creative writing programs los angeles

Creative Writing

One of the nation's most prestigious open-enrollment creative writing programs..

Whether you're looking to improve your writing for personal fulfillment, want to be published, or are preparing to apply to an MFA program, the Writers' Program can help you achieve your goals. You will find a supportive community of instructors, academic counselors and fellow students to help you on your journey.

We offer a wide range of open-enrollment courses, all of which may be taken individually. A guide on where to get started is provided below.

We also offer a fully customizable 21-unit Certificate in Creative Writing  where you can develop professional creative writing skills in the genre of your choice.

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Creative Writing Certificate

Develop your skills in the genre of your choice, including fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, and more.

This customizable program culminates in a capstone project where you will make significant progress on a polished collection of work.

Taught by a prestigious roster of instructors who are published writers and active professionals, courses can be taken onsite, online, or a combination of both.

Annual Writers Studio

4-day in-person, intensive workshops in Creative Writing & Screenwriting.

Perfect for both aspiring and experienced writers looking for new inspiration.

August 1-4, 2024 Registration opens Monday, February 5

Writers' Program Consultations

If you have a completed draft of a manuscript and need feedback for your work, you may consider a one-on-one consultation with a Writers’ Program instructor.

Consultations give you a full cover-to-cover read of your work, a written evaluation, and a follow-up conversation in person, via phone, or web chat.

Expect more from your education.

MFA, fiction writer, author of the story collection Once Removed (UGA Press) and winner of the Flannery O’Connor Award for Short Fiction. 

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Writers' Program Network of Writers (WP NOW)

Stay immersed in the Writers' Program community. Our optional membership program offers exclusive access to a range of discounts and benefits, including members-only networking, professional development opportunities, and course discounts. 

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My UCLA Extension coursework, teachers, and colleagues have shaped my writing life, fueled the creation of my novel, and provided continual inspiration.

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Creative Writing

Write in the heart of los angeles.

The two year, 36-unit MFA in Creative Writing Program at Mount Saint Mary's University, Los Angeles, is an artist-training program for students who want to write professionally in the genres of novel, short story, playwriting, poetry, screenplay and non-fiction. We are ideal for working adults. Our format of meeting every other weekend, six times per semester , lets you fit into your life a graduate degree while keeping your other commitments.  

What gives our program its special character?  We develop writers in multiple genres, believing that you can excel in more than one.   We are interested in the whole writer, an expert who isn't narrow.  Our integration of the humanities into our course of study reflects commitment to intellectual rigor and liberal arts as the cornerstone of human understanding.  We pay close attention to your needs as a developing artist.  The courses are demanding, disciplined, and the level is high.  In short, we give you your money's worth.  

The teachers in our program put a premium on helping our students into their professional careers, through continued mentoring.  This means not only teaching the techniques that make you the best writer you can be, but also preparing you for the publication market.  Our writers and director, combined, have a long track record of helping students to national and international literary prizes and book-length publications.  Whatever your career path, our job is to help you write stories, novels, plays, poems, or screenplays, at the highest level, and get them into print or staged before an appreciative public.  In that, we are practical minded and the curriculum is set up to get you there.  

Our students are of all ages and from many different educational backgrounds.  You do not need to have taken a degree in literature in order to apply to us.    

Combining humanistic depth, intellectual rigor, multicultural and bilingual study, technology, a flexible weekend format, cross-training in multiple genres, and practical preparation-that is what makes our MFA in Creative Writing stand apart.  Come study with us on the Mount Saint Mary's campus, a gem right in the heart of Los Angeles.  

Mission and Values  

The MFA in Creative Writing values its cooperative relationship with the MA in Humanities. Our student writers are schooled in cultural, historical and literary traditions that must be an integral part of the intellectual repertoire of the professional writer.  We put a premium on complementing knowledge of modern and contemporary Western and non-Western traditions with those that precede us by centuries.  Likewise, preparation in a broad spectrum of humanistic thought helps MFA students become critical thinkers.  Our program is truly multicultural in embracing world literature as well as the absorbing and exciting range of ethnic literature within the U.S.  Our status within a Hispanic-serving institution also is meaningful to the MFA in Creative Writing, as well as Mount Saint Mary's undergraduate historical dedication to the success of women in our co-educational graduate program.  We put a premium on nurturing the whole student with a holistic approach to the shaping of a writer.  

The MFA in Creative Writing at Mount Saint Mary’s University takes an inclusive approach to teaching and mentoring its writers.  Freedom of artistic expression and mutual tolerance are at the heart of serving the multiplicity of its international student body.  Each writer is encouraged to take aesthetic risks, while seeking understanding and showing a willingness to respect discrepant points of view in and out of the classroom.  

The artist by nature is often a dissenter. When this act is undertaken with sympathy of mind, differences in outlook get expressed in a range of ideas and practices. The spirit of imaginative dissent, individual conscience and collaboration informs all endeavors of the MFA: the classroom; mentoring; our international literary conference; the Parlor reading series; The Rush magazine; and our multi-faceted, ethnically and culturally adventurous curriculum.  

The MFA teaches the concept of Literary Citizenship, in which the contribution to the Republic of Letters is important: supporting our fellow writers in spirit and in practice; supporting the world of independent publishing and reviewing; bringing a selfless/ethical component to building a community of writers; working for the overall literacy and betterment of the literary culture at large. MSMU’s Catholic (and catholic) mission emphasizes these very values and our mission is congruent with it.  

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Best Creative Writing colleges in Los Angeles 2024

Best creative writing colleges in los angeles for 2024.

University of Southern California offers 2 Creative Writing degree programs. It's a very large, private not-for-profit, four-year university in a large city. In 2022, 37 Creative Writing students graduated with students earning 37 Bachelor's degrees.

University of California-Irvine offers 1 Creative Writing degree programs. It's a very large, public, four-year university in a large city. In 2022, 16 Creative Writing students graduated with students earning 16 Master's degrees.

California State University-Long Beach offers 1 Creative Writing degree programs. It's a very large, public, four-year university in a large city. In 2022, 10 Creative Writing students graduated with students earning 10 Master's degrees.

Chapman University offers 2 Creative Writing degree programs. It's a large, private not-for-profit, four-year university in a midsize city. In 2022, 46 Creative Writing students graduated with students earning 34 Bachelor's degrees, and 12 Master's degrees.

Pepperdine University offers 1 Creative Writing degree programs. It's a large, private not-for-profit, four-year university in a large suburb. In 2022, 6 Creative Writing students graduated with students earning 6 Bachelor's degrees.

Mount Saint Mary's University offers 1 Creative Writing degree programs. It's a small, private not-for-profit, four-year university in a large city. In 2022, 17 Creative Writing students graduated with students earning 17 Master's degrees.

University of La Verne offers 1 Creative Writing degree programs. It's a medium sized, private not-for-profit, four-year university in a large suburb. In 2022, 4 Creative Writing students graduated with students earning 4 Bachelor's degrees.

California Institute of the Arts offers 1 Creative Writing degree programs. It's a small, private not-for-profit, four-year university in a large suburb. In 2022, 8 Creative Writing students graduated with students earning 8 Master's degrees.

Otis College of Art and Design offers 1 Creative Writing degree programs. It's a small, private not-for-profit, four-year university in a large city.

Antioch University-Los Angeles offers 2 Creative Writing degree programs. It's a very small, private not-for-profit, four-year university in a large suburb. In 2022, 35 Creative Writing students graduated with students earning 29 Master's degrees, and 6 Certificates.

List of all Creative Writing colleges in Los Angeles

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Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing (MFA)

Special emphases of the mfa in creative writing program, program learning outcomes, program overview, advanced standing, the mfa professional development semesters, post-mfa certificate in the teaching of creative writing, the project period and project period contract, online communication, the midterm evaluation, degree requirements, hardware and software requirements.

The Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing degree is offered by the Creative Writing Department of the Division of Graduate and Professional Studies, and represents the study of literature from the perspective of the writer rather than that of the critic or the scholar. The reading and analytical components of each semester project, and the lectures offered during the residencies, provide opportunities for a well-integrated humanities-based curriculum, without sacrifice of direct manuscript work and criticism. The MFA in Creative Writing graduate is well-prepared in literature (especially the student’s primary genre) as well as in writing.  The MFA in Creative Writing program's goal is not to credential, but rather to help students with their writing and their creative education.

