VCFA’s Winter 2025 Residency Photo Gallery
From January 3-11, VCFA hosted its first residency at its new permanent home at the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts), VCFA’s affiliate partner.
VCFA’s six MFA programs met in-person and virtually in Valencia, California for nine days of screenings, exhibitions, performances, rehearsals, lectures, critiques, workshops, and collaboration.
The college would like to extend our gratitude to the folks who made this residency possible: our staff, faculty, graduate assistant volunteers, and the stellar, committed administrators at CalArts. Residency continues to shine a light on just how passionate and resilient our community is when we come together to support one another and our art.
The gallery below is just a glimpse of the creativity that is a VCFA residency. To view each gallery, use the arrows to slide through, or allow the gallery to simply play!
A Winter in California
VCFA’s winter 2025 residency officially opened with Convocation on January 3, 2025. During the ceremony, former Interim President Andrew Ramsammy was installed by the VCFA Board of Trustees as the new President of VCFA—the third President in VCFA’s 17-year history.
VCFA and the Center for Arts + Social Justice welcomed back Dr. Cheryl D. Miller to residency. Dr. Miller was a recipient of a VCFA Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters in 2021. In 2025, Dr. Miller engaged with the VCFA community in a fireside chat, and spoke with the crowd about her latest book Here: Where the Black Designers Are, a work that “recounts the parallel history of collective efforts by fellow scholars and advocates over the past fifty years to identify and celebrate Black designers.”
The MFA in Writing program and the MFA in Film program came together to host one of their first-ever collaborative residency events in the winter of 2025. MFA in Writing faculty Miciah Bay Gault shared with students of each program the film GRETA, an adaptation of her short story of the same title.
A VCFA residency cannot happen without install day. The MFA in Visual Art community comes together to put up their new and returning student exhibition, and their graduating exhibition, every residency.
The critique process is a key aspect of VCFA’s MFA programs. The MFA in Graphic Design program hosts group critiques every residency—a treasured community conversation among VCFA designers.
Residency is not complete without the MFA in Music Composition Composer Performer Improvisor Showcase. With their new CalArts stage, students, faculty, and alumnx came together to celebrate their music and each other.
It’s an exciting residency when VCFA alumnx return as visiting artists, which was the case for visiting writer Jehanne Dubrow (W ‘22)—author of nine poetry collections and an alumnx of the MFA in Writing program. Dubrow engaged with current students at residency, and of course caught up with our faculty.
The MFA in Writing for Children & Young Adults program is always happy to welcome faculty, current students, graduates, and their famous button-making Graduate Assistant Volunteers back to each residency. Make sure to catch their next campus Ghost Tour!
Saturday the 11th was graduation day for the 2025 winter class of VCFA. Graduates made sure to stop and take a photo (with a few faculty members, of course) before the start of the ceremony.
Current students, alumnx, staff, faculty, friends, and family gathered at VCFA’s first college-wide graduation ceremony at our new CalArts home to celebrate our graduating winter class. Remarks included words from Dean of Students Katie Rasmussen, President Andrew Ramsammy, and Dean of the Faculty & Academic Affairs and MFA in Writing alumnx Mary-Kim Arnold (W ‘16). The energy was palpable, and it made us even more excited to come together again for residency in the summer of 2025.
And finally, our community made time to take our first ever group photo with all six of our MFA programs. We can’t wait to make the group photo a tradition every residency.