CSU Summer Arts will move on to Cal Poly Pomona

July 23, 2024

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By Donald Munro

Once again, Fresno State is taking a break in its relationship with CSU Summer Arts. The annual month-long series of arts-centric classes and public performances is moving on to Cal Poly Pomona.

We’ve seen this cycle before. Summer Arts — which has made its home at Fresno State for a total of 19 non-consecutive years — has moved on previously, the CSU Summer Arts office reports:

Fresno State has served as host for 19 (non-consecutive) years. The program was hosted at Fresno State from 1999 through 2011 before moving to California State University, Monterey Bay from 2012 to 2016. It returned to Fresno State in 2017.

The program is designed to move from one campus to another every five years. But Fresno State’s central location and enthusiastic local support helped entice Summer Arts to put in a lot more years than planned.

For the new term, the Chancellor’s Office put the program out to bid. I’m not sure if Fresno State applied again, but I suspect if it did, it came across as the “same old” candidate, not something fresh and new. (Also, I suspect that this most recent baking summer didn’t help.)

I have many great memories of Summer Arts over the years and am thankful for the world-class artists I’ve interviewed and watched. The program has brought thousands of students and artists over 19 years and pumped up the local economy in very good ways. I hope Fresno State can figure out a way to fill at least some of the gap with some summer culture of its own — especially for arts lovers who can’t afford to traipse over to the cooler coast all of the time.