The MFA in Creative Writing program is devoted to the education of literary artists, community engagement or service, and the pursuit of social justice. The program helps writers develop the skills of their craft and teaches them about the various roles of the writer in society. The program also develops awareness of and appreciation for culturally diverse writers and traditions.

Upon leaving the program, MFA students will be able to demonstrate:

• Proficiency of writing skills for selected genre s: creative nonfiction, fiction, poetry, and young people.
• Critical reading, writing, and thinking skills required of a literary artist.
• Knowledge of ethical dilemmas and social values of the literary arts.
• Commitment to a broad range of issues and activities associated with a literary writer and the communities in which the writer lives and works.

The MFA in Creative Writing program is a low-residency, mentor-based (as opposed to a course-based) program. There are no individual courses offered for units of credit. The MFA program includes five ten-day intensive residencies at the Los Angeles campus (or six residencies in the dual concentration option) involving required and elective activities, writing workshops, and individual as well as collaborative learning experiences. These residencies alternate with five-month non-residential, online project periods for the completion of individualized learning plans and projects designed with the student’s faculty mentor. Students are awarded 12 semester units for the completion of each semester's learning, including both residency and project period activities.

The curriculum offers instruction in the techniques of writing in the genres of creative nonfiction, fiction, poetry, and young people in combination with theoretical interpretation, cultural and literary criticism, and the exploration of social contexts. Occasionally, the program offers online electives such as TV/Screenwriting, craft courses in poetry, prose, and others. A required field study involves the student in experiential learning, such as involvement in community arts activities, the teaching of creative writing, or an internship in a professional setting. Students also take an 8-week translation course. Intense student-faculty mentoring relationships support the student learning and round out the curriculum. During the project periods, online discussions such as critique and reading groups connect students and mentors on a regular basis in an active learning network.

Each term, students are issued a Residency and Semester Student Handbook detailing specific learning activities for the upcoming residency. This Student Handbook also includes information on program requirements, policies, procedures, and documentation of learning.

DEGREE OPTIONS

This low-residency MFA program for adult students is designed to provide writers with a high level of professional training and an appreciation for the multifaceted relationship of the arts and artists to society. Creative nonfiction, fiction, poetry, and young people are offered as primary genres for study, and literary translation is offered as a secondary genre for study.  There are three options for completing the MFA degree: 

• Single genre option – the student chooses one genre as the designated field of study and works in that genre for four terms (two years)
• Mixed genre option – the student chooses to spend three terms in a primary genre and one term in a second genre (two years).  This is referred to as a "Genre Jump".
• Dual concentration – the student spends three terms in the primary genre and two terms in a second genre (two and one half years). Before the beginning of their fourth residency, students seeking this option, 1) must have spent one term in the second genre, and 2) must have declared their intent to pursue a dual concentration.

Advanced standing in the MFA in Creative Writing program can be sought by students who have completed at least one semester in another MFA in Creative Writing program in an accredited college or university. Students with an MA in English or other qualifications may also be granted Advanced standing on a case-by-case basis. After having been accepted into the AULA MFA in Creative Writing program, students may request advanced standing under the advice and guidance of the Creative Writing Department Chair. Advanced standing qualifies a student to complete the standard MFA in Creative Writing program in three terms rather than four. Advanced standing moves the student forward only one term.

The MFA Professional Development Semester (PDS) consists of a single term that may be taken for a range of 5 units of credit.  PDS A is an additional semester of project period mentoring any of the following genres: fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, young people, or literary translation. The MFA Professional Development Semester is offered to Antioch MFA alumni as well as currently enrolled MFA students who have completed all requirements for the MFA degree except the formatting review of the final manuscript.  PDS A students must be in good standing with the program and have completed their work in a timely manner, as well as demonstrated the ability to work independently. Continuing MFA students take the PDS during their fifth (or, in the case of dual concentrations, sixth) term of work.  The 5 PDS units are added to the continuing student's number of units required for graduation, making a total of 53 units that must be completed in order to earn the degree.  Continuing MFA students may take only one Professional Development Semester but may also return for additional PDS terms as alumni.  MFA alumni enroll in a PDS term as non-matriculating students.

A Post-MFA Certificate in the Teaching of Creative Writing is available to eligible MFA in Creative Writing students who have met all requirements for the degree, to AULA MFA in Creative Writing alumni, and to those holding the degree of MFA in Creative Writing from other institutions. AULA students must apply to the Post-MFA program and be in good standing academically, as well as have demonstrated the ability to complete work on time and independently throughout the MFA Program. Since the Post-MFA Certificate requires a placement with another faculty member at an academic institution, the Post-MFA student must also have demonstrated professionalism while in the MFA Program. The Certificate is described later in this page.

THE MFA RESIDENCY

The ten-day residencies in June and December form a principal component of the MFA in Creative Writing program. Required to initiate each semester’s work, the residency provides the student with seminars, lectures and workshops, an opportunity to submit preferences for a faculty mentor, and time to prepare the project period learning plan. It also offers the student peer support and networking with other writers.

Each ten-day residency at the Los Angeles campus provides the student with:

• Exposure to a wide range of collaborative and independent learning activities in the field
• Input in the selection of a faculty mentor for the upcoming project period
• Time to prepare the project period learning plan with the mentor
• General direction in the development of an individual curriculum
• Stimulation and support

Students and faculty come to the Los Angeles campus to participate in intensive sessions in writing and literature, as well as informal exchanges with students, faculty, and special guests on social issues related to the arts. Faculty, visiting writers, and graduating students present lectures in literature, literary theory, the craft of writing, and the professional aspects of a writing life. Descriptions of residency seminars, panels, and other presentations are included in the MFA Student Handbook.  The handbook is mailed to students and posted online in advance of the residency so that students may select learning activities in which they wish to participate and to prepare for them. Students are expected to attend a minimum of seven learning activities during each residency (including a  writing workshop ) along with required orientations for specific student cohorts.  In addition, students must attend two community activities (at least one lunchtime student reading and one graduating student reading) every residency.

The writing workshop s, which meet on alternate days throughout the residency, encourage the development of analytical skills and critical skills in a genre. Workshops are led by faculty members and students serve as resources for one another. Each includes five to eight students. During the residency, each student has original writing discussed in a workshop. Students are required to submit in advance representative new work completed during the previous semester’s project period; new students may include work submitted with the application. A maximum of ten pages of poetry are requested; fiction and nonfiction writers submit a maximum of 20 double-spaced pages.  Prior to the residency, students should prepare typed critiques for each fellow author and plan to hand these out in person to the author immediately after the writer's work has been discussed.  The critique should be a minimum of 200 words with no maximum for each separate work (story, essay, poem, etc.) submitted for discussion.

Each residency schedule includes a variety of special presentations, optional off-site events, performances, and other activities. Faculty members and graduating students give public readings of their work. Additionally, visiting writers are brought to the campus to participate in residency activities and give readings or presentations. Special discussion sessions are held on publishing, networking, book arts, dramatic writing, performance art, and the like. These special discussions vary with each residency.

Prior to the residency, students are encouraged to read published work by members of the faculty for that semester. During the residency, students submit their preferences for the faculty mentor who will work with them during the project period. The MFA core faculty team then assigns an appropriate mentor, based on student choice, student seniority, faculty availability, and other factors. The program cannot guarantee that each student will be able to work with every faculty member s/he/they  wishes to have as a mentor or workshop leader. Students are required to work with a variety of faculty during their time in the program, and they are permitted to request to work with the same project period mentor for a maximum of two semesters.

During the residency, students meet in groups and in individual conferences with their assigned faculty mentor to discuss their learning projects for the upcoming project period. New students are oriented to the program model and counseled in how to meet degree requirements. High value is also placed on students being resources for one another.

Students and faculty do not reside on campus during the residency. Students must secure their own housing at one of the many hotels or rentals nearby. Students may choose to stay in other facilities, or with friends or family. 

