A spherical of layoffs on the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) this summer season is elevating alarms at one of many best-known arts faculties within the nation because the establishment grapples with rising prices.
The Santa Clarita-based non-public arts college laid off 9 administrative workers in July, together with 5 unionized employees and 4 non-union employees, claiming in a schoolwide message that CalArts wanted to chop bills within the face of a projected $15 million deficit.
“The 9 workers positions, in addition to a few dozen vacant workers positions, are being eradicated as a part of a mandatory workforce discount, which is able to allow CalArts to deal with a structural deficit, prioritize student-facing companies, and higher align our staffing with present and projected enrollments to proceed offering distinctive academic alternatives to our college students,” a CalArts spokesperson informed Hyperallergic.
However school and workers members are questioning the administration’s choice, arguing that the layoffs may hurt the varsity’s skill to coach and nurture the subsequent era of artists.
“Everybody was dissatisfied on this having to occur in any respect after we’re working so laborious to attempt to higher serve the inhabitants,” Emily Lytle-Painter, an internet and digital media producer at CalArts and union member, informed Hyperallergic. “Once we had been attempting to enter discussions with the administration, we felt like there have been different avenues.”
Tensions between CalArts workers and faculty management have been simmering since final fall, when dozens of school and workers determined to type a union after enduring what they described as years of stagnant wages, elevated workloads, and minimal advantages. In December, CalArts school delivered a letter to President Ravi Rajan asserting their intention to arrange with United Auto Staff in a unit that might symbolize roughly 600 employees. They held elections in March and ratified the union a month later.
On the similar time, the varsity had been battling enrollment, which declined by about 12 p.c for the reason that pandemic, from 1,532 college students in 2019 to 1,353 college students in 2023 (tuition surpassed $60,000 per yr in 2025–26).
In an April 2024 interview, Rajan informed Inside Larger Training that CalArts was “fiscally sound.” However the college proceeded with a number of price range cuts to scale back its working prices, together with tighter spending controls, hiring delays and journey limitations, and changes to admissions and monetary assist packages. These measures, Rajan mentioned in a schoolwide message, saved the varsity $5.5 million.
This spring, CalArts sought to scale back its headcount and despatched voluntary separation and early retirement notices to between 50 and 60 school and workers, union leaders estimated. However solely 32 workers, together with 22 school and 10 workers, took the varsity’s supply and Rajan moved forward with layoffs regardless of vociferous objections from the union.
“I acknowledge how painful this information is,” Rajan wrote in a July 15 letter to school and workers reviewed by Hyperallergic. “These are usually not simply summary positions—they’re roles held by our colleagues, teammates, and mates. I’m immensely grateful for his or her contributions and conscious of the load of this second for our group.”
When the varsity introduced layoffs, union leaders bargained with the administration for 3 months of severance, as an alternative of two weeks of pay per yr of service; three months of COBRA insurance coverage; and precedence rehiring in any vacant positions over the subsequent two years for anybody who was laid off.
“Everyone seems to be understandably unhappy and apprehensive, and there’s a normal feeling of getting to maneuver ahead with what we’ve got,” Lytle-Painter mentioned. “I personally was actually pleased with our bargaining crew with the ability to discount for elevated advantages for these affected by the layoffs. That’s a part of why we’ve got a union.”
Thomas Leeb, an adjunct school member within the Faculty of Music and union member, mentioned he’s approaching the subsequent tutorial yr that begins on September 8 with combined feelings.
“A whole lot of institutional information has left with the voluntary separation program, and that’s unhappy and it hurts. On the similar time, there’s a little bit of optimism,” Leeb mentioned, referencing the newly shaped union. “Somebody I spoke to who has been at CalArts for 25 years mentioned that is the primary time he felt protected.”
Editor’s notice 8/30/25 11am EST: A earlier model of this text said that 12 staffers had been laid off. The story was up to date to notice that 9 staffers had been laid off and 12 vacant positions is not going to be stuffed. CalArts responded after publication.
