VCFA’s Summer 2025 Residency Photo Gallery
From June 24 to July 2, VCFA’s six MFA programs met in-person and virtually at the California Institute for the Arts (CalArts) for nine days of screenings, exhibitions, performances, rehearsals, lectures, critiques, workshops, and collaboration.
A VCFA residency is simply not possible without community. The college would like to thank the staff, volunteers, graduate assistants, alumnx, faculty, and students who came together to make this residency a success.
The gallery below reflects a glimpse of that VCFA community. To view each gallery in full and read art credits, click the photos in the galleries to enlarge.
Have your own summer 2025 residency photos? Upload them to our community gallery on VCFA’s SmugMug and share your memories.
A Summer in California
VCFA’s summer residency kicked off with Convocation on June 24, 2025. In addition to welcoming notes, WCYA Program Director brandon brown (W ’23) invited the community to engage with words currently being challenged in some way by the US government—words like “global warming” and “housing affordability” and “ideology.” VCFA students and faculty made art with those words throughout the week in our Community Maker Space.
On June 26, VCFA’s six programs came together for a special showcase of the community’s performance talent: Hunger Mountain Live. Hunger Mountain Live was a special collaboration between VCFA’s own literary magazine, Hunger Mountain, and Da Poetry Lounge. The college is looking forward to creating even more cross disciplinary events at future residencies.
The MFA in Film program was thrilled to host Dominic Davis, Manager of the Documentary Fund at Sundance Institute. Davis gave our MFA in Film students a detailed masterclass on documentary funding.
The halls of CalArts were transformed from blank canvases into a vibrant gallery by the students in the VCFA MFA in Visual Art program. During the week, Visual Art students engaged in critiques of each other’s work, offering vital commentary students and faculty look forward to every residency.
The MFA in Graphic Design thesis exhibition showcased three graduates: Shannon Doronio Chavez (GD ’25), Rian Kasner (GD ’25), and Lana Lambert (GD ’25). View more of their thesis work at their collective thesis website, Other People’s Prisms.
The MFA in Music Composition Songwriters Showcase always brings the VCFA community together for a night of celebration. VCFA filled up the Roy O. Disney Concert Hall with both people and original music.
A highlight of residency are faculty lectures and presentations. In the MFA in Writing program, faculty member C.L. Clark lectured on a question many speculative fiction writers are asked: “Which came first, the world or the characters?”
Award-winning visiting writer and illustrator Marla Frazee attended the MFA in Writing for Children & Young Adults residency. In her second talk of the residency, Frazee spoke with Chris Kuser (from DreamWorks) about how they adapted her picture book, Boss Baby, into a successful animated film.
VCFA’s commencement ceremony took place on July 2, 2025. All six of VCFA’s MFA programs—Film, Graphic Design, Visual Art, Music Composition, Writing, and Writing for Children & Young Adults—were in attendance as the summer class of 2025 received their degrees.
This residency, community members were asked to share their own residency photos. Have your own photos from summer 2025? Upload them to the VCFA gallery today.
And of course, a residency is not complete without a group photo.