Students are generally expected to be on campus from 9:00 a.m. to as late as 9:00 p.m. every residency day, because of the full schedule of activities and the importance of informal, unscheduled exchange with colleagues (both faculty and students). Although readings are open to the public, other activities and facilities are for students only (alums may come if they inform the program). With the exception of readings, students may not bring spouses, partners, friends or family to campus, as the residency period is an extremely demanding time to which the student must give full attention. No childcare is provided by the University. Campus policy does not allow pets on campus except for service animals. Other details of the residency, including accommodations, directions to the campus, etc., are included in the MFA Student Handbook.

During the residency, each student maintains a Residency Log, which is a list of the learning activities attended. The log must be submitted at the conclusion of each residency. Students must also write and submit a residency student learning analysis (RSLA) reflecting on the various learning activities during the residency. This must be submitted to the MFA program office approximately ten days after the student departs from the residency and it becomes a part of the student’s permanent file. In addition, students complete a residency review, identifying strengths, weaknesses, and suggestions for future residencies. The review helps the MFA program faculty plan the next residency period more effectively,  and does not become part of the student’s permanent file.

Students are expected to participate fully in the entire ten-day residency period. Full participation is required to earn the semester’s credit and for the granting of the degree. If, for some exceptional reason such as health or family emergency, a student cannot participate fully, s/he/they  must petition the MFA program for a one-semester leave of absence (LOA). See the Office of the Registrar Policies and Procedures section of this Catalog for further information about LOAs. Students on leave are reminded that a new semester cannot be initiated without full residency participation.

The second essential component of the MFA is the project period. During each residency, students are assigned a faculty mentor with whom they design a five-month learning plan called a Project Period Contract (PPC). The Project Period Contract contains the following elements:

• A list of specific learning objectives for the term
• A list of what the student will write in order to achieve these objectives
• A list of books and shorter works the student will read individually and in common with her/his/their mentee group in order to achieve the learning objectives
• A schedule by which writings and readings will be completed

A signed Project Period Contract is required before the student departs from the residency.

Activities in the PPC are completed during the project period. During these five months, regular communication is conducted with the faculty mentor via email, telephone, Zoom, and AULA’s online learning management system. Over the course of the project period, students submit five monthly packets of work to their mentors. Small groups of students also participate in an online reading discussion supervised by their respective mentors. Project period activities require a minimum of 25 hours per week, consisting of reading and writing, conferencing, and communicating with other students.

The primary focus of the project period is the student’s own creative writing as well as written annotations based on selected readings. Specific project periods also include other core requirements, such as the Art of Translation Course (2 nd project period), the Critical Paper ( 2 nd   and 3 rd project period), the Final Manuscript, and Cumulative Annotated Bibliography. These last two requirements are completed during the student’s final project period in either the 4 th or 5 th semester, depending on whether or not the student is pursuing a dual concentration.

An important feature of the MFA in Creative Writing program is the online component. During the project period, students, mentoring faculty, the Creative Writing Department office, and all offices at AULA are connected online through the AULA Gmail system and the online learning management system, Sakai, on which students are trained during their first residency. Mentors also establish private online reading and writing/critique discussions for their mentees on the learning management platform. The primary means of exchange is online via the AULA Gmail system. The Creative Writing Department also communicates information to faculty and students online through the AULA Gmail system.

Midway through the project period, the mentor completes a midterm evaluation that indicates the student’s satisfactory work toward the Project Period Contract’s learning objectives or indicates problems with the student’s work and student-faculty relationship that might prevent the student from successfully completing the semester. This midterm evaluation is submitted to the Creative Writing Department office. If it is an unsatisfactory evaluation, the student is contacted by the Creative Writing Department Chair to discuss strategies for academic improvement or the potential for the student being placed on probation. The student also completes a midterm self-evaluation which is submitted to the mentor and the Creative Writing Department office. By mutual agreement, the student and mentor may modify the Project Period Contract during the project period, but any significant changes to the original contract must be noted in the mentor’s Student Learning Evaluation (SLE) at the end of the term. Another progress evaluation from the mentor is provided at the three quarter point of the project period to satisfy requirements of the Financial Aid office.

The decision to grant the MFA degree is made by the MFA Faculty Committee upon recommendation of the faculty mentor. The student’s record must demonstrate the following: 

• Full participation in five residencies (six for the dual concentration option)
• Successful completion of four project periods (five for the dual concentration option)
• Completion of the Art of Translation Seminar and online Art of Translation Course
• Completion of the Critical Paper
• Working with at least three different faculty mentors (during the project periods) during the course of the program
• Completion of a Core Faculty-approved Field Study
• Broad reading and the preparation of a cumulative annotated bibliography in creative writing, literature, and the arts
• Successful completion of the final semester requirements: the graduating student presentation, graduating student reading, and the final manuscript 

The criteria for granting the degree include completion of all the above degree requirements, creative writing ability, engagement with perennial questions of literature and the social role of the writer, experience in applied criticism, and knowledge of the genre/genres studied in the program. It is expected that developing mastery in these areas will be demonstrated in each residency and project period evaluation, as well as documented specifically in responses to and evaluations of the student’s work for each project period, including monthly packets of creative writing, critical papers, the field study, the final manuscript, and at the end of the student’s final residency, the graduating student presentation.

Sample Curriculum Plan

Students are required to participate in all learning activities specified as “required” for their specific cohort in the Student Handbook. The following curriculum plan illustrates a typical program of study. Bracketed items may be taken during any residency or project period in which they are offered. This is a representative plan, but each student’s progress through the program is designed individually in consultation with her or his faculty mentors.

Residency 1:

• New Student Orientations, Parts I & II
• Orientation to Sakai and Antioch Gmail
• Arts, Culture and Society I
• [Orientation to the MFA Field Study]
• [Writers at Work]
• Reading as a Writer
• Mentor panel and selection

Writing Workshop

• Seminars/readings/panels/graduating student presentations
• Student Log, Residency Student Learning Analysis and Project Period Contract

Project Period 1:

• Monthly submission of creative work to mentor
• Selected reading and written annotations
• Submission of workshop material for residency 2
• MFA field study preparation
• Online book discussion forum on Sakai

Project Period Student Learning Analysis and Student Evaluation of Mentor

Residency 2:

• [Arts, Culture and Society II (topic varies each residency)]
• [Orientation to the Field Study]

The Art of Translation Seminar

Project Period 2:

• Online Translation and Adaptation Conference
• Field study completed
• Submission of workshop material for residency 3
• Practice Critical Paper 

Residency 3:

Critical Paper Seminar

Project Period 3:

• Critical Paper
• Submission of workshop material for residency 4

Residency 4:

• Submission of Critical Paper to MFA Program Office
• Orientation to the Final Term
• How to Prepare and Give a 20-Minute Graduating Student Presentation
• Mentor interview and selection

Residency Student Learning Analysis and Project Period Contract

Project Period 4:

• Preparation of the Final Manuscript
• Preparation of graduating student presentation and public reading
• Selected reading and written annotations  
• Preparation of Cumulative Annotated Bibliography
• Submission of workshop material for residency 5

Residency 5 :

• Submission of final manuscript to MFA Program Office
• Submission of cumulative annotated bibliography to MFA Program Office
• Life After Antioch
• Present graduating student presentation
• Perform graduating student reading of creative work
• Student Log and Residency Student Learning Analysis

Semester 5 (for dual concentration students only)

Project Period 5:

For Dual Concentration students, same as project period 4

Residency 6:

For Dual Concentration students, same as residency 5

Final Semester Requirements

At the end of at least three successful semesters (four for dual concentration students), and with faculty mentor approval of the Critical Paper, the student proceeds into the final semester's projects. During the final residency, the student is also expected to offer a 20-minute conference-style presentation under faculty supervision and to present a reading of her/his work. Final semester work focuses primarily on the preparation of the Cumulative Annotated Bibliography (a complete listing of everything the student has read and studied during the program) and the Final Manuscript, described below.

The Final Manuscript

The Final Manuscript is a volume of the student’s best creative work produced in the MFA program, reflecting proportionally the genre(s) the student has studied under the supervision of hi s/her/their m entors each project period.

