Mission
The mission of CSSSA is to annually provide a select number of California high school studentsof the visual, literary, performing and media arts with an intensive learning experience conducted by distinguished arts professionals, designed to enhance the students’ artistic skills and to develop their understanding as individuals of their potential for growth as creative artists.
By fulfilling its mission CSSSA will:

Provide recognition, distinction and professional training in the arts to a broadly recruited student body of talented high school students in a scope and manner not available anywhere else in California.
Establish an educational community of professional artists and talented students that offers opportunities for creative risk taking, imaginative discipline, critical thinking, collaborative problem solving and leadership.
Ensure that the school’s student body, faculty and curriculum are reflective and sensitive to California’s diverse cultural heritage.
Support and encourage each student’s singular capacity for creative accomplishment.
Provide an educational link with institutions of higher learning, major performing arts companies, commercial and fine arts institutions, and the film, television and recording industries in California for students wishing to pursue careers in the arts.
Establish models for excellence in arts education and direct attention to the need for high quality arts programs in all California schools.
Enhance the overall cultural climate of California by training future artists, who will contribute to and become advocates for the arts.
Help to ensure the long-term development of artists for the arts and entertainment industries, which currently comprise California’s second largest business sector.
Position California, home to 20% of America’s artists, as a leader in striving for excellence in the arts.
It is our expectation that some CSSSA graduates will become professional artists. Others will go on to apply their creative skills in other professions. The goal of CSSSA is to provide an educational experience that goes beyond the practice and improvement of aesthetics and technique. We want to broaden our students’ understanding of their creative potentials, regardless of their eventual life paths.