Learn more about the LA Maymester here.

According to a recent NY Times article The Los Angeles Art Scene Looks to the World, the LA art scene is experiencing a boom. Younger, smaller art galleries popping up in the city are described as offering a more “accurate reflection… of the demographics of this city. Just under half of Angelenos are Hispanic or Latino, and the local galleries have offered key support to artists I saw at the fairs, including Rafa Esparza, whose performances and installations use arduously cast adobe bricks, and Tanya Aguiñiga, whose beguiling wall-mounted weavings draw on both pre-Columbian and American feminist traditions.”

Tanya Aguiñiga visited the Dodd in 2016 as a Visiting Artist Series (VAS) Artist and Lecturer. is a Los Angeles based designer and artist who was raised in Tijuana, Mexico. She holds an MFA in furniture design from Rhode Island School of Design. She created various collaborative installations with the Border Arts Workshop, an artists' group that engages the languages of activism and community-based public art. She founded the group, Artists Helping Artisans, through which she helps spread knowledge of craft by collaborating with traditional artisans. Her work has been exhibited from Mexico City to Milan.

“From its expanding museums to its scrappy galleries, the city is witnessing a contemporary art boom” – NY TIMES

The Los Angeles Maymester program is an intensive educational experience designed to provide students with the opportunity to live and study in Los Angeles for three weeks during the month of May. Open to both undergraduate and graduate students, the Los Angeles Maymester program uses the city as its classroom, and significant class time is devoted to visiting its world-class museums and galleries. In addition, students benefit from more intimate experiences, visiting with curators at museums and artists in their studios and networking with alumni who work in arts-related fields in Los Angeles.

This program is led by Tif Sgfrid, Co-Director of Arts Career and Entrepreneurship Space (ACES).

All students enroll in one (1) three-credit course. Students will spend 3 intensive days in a central classroom discussing readings that provide a theoretical and historical context for the work viewed at museums and galleries. Guest lecturers will present at each of these meetings. Students will leave the semester with an understanding of the professional practices and careers in contemporary art. Classes meet all over the city with a centralized classroom. Course materials are on eLC, so student must have a laptop or tablet to complete assignments and readings. We encourage you to stay for a Summer internship in Los Angeles. All students pay in-state tuition for the program, regardless of residency status.