For students who concentrate in a single genre , the requirements are as follows:

• Creative Nonfiction: At least 100 manuscript pages
• Fiction: At least 100 manuscript pages
• Poetry: At least 40 manuscript pages
• Young People: At least 100 manuscript pages

For students who pursue a mixed concentration (3 semesters in a primary genre, 1 in a secondary genre), the minimum page requirements are listed below.

Note : Creative Nonfiction, Fiction, Young People, and all genres offered by the AUSB program are each calculated as “prose.”

• Poetry (primary) and prose (secondary): 30 pages of poems, 25 pages of prose
• Prose (primary) and Poetry (secondary): 75 pages of prose, 10 pages of poems

Prose (primary) and different genre of prose (secondary): 75 pages of primary genre, 25 pages of secondary genre

For students who pursue a Dual Concentration (3 semesters in a primary genre, 2 in a secondary genre), the minimum page requirements are as follows:

• Poetry (primary) and prose (secondary): 30 pages of poems, 50 pages of prose
• Prose (primary) and Poetry (secondary): 75 pages of prose, 20 pages of poems

Prose (primary) and different genre of prose (secondary): 75 pages of primary genre, 50 pages of secondary genre

Student learning in the MFA in Creative Writing program is assessed in a number of ways, all of which are grounded in the program’s learning objectives and mission.

Each student’s writing is evaluated by a faculty admissions committee during the application process. This writing sample and faculty evaluation serve as a baseline from which to identify the student’s strengths in writing and assess the student’s improvement through the course of the program.

The evaluation of the student’s learning and, more precisely, the student’s development and mastery of writing skills in a selected genre occurs in several ways:

Students receive ongoing responses to their writing from faculty mentors and peers throughout the program.

As noted above, there is a midterm evaluation for each project period.

Students write their own project period student learning analysis and receive their mentor’s evaluation at the end of each project period.

At the end of the final project period, the mentor approves the student’s Final Manuscript (which also must be approved and signed by the MFA Chair) and writes the final evaluation, clearing the student for graduation.

Faculty and peer review of each graduating student’s presentation are gathered during the final residency and later shared with the student.

Because the MFA learning community engages in distance and hybrid education, it is essential that every student in the MFA program have ongoing reliable access to a working computer and a stable Internet connection.

Please consult the Antioch University website and the MFA Program Office for our regularly updated information on hardware and software requirements. 

Computer Hardware/Operating System:

Mac (10.5 or higher) or Windows PC (XP or higher) with a minimum of 1GB of RAM (2GB recommended)

Computer speakers to listen to audio content

Webcam to participate in course-related video conferencing

We recommend that you use a computer purchased in the last 2-3 years. Many retailers offer discounts on new laptops and desktops to enrolled students.

Office Productivity Software:

Word processing software that can save to MS Word “doc” or “docx” format

A good choice for students is a current office suite package, such as Microsoft Office, that includes word processing, presentation, spreadsheet, and other useful software. See Antioch website for other acceptable options. (Antioch University requires students and faculty to trade files in .docx format to prevent incompatibilities.)  

Internet Connectivity:

Reliable Internet connection

Consistent access to a high-speed (i.e., cable/DSL) Internet connection is strongly recommended. Also, it is helpful to have consistent access outside of an office environment. Some offices have restrictions on network usage.

Internet Browsers and Plug-Ins:

Please use one of the following Internet browsers:

Internet Explorer (PC)

Firefox (PC, Mac)

Google Chrome (PC, Mac)

Safari (Mac)

Note: Firefox has worked especially well for students accessing Sakai .

Free Internet plug-ins should allow you to view PDF documents, and play multimedia files. 

Security, Anti-Virus, and Handheld Devices:

Antioch University urges you to take steps to prevent viruses and other malware from infecting your educational computing environment. To that end, we recommend you use and keep updated reliable anti-virus software, and malware and spyware protection.

We also encourage all members of our community to back up their work often to protect against computer failure. The MFA program requires students to maintain some documents over the course of their two years in the program. It is essential that you not let natural disaster or computer failure create challenges for you in the months leading up to your graduation.

Please note that handheld and tablet devices may be very helpful, but will not be able to interact with all the online features of the MFA program.

LEARNING ACTIVITY DESCRIPTIONS

Residency Core Offerings

The Writing Workshop is an intensive four-day workshop (10 total hours) in the genre (creative nonfiction, fiction, poetry, or young people) the student concentrated on in the project period that preceded the residency. (Note: Mixed genre students and incoming students participate in a workshop in the genre they were mentored—or accepted in—that precedes the residency.)

Arts, Culture, and Society (I & II)

These courses investigate the relation between cultural production, politics, and social change. With a lecture-discussion format, students focus attention on the principal aspects of cultural theory in an effort to come to a fuller understanding of the place of writing and the arts within our social system. Students gain a better understanding of themselves as cultural workers situated within particular matrices of political and social power.

Orientation to the Field Study

Students are required to complete one field study project, pre-approved by core faculty. In some instances, pre-designed field studies are available for students to select. These include introducing guest writers or working on the MFA program’s student-edited online literary journal, Lunch Ticket. However, in most instances, students develop opportunities for these learning experiences under the guidance of their core faculty field study mentor and on-site field study supervisor. Field studies can consist of varied types of learning such as developing a multimedia presentation, interning in professional settings or cultural organizations, creating a web page, editing a magazine, and other activities or projects approved by the core faculty and on-site field study supervisor. Each student’s field study is expected to address at least two of the three aspects of the MFA program’s special focus: the education of literary artists, community engagement, and the pursuit of social justice.

Seminars/Presentations on the Art and Culture of Writing

Faculty and guest writers present historical, critical , and process seminars on writing and the work of writers. Graduating students present 20-minute conference-style presentations on literary topics.

This course introduces students to graduate-level library research. Students learn to research topics in literary studies, access online research, provide proper documentation for critical papers, and prepare critical paper manuscripts according to Modern Language Association guidelines.

This seminar familiarizes students with the art of translation and adaptation of literary texts. One of the primary goals of this conference is cultural mediation. Collaborative translation and adaptation create bridges to other cultures while honing English language skills by creating "equivalent" patterns of sound and sense that also serve the originality of poems in another language. Spinoffs and rewritings of poems and short prose passages also help students discover how their own cultures modulate universal themes. It is not necessary to know a foreign language to participate in this seminar.

How to Prepare and Teach a 20-Minute Presentation

This seminar helps students approaching graduation prepare to give their graduating student presentations. The broader purpose is twofold: 1) To help students envision their presentations with clear delivery of information and audience engagement; and 2) to help students envision contexts in which this type of presentation – teaching, job interviews, conference presentations, etc. – will be essential to success.

Writers at Work

Lectures, field trips, meetings with editors and publishers, and other resources show students ways in which creative writers earn a living in today's culture. Alum at Work is similar but taught by MFA alumni.genre

Creative Writing Pedagogy Workshop

This workshop is an intensive, four-day workshop (10 total hours) in innovative creative writing pedagogies, required for students in the Post-MFA Certificate in the Teaching of Creative Writing program.

The Pedagogy of Creative Writing

Various faculty seminars are offered which examine both the theory and the practice of teaching creative writing. Of particular interest is an ongoing critique of the workshop model, offering multiple alternative paradigms for the production and critical assessment of creative work that may better suit the needs of emerging creative writers. Required for students in the Post-MFA Certificate in the Teaching of Creative Writing program.

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Department of Creative Writing

The Department of Creative Writing at UCR offers the only Bachelor of Arts in Creative Writing in the University of California system and the MFA in Creative Writing and Writing for the Performing Arts . It is a growing and dynamic program made up entirely of established writers and poets. Courses at UCR are designed for all students in the language arts, and they emphasize developing each student's skills and talents. Through writing fiction, poetry, nonfiction, and/or drama, students examine language and meaning both as practitioners and as readers as they develop and hone essential writing techniques.

