, and experience as we take this next significant step to ensure our place as one of the most creative educational institutions in the country, located in one of the most exciting cities in our nation. Your gift will help turn this dream into a reality.

Now is the time.
San Francisco is the place.
And CCA has the vision.
Maker / Meets / Future


We invite you to join us.

Support the next generation of creative leaders who will change the world

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