Conceptualizing CalArts

During 1966 Walt Disney and a small group of his senior executives spent considerable time thinking about the new interdisciplinary school of the arts that Disney was intent on creating. Some 40 acres of land on a Disney Ranch in Placerita Canyon were set aside, a local architectural firm hired to draw up plans for a massive building to house all of the arts under one roof, and a 37 page business plan, sketching the perceived need for such a school, and outlining its proposed structure, was written. Although unsigned, there is reason to believe the document was written by Harrison “Buzz” Price, who went on to serve many decades on the Board of Trustees of CalArts. The report is dated December 7, 1966; Disney died a week later.