Every writer needs to develop a critical sense to augment creative ability. For this reason, the Creative Writing Department offers two types of courses. Workshop courses are seminars that focus on writing and on the discussion of student work. Reading courses for writers focus on aspects of literature presented from a writer's point of view. Frequently, they employ writing in imitation as one of several approaches to understanding the craft of writing. Upper-division workshop courses are offered at the beginning, intermediate, and advanced levels in poetry, nonfiction, and fiction. Several reading courses link two genres such as fiction and poetry, and poetry and drama.

Give to Creative Writing Department

Announcements

Katie Ford 's sequence of poems The Anchoress — set as a monodrama by composer David Serkin Ludwig — was performed this summer at Chamber Music Northwest.

Laila Lalami published the New York Times Magazine cover story “A State of Uncertainty” and was named a Radcliffe Fellow at Harvard for 2023-2024.

Charmaine Craig ’s  My Nemesis  has been published this year by Grove Press.

Thalia Williamson ’s “The Silent Part” was published this summer in Joyland .

Quyen Pham ’s “Such Good Girls” was published this past spring in Room .

Emily Doyle  published “Thursdays for Haru” earlier this year in the Sun.

Tom Lutz 's  1925 A Literary Encyclopedia  is being published by Rare Bird Lit, and his novel  Archipelago  is coming out from Red Hen Press. His essay "Gravy Donuts" was published in Iowa Review .

Reza Aslan 's  An American Martyr in Persia was longlisted for the PEN/Jacqueline Beograd Weld Award.

Allison Benis White won the 2022 Pushcart Prize and the Lucille Medwick Memorial Award.

Allison Hedge Coke  was a 2022  National Book Award finalist for  Look at This Blue ,  a 2023 finalist for  CLMP Firecracker Award  and  ASLE Best Creative Book of the Year .   Look at This Blue , was awarded the  Emory Elliott Book Award  by CHASS Center for Ideas and Society and Hedge Coke was awarded the  2023 Thomas Wolfe Prize & Lecture  by the University of North Carolina and the [http://Thomas Wolfe Endowment Fund]Thomas Wolfe Society in  fall 2023 .

Susan Straight 's  Mecca was a finalist for the Kirkus Prize and named a Top Ten California Book of the Year by the New York Times and one of the best books of 2022 by NPR, the Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times.

Juan Felipe Herrera  was a recent recipient of the Poetry Foundation’s Pegasus Award and the LARB/UCR lifetime achievement award. The Fresno Unified School District named its latest school Juan Felipe Herrera Elementary.

Conversations With Steve Erickson has been published by the University Press of Mississippi as part of a series that includes Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, William Faulkner, James Baldwin, William Burroughs and Toni Morrison.

Employment Opportunities

None at this time.

Statement of Solidarity with the Asian American Pacific Islander Community

We are grieved by the recent killings in Atlanta, as well as by all other anti-Asian bigotry and violence, and stand in solidarity with our AAPI colleagues, students, and, more broadly, all AAPI across the nation. We stand against all anti-AAPI hate crimes, discrimination, and dehumanization, knowing that the group Stop AAPI Hate has reported 3,975 hate incidents against Asian Americans between March 19, 2020 and February 28, 2021.

To take action:

• Educational resources and petitions to sign: HERE .
• Report hate incidents HERE and HERE .
• Attend a bystander intervention training to learn ways to stop anti-Asian American and xenophobic harassment.  [ March 29 at 3 p.m. ] [ April 20 at 2 p.m. ]
• Send a message to elected officials.

To learn more:

• The New Yorker : Ed Park, "Confronting Anti-Asian Discrimination During the Coronavirus Crisis"
• The House Judiciary Committee held a hearing on Discrimination and Violence Against Asian Americans

Statement of Solidarity with Black Lives Matter

We stand in solidarity with Black Lives Matter. The brutal killings of George Floyd in Minnesota, Breonna Taylor in Kentucky, and Ahmaud Arbery in Georgia are part of a pattern of state violence against Black people, which too often remains invisible and unpunished when it is not blamed on the victims themselves.

America’s institutionalized practice of settler colonialism, genocide, slavery, and segregation continues in the form of continued occupation, discrimination, mass incarceration, and racist policing.

The nationwide protests we are witnessing this week are an expression of anger at police violence, a rejection of white supremacy, and a call to our leaders that they live up to the nation's founding proclamation of equality. We demand accountability from the police, disinvestment from law enforcement in favor of education, housing, and community services, and, above all, justice for the victims.

Recognition of Native Lands Statement

We acknowledge that the land on which we gather is the original and traditional territory of Tongva people [ Tongva and Cahuilla people] and within Tongva, Cahuilla, Luiseño & Serrano original lands and contemporary territories.

In the spirit of Rupert and Jeanette Costo’s founding relationship to our campus, we would like to respectfully acknowledge and recognize our responsibility to the original and current caretakers of this land, water and air: the Cahuilla , Tongva , Luiseño , and Serrano peoples and all of their ancestors and descendants, past, present and future. Today this meeting place is home to many Indigenous peoples from all over the world, including UCR faculty, students, and staff, and we are grateful to have the opportunity to live and work on these homelands. Please also visit our university founder's  legacy page, Cahuilla Scholar Rupert Costo ,  California Indian Studies & Scholars Association , UCR's  California Center for Native Nations ,  Native American Student Programs  (NASP), and the page of UCR's  Rupert Costo Chair, Dr. Clifford Trafzer .

Download UCR Native American Student Programs Land Statement

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Master of Fine Arts

MFA in Creative Writing

Alumni Publications and Projects

Learn about our student-run literary journal, Lunch Ticket

Learn about our podcast, LitCit: Antioch’s Literary Citizen

Prepare for a Life as a Literary and Dramatic Artist

Antioch University’s low-residency MFA in Creative Writing program is devoted not only to the education of literary and dramatic artists but to community engagement and the pursuit of social justice. The program features one-on-one mentoring with a variety of successful publishing writers and includes instruction in craft, revision, and critical reading and thinking skills. The rights and ethical responsibilities of creative writers are also addressed, along with practical career concerns related to the business of writing and publishing. The MFA program prepares students for careers and meaningful lives as writers, editors, teachers, and engaged literary citizens.

This low-residency degree is offered by AU Los Angeles.

Program Overview

Antioch University’s MFA in Creative Writing is comprised of hybrid residencies—which include seminars, readings, and workshops—complemented by five-month online project periods during which students live and write in their home communities. The hybrid residency allows students to attend fully online, in-person, or a combination of both. We believe a flexible learning environment allows our students to flourish personally and creatively.

The low-residency model supports and mirrors the lives that professional writers actually live. The Antioch’s MFA program provides both the nurturing literary community and the solitary discipline of writing that working writers need. An MFA semester consists of an intensive 10-day hybrid residency, followed by a five-month online project period during which each student writes fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, young people, writing for the screen, playwriting, and literary translation, as well as scholarly work, under the supervision of a faculty mentor each term. Students also participate in online discussions covering assigned readings and literary issues, and produce other work specified in their individualized Project Period Contract.

MFA students are admitted in a single genre (fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, young people, writing for the screen, and playwriting), but can write and study more than one genre including literary translation—and even challenge the notion of genre itself. Our faculty members publish successfully in multiple genres and are often glad to support students in their cross-genre explorations.

The MFA Field Study is what sets this creative writing program—and the people who graduate from it—apart from others. The Field Study asks students to put their knowledge and skills as writers to work in service of something they personally value in their local communities. Each Field Study must address at least two of the three aspects of the MFA program’s unique purpose: the education of literary and dramatic artists, community engagement or service, and the pursuit of social justice. MFA Field Studies have changed the lives not only of the students but of those their efforts have served.

Degree Requirements

Core requirements are completed during the 10-day hybrid residencies or the 5-month online project periods that follow each residency.

Residency Core Requirements

MFA students participate in a 10-day hybrid residency which includes an assigned genre writing workshop and 7+ learning activities such as faculty seminars, guest speakers, and graduating student presentations.

Explore Residency Requirements, Speakers, and Seminars

Online Project Period Core Requirements

• Monthly packets of student creative work and book annotations
• Participation in Book Circles ( group book discussions)
• Art of Translation Course
• Field Study
• Critical Paper
• Final Manuscript
• Cumulative Annotated Bibliography

For detailed curriculum and degree requirements, please visit the AU Catalog .

Antioch MFA Honored for “Outstanding Screenwriting Training” on 25 Best Film Schools List

Antioch University’s MFA in Creative Writing has received the honor of being named one of MovieMaker’s 25 Best Film Schools , with the magazine recognizing it as one of three standouts for the category of Outstanding Screenwriting Training. Read the full article here.

A Low Residency MFA

The low residency model supports and mirrors the lives that professional writers actually live.

It provides both a nurturing literary community, as well as time to write independently, inspired by real-world engagement. The two years in Antioch’s MFA in Creative Writing program will be spent alternately in two rhythms:

• Five 10-day hybrid Residencies – Students attend classes online, in-person, or a combination of both at Antioch University Los Angeles’ campus in Culver City, California, and form a collective of working writers. The residency builds a strong literary community around engagement with language, literature, and social and aesthetic issues that working writers confront.
• Four 5-Month-Long Online Project Period – Spent in your home city (or the location of your choice), students will write and read extensively, examining and confronting issues of tradition and craft. The online project period pairs you with an assigned mentor (an actively publishing writer who is also an excellent teacher) and a small group of other MFA students with whom you will read and discuss a variety of books and other publications. The online project period provides you with a dedicated apprenticeship in words and craft, a time of exploration and risk-taking in your developing life as a writer.

10-Day Residencies

• Faculty and guest seminars and graduating student presentations: Small and large classes on craft taught by graduating students, faculty, and visiting faculty.
• Writing workshops: 10 hours of intensive peer and faculty review of student work.
• One-on-one meetings with your assigned mentor: Plan out your individual study with your faculty mentor for the term.
• Community: Meet with students and faculty in your class and genre.
• Readings: Experience new work by faculty and students.

5-Month Project Periods

• Mentor correspondence: During your time at Antioch, you will select 4 to 5 different faculty mentors with whom to work.
• Reading and writing: You’ll turn in new and revised creative work, and read to explore issues of craft.
• Narrative critiques: Your work will receive constructive feedback from your instructors and peers.
• Special projects: These may include translation projects, field study, and independent research.

New Student Orientation

Creative writing mfa – new student orientation dates.

Although MFA students are accepted into the program in a single genre (poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, young people, writing for the screen, or playwriting), they have many opportunities to read, write, and study multiple genres, as well as to explore the relationships among them.

Lectures and faculty-led seminars often pull material from two or more disciplines—for instance, poets might talk about rhythm in fiction; creative nonfiction writers might address the importance of staging a scene. Our faculty members publish successfully in multiple genres and are often glad to support students in their cross-genre explorations.

Reading assignments during the project period may pull from any genre, or film and music—if relevant to the student’s exploration of craft. Every seminar and lecture during the residency is open to all students, regardless of the genre they are studying during the ensuing project periods.

The fiction program is staffed by well-published short story writers and novelists who participate in small workshops during each residency and mentor a different group of students during each online project period. Our mentors represent a wide range of aesthetics and interests, and are committed to the mentorship process. Students in fiction submit new and revised pages each month, along with book annotations and ongoing craft dialogue.

Poetry students work with risk-taking faculty who offer diverse perspectives on what poems are and how to write them. Poetry students write and rewrite. In their assigned readings they engage issues of contemporary literature and craft, as well as develop knowledge of poetic traditions. Monthly packets of writing range in size from 7-20 pages, with numerous book or craft-focused annotations.

Creative Nonfiction

Our creative nonfiction program admits students who are committed to writing compelling, energetic work in this innovative genre, which includes literary reportage, memoir, biography, travel writing, magazine writing, and the essay. Students read widely, exploring the techniques that make creative nonfiction resonate and signify. Our outstanding and generous faculty provide detailed critiques on new and revised work, annotations, and craft considerations each month.

Young People

Young People students learn the craft of writing for children and young adults and explore the art of creative collaboration. Illustrators, editors, and agents serve as MFA guest faculty during each 10-day residency, as well as mentors during the 5-month online Project Periods.

Writing for the Screen

Writing for the Screen students explore the ever-changing landscape of storytelling through writing screenplays for film and television.

Screenwriters, producers, and other film industry experts serve as MFA guest faculty during each 10-day residency, as well as mentors during the Project Periods. Through intensive study and mentorship, students strengthen their creative thinking and writing skills, applying those skills to their chosen focus. With this balance of creative expression and practical application, our students learn how to employ a full range of story-crafting techniques in various professional settings, match the right creative goal with the right genre and media platform, and how to market and sell their own creative product.

Playwriting

Playwriting students receive expert instruction in writing for the stage, learning from internationally renowned playwrights, theatre directors, dramaturgs, and other theatre professionals.

Genre Jumping—Mixed Genre Experience

During a student’s second or third term at AULA, they may transfer into a second genre for the length of the semester—while still completing the program on time.

Dual Concentration—Double-Genre

Students may choose to spend an extra semester at AULA so that they may graduate with a dual concentration, spending three terms in the primary genre, and two terms in the alternate genre.

Learning Outcomes

Some MFA programs are designed to help aspiring writers complete a manuscript and find a publisher. The goals of Antioch’s program are much broader. We place an emphasis on preparing writers for the complete life of a literary artist. Our MFA in Creative Writing graduates will demonstrate:

• Proficiency in at least one of the following genres: fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, young people, writing for the screen, and playwriting.
• Critical reading, writing, and thinking skills are required of a literary and dramatic artist.
• Knowledge of ethical dilemmas and social values of the literary and dramatic arts.
• Commitment to a broad range of issues and activities associated with a literary writer and the communities in which the writer lives and works.

Professional Development Semester

Designed to further the professional aspirations of MFA students and alumni at affordable prices. The Professional Development Semester is offered exclusively for continuing MFA students and returning alumni, the Professional Development Semester (5 units) offers an additional semester of mentoring to help begin or complete a manuscript, work in a new genre, or consult with a trusted mentor about matters of writing, career, and publication.

Post-MFA Certificate in the Teaching of Creative Writing

In a single semester, our low-residency Post-MFA Certificate program takes aspiring teachers from theory to practice, focusing on methods of teaching writing and allowing the student to gain practical classroom experience through either a face-to-face or an online supervised teaching placement. Experienced writing instructors may pursue the certificate for professional development purposes, as well as to improve their personal classroom pedagogy.

Learn More About the Certificate

Take  your  next step – talk to our admissions team.

Lisa Locascio Nighthawk

Program Chair

Meet all the Creative Writing Faculty

Are you an International Student? Get more International student information here.

Are you a Military-Connected Student? Get more Military-Connected student information here.

Download our MFA brochure (PDF, new window)

Admissions / Cost / Aid

Application Deadlines

***All application requirements (all unofficial or official transcripts, admissions essay(s), and  program-specific requirements) must be submitted for the application to be reviewed.

How to Apply

The Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing (MFA) program seeks applicants who want to participate effectively as writers in professional, academic, and community settings; want to develop their skills in the craft of writing; care deeply about the role of the arts and artists in society, and share a commitment to and appreciation for culturally diverse writers and traditions. The program upholds Antioch University Los Angeles’s tradition of honoring both academic and experiential learning. Applicants must be self-motivated individuals who are able to work independently in a distance-learning format. Program participants must have access to a computer, Microsoft Word, and the Internet.

• Complete the  Online Application  and the  Admissions Dialogue Essay.
• Submit the $50 non-refundable Application Fee.
• Send in an official transcript indicating Bachelor’s degree conferral from a regionally accredited college or university. The requested copy of official transcripts must be sent directly to the Admissions Office at Antioch University Los Angeles from the institution from which you received your accredited bachelor’s degree. A student copy of a transcript may be submitted with your application, but official transcripts are required upon admission.
• Submit all supplemental materials: Samples of your creative work in the genre in which you are applying for admission (Poetry: 10-page maximum, Fiction: 20-page maximum, Creative Nonfiction: 20-page maximum, Young People: 20-page maximum, Writing for the Screen: 20-page maximum, Playwriting: 20-page maximum). For prose, work samples should be typed and double-spaced with your name at the top of each page. The 20 pages can be from different pieces. For poetry, work samples should be single-spaced with one poem on each page. For writing for the screen and playwriting: Use the standard format appropriate for the genre. Use of FinalDraft is strongly encouraged as industry-standard with default margins; other options include Celtx, Trelby, and WriterDuet.
• Recommendations: Please provide the names and contact information (email and phone) of two references whom we may contact during our admissions process (you will be prompted to do so during the application process).  If you would like to turn in recommendations voluntarily, please have your recommender(s) send them to  [email protected] .

Please submit all materials to Antioch University Los Angeles, Admissions Office, 400 Corporate Pointe, Culver City, CA 90230 or [email protected] . All application materials submitted become part of an applicant’s file and cannot be returned.

Cost & Aid

Please note: Additional fees for all Antioch University Los Angeles programs may include (but are not necessarily limited to) charges for materials, late registration, enrollment maintenance, parking, graduation, transcripts, tuition payment plan, late payments, late registration, and returned checks.

 Financial Aid

A majority of AULA students finance their education through some form of financial aid. You may not be sure which federal, state, public and private aid packages – such as loans, scholarships, and grants—are right for you. Our staff is here to help you, so you can focus on what’s most important: beginning your academic program at AULA. Returning to school is a big decision, but it doesn’t have to be a stressful one.

Scholarships

The MFA Program has numerous scholarships available for students based on factors such as merit and need. Once you are accepted into our program, you will receive additional information about how to apply for these scholarships. Each application cycle, we offer two $10,000 scholarships for UCLA Extension Writers’ Program Certificate holders, three to four $10,000 merit, and need-based scholarships, along with other scholarships of varying amounts through the Eloise Klein Healy Scholarship Fund.

Start your application

Upcoming Events

Mfa in creative writing info session | aula, recent news.

• Onita Morgan-Edwards and Whitney Bell Publish Anthology on April 11, 2024
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• Anna K. Scotti’s Story Selected for Inclusion in Best Mystery Stories on March 28, 2024

View More…

CalArts offers a variety of unique programs at the undergraduate and graduate level within its six world-renowned Schools—Art, Critical Studies, Dance, Film/Video, Music and Theater.

Undergraduate core courses are the foundation of BFA studies at CalArts, providing a strong general education and opportunities to deepen every student's artistic practice.

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CalArts is located in Santa Clarita, Calif., 30 miles north of Los Angeles. Explore the local area and community.

Offering innovative continuing education arts courses designed to meet the needs of both emerging artists and lifelong learners.

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Creative Writing

Program faculty.

• Writing Now Reading Series
• Next Words Reading Series

A defining feature of the Creative Writing Program is hybridity and experimentation, so students are free to take courses in, and to write in, any genre they wish. Poets may take prose workshops to learn narrative conventions and how to deploy or challenge them; fiction and nonfiction writers may benefit from poetry workshops that hone their use of and engagement with language; and still other students may develop multidimensional writing practices. All students graduate with the ability to comprehend and critique work across genres, and an expanded sense of possibilities for their own work.

Students are encouraged to situate their creative practice in a critical context—to engage with the history, theory and politics of contemporary writing, and to think hard about what and why they write. The Program offers graduate students the chance to further develop both their craft and their knowledge base, and workshops combine attentive critique of student work with the discussion of readings on and in the various genres—or on special topics particularly relevant to writing today.

Program Gallery

Gabrielle Civil

Brian Evenson

Carribean Fragoza

Muriel Leung

Anthony McCann

Chris Santiago

Janet Sarbanes

Matias Viegener

Alumni Story

The two most important things about the Writing Program for me were the mentorship—being pushed by, and being championed by, faculty—both while I was at CalArts and after I graduated. Also, the peer group with which I’m still in contact. We had daily workshops; a handful of people working on the same projects for two years, who knew each other’s work really well. Taking criticism and learning how to communicate better based on that feedback, is important, because most of the time you’re trying to write on your own; you’re in a vacuum. You have no idea whether readers are going to pick up what you’re putting down. It’s valuable to learn that you can build from that criticism rather than being destroyed by it.

CalArts is a great place to be if you’re not sure exactly what you’re doing yet, and you want the room to grow and find your style or your niche. You’re encouraged to experiment, and there are some great faculty members that say, ‘What you've done here is good, but you need to go further.’ Or, maybe, ‘What you’ve done here isn’t so good.’ I gained a lot of confidence. When I came out of the Program I felt like I was no longer a dabbler. It also taught me discipline and good habits–having to produce work on a weekly basis.

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Summer 2024 Dates and Deadlines

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Current UCLA students or incoming and current UC students.

Newly admitted UCLA students who are looking to get an early start.

Students attending a non-UC college or university in the U.S. or abroad.

Students attending high school in the U.S. or abroad.

Individuals who are looking to expand their knowledge or prepare for a career.

6-10 week courses that represent UCLA's academic breadth, offered fully in person or hybrid (in person/online). Earn credit in a subject perfect for your path.

Courses that are designed for online learning. Earn credit from wherever you are in the world.

Three-week courses offered in an accelerated format. Earn the same amount of credit in less time.

Innovative UCLA-credit programs with a career focus and professional development opportunities in business, architecture, film, and more.

The UCLA undergraduate experience for high school students. Earn college credit and gain insight into college life.

Immersive and intensive UCLA-credit programs for advanced high school students in STEM, social science, creative arts and more.

Prepare yourself for a career that addresses prevalent worldwide topics and issues. Earn credit, gain insight from industry leaders, and learn how to be a pioneer for global impact.

Special Opportunities for UCLA Students

Make progress on your major or minor with added benefits.

Explore a major while learning career skills and satisfying GE requirements.

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Review UCLA Summer Sessions enrollment and payment related procedures and policies, as well as academic policies.

Explore the campus services and resources available to you as a UCLA Summer Bruin.

Know your rights and responsibilities as a UCLA Summer Bruin.

Download frequently used forms for enrollment or I-20 requests.

Click here to begin registering for UCLA Summer Sessions.

Click here to return to your in-progress or completed registration for UCLA Summer Sessions.

Create stories that can be shared across all entertainment mediums

Use improv and playwriting skills to influence and shape the world of content creation

The Content Creation and Scriptwriting Summer Institute is a two-week, UC credit-bearing intensive program for students interested in writing for the web, film and theater. This program provides opportunities to work with our distinguished faculty in classes such as webisode writing, screenwriting, playwriting, improv, and sketch comedy. The combination of these courses will allow students to use their training to create stories that can be shared across all entertainment mediums. Students will learn the technical components of writing for the web, stage and the screen while gaining hands-on experience in developing and completing three short form writing samples. Beyond the classroom, students will attend guest workshops and learn the art of collaboration.

The program is designed for artists and students who seek additional discipline and training required for participation in a university theater program or a career in the entertainment industry.

Content Creation & Scriptwriting Summer Institute – Program Overview

Application requirements.

Application deadline: June 1, 2024 | Enrollment deadline: June 15, 2024

Applications are reviewed and admission to the program is granted on a rolling basis starting February 15th. Applying at your earliest convenience, prior to June 1st, is highly recommended.

Applicants are required to provide the following during the online registration process:

• If your school transcript utilizes a different grading system, please submit your transcript as is. If available, please attach a translation/equivalency guide.
• If your school has a translation/equivalency guide, please also include it with your transcript. If you do not have a translation/equivalency guide, please still submit your most up-to-date transcript as is for staff to review.
• Value statement : At the time of registration, ALL applicants will be prompted to submit a few short sentences reflecting on their pursuit of participation in a UCLA Precollege Summer Institute. Please note that students are strongly discouraged from relying on ChatGpt/AI tools for their application responses and are encouraged to submit original and authentic answers.
• In 400 words, why are you interested in content creation and scriptwriting and what do you hope to gain?
• A resume (if you do not have a resume, submit a brief description of your theatrical and/or artistic experience).

The resume can be uploaded as a word or pdf file during the application process.

Commuter-Only Program

As a commuter program, there is NO on-campus housing available for the Content Creation & Scriptwriting Summer Institute.

Participants of the Content Creation & Scriptwriting Summer Institute must commute to the UCLA campus each day of the program. Specific location information (e.g. classroom) will be provided to enrolled students closer to the start of the program.

Summer Sessions parking permits will be available beginning May 30 on a first-come, first-served basis. Students have the option to purchase a summer term permit or a daily permit.

Please review the  Transportation and Parking Services web page  and read the “Summer Quarter Parking (All Students)” section for more information on all permit types, including cost.

Coursework & Grading

Theater 30; 4 units

Students will receive a letter grade upon completion. See University Credit, Grades and Transcripts for more information about academic credit.

In order to successfully complete the program, students must not have more than 1 excused or unexcused absences.

Scholarships

UCLA Summer Sessions Summer Scholars Support

Qualified students attending grades 9th – 11th in Spring 2024 in the state of California may be eligible for  Summer Scholars Support , a need- and merit-based scholarship offered by the UCLA Summer Sessions Office. Students must be 15 years old by the first day of Summer Sessions 2024 on June 24th in order to participate in a Precollege Summer Institute and/or apply for Summer Scholars Support. A limited number of full and partial scholarships are available to support enrollment in SCIP/eSCIP, one Summer Course, or a Precollege Summer Institute.

Summer 2024 deadline to apply: March 15.

Program Dates: July 14, 2024 – July 26, 2024

Program Type: Commuter

Program Eligibility:  9th-12th grade in Spring 2024*

Application deadline:  June 1, 2024

Enrollment deadline:  June 15, 2024

*All participants must be at least 15 years of age by the first day of Summer Sessions 2024 on June 24th, no exceptions allowed.

The schedule and syllabus are subject to change. Enrolled students will be given updated materials closer to the program start date.

Fees and Payment Info

The program fee includes the unit fees for the UCLA coursework offered as part of the program and thus varies by UC student status. In addition to the program fee, students are assessed other campus and administrative fees during the summer. This is a summary of fees that commonly apply to the selected student type.

Actual tuition and fees are subject to change by the University of California. Visit the fees, payment, and financial aid section for important disclaimer, as well as more details on fees, payment instructions, and information on delinquency, refunds, and financial aid.

Meet your instructors

Patrick hurley.

Patrick Hurley graduated from UCLA with his MFA in playwriting. The first part of his Queer Tetralogy On a Queer Day was a Semi-Finalist for The Eugene O’Neill playwrights conference in 2018. His play The Winds of Ariston was part of UCLA’s 2017 New Play Festival. In 2018, his serialized play #instagay had twelve episodes at Sacred Fools Theatre in Los Angeles.  In 2016, his play My Play’s Last Scene was part of the Marianne Murphy Staged Reading Series. That same year his One Act Indigo at Midnight was part of the Francis Ford Coppola One Act Play Festival. He worked as a Stage Manager for Francis Ford Coppola on his live television project Distant Vision. He has taught playwriting at UCLA, has been a dramaturg and literary assistant for The Theatre @ Boston Court in Los Angeles, and was the head writer for the 2018 Los Angeles Ovation Awards Ceremony.  He is a two-time recipient of the George Burns/Grace Allen Fellowship for Comedy.

David Kepner

David Kepner is an LA-based actor, holding a Master’s in Acting from UCLA and a Bachelor’s in Theater & Secondary Education from Boise State University. David is an avid actor and filmmaker earning most of his experience from theater, film, and  original comedic shorts . His micro-short film and directorial debut,  Georganne.MOV , won Best Mockumentary Micro-Film at the Portland Comedy Film Festival (2020). David also received the Silver Tripod/Best Story award for my short film,  MICNIC , at Campus MovieFest (2019). He also performed in numerous plays, recently playing as the titular role in Aphra Behn’s  The Rover  at the historic Freud Playhouse (2020).  David continues to display his acting abilities in original sketch comedies and other performative projects that come his way. When he’s not working, he loves to play video games, order take-out, get scratched by his cat, and to leisurely ride his motorcycle around town to prove that he owns the ultimate form of transportation.

Annette Lee

Annette  Lee  began her artistic life as an actor in New York before returning to her native Los Angeles as a playwright.  Her plays have been performed and read in Los Angeles, New York, Colorado, Portland, and Chicago. She has written for radio, mono-drama, site-specific projects and has served as a dramaturge for Artists at Play, USC School of Dramatic Arts and its Master of Professional Writing Program.  A recipient of the Mickey Dude Fellowship for the Depiction of Ethnic Life in America and the Edna & Yushan Han Scholarship, she holds an MFA in Playwriting from UCLA, has taught writing at UCLA and East West Players. She has written with The Vagrancy and the David Henry Hwang Writers Institute. Formerly, as the Literary Manager for Los Angeles’, Playwrights’ Arena, she curated seven seasons of the New Pages Lab Reading series, a program developing new works for the stage by Los Angeles playwrights, which have been seen and heard across the country.

Michael Bauer

Michael Bauer is a comedy writer, producer and actor with a strong background in clown performance. He earned his BFA from NYU Tisch School of the Arts, and his MFA for UCLA. Michael is the co-founder of the theater company Loom Ensemble, as well as the circus company Svindelic Circus Troupe. He has produced numerous award winning comedy films, and published several children’s plays. Today Michael works as a show runner for a children’s streaming series, an audio book narrator and an acting teacher whenever the opportunity arises.

Ryan Fogle is a screenwriter who’s worked on assignment having written multiple feature screenplays and developed television shows for producer Kristine Gregg at We Push Trains, Inc. His path to becoming a screenwriter had some stops along the way as he’s a trained jazz musician who studied percussion at Berklee College of Music. He’s gone on tour with the Bird of Paradise Jazz Orchestra and has worked as a session musician for songwriter/composer Matthew Sikora, Arthur Darien and Thomas Bergersen. His music has appeared on Netflix, Hulu, KROQ and numerous movie trailers and tv-spots. Since 2014, Ryan has worked as a professional camera operator and director of photography for commercials, music videos and web-series. Most notably for Golden Road Brewery, Floyd’s 99 Barbershop and the Emmy award winning comedy web-series “Dicks” in 2016. Recently, he started teaching himself 3D-Animation in Unity and Blender. He’s working on his first animated short film with his co-writer Brian Rodriguez. In 2019 he studied Full-Stack Web Development at UCLA Extension. He currently works as the webmaster for the UCLA International Institute

Content Creation & Scriptwriting Summer Institute FAQ

What kind of background or experience should applicants have.

We welcome students of all levels; however, students should have a strong interest and a desire to learn about new media, content creation, and scriptwriting.

What supplies are required to participate in this program?

Still have questions? Check out the general Summer Institutes FAQ.

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Writing Tips Oasis - A website dedicated to helping writers to write and publish books.

15 Top Writing Classes in Los Angeles

By Katrina Kwan

Are you a writer based in LA ?

Are you thinking about taking a writing workshop to help develop your skills?

Below we’ve featured 15 top writing classes in Los Angeles.

1. First-Draft Incubator 2.0 with Nicole Criona (LA Writers Group)

The Los Angeles Writers Group (LAWG) was founded in 2003 by Nicole Criona and Sanora Bartels with the express aim to provide writers with a community of support and feedback along their creative writing journey. LAWG offers several writing workshops, as well as private and group coaching for more intensive, personalized training. The team at LAWG offers both in-person and online workshops to help their writers learn and grow, regardless of location or time restrictions.

Their workshop, First-Drive Incubator 2.0 , is led by Nicole Criona, who has over 15 years of experience assisting writers on novels, screenplays, short stories, poetry, essays, and memoirs. As a specialist in developmental editing and author coaching, Nicole is also a fellow writer and veteran of the publishing industry. This course that she offers includes 2 hours per month of private coaching, two monthly online meetings on the 2 nd and 4 th Tuesday of every month, a 10% discount on private coaching, and a 20% discount on other workshops, retreats, and online writing challenges.

First-Draft Incubator 2.0 can help you set reasonable goals, finish your book, learn tools of the trade to assist with outlining, writing scenes, character development, and so much more. For those interested, but require no coaching, the class costs $255 monthly. For existing students or former coaching clients, the course costs $195 per month. If you’re a writer who’s interested in taking the online courses only, it costs $125 per month. For more information, you can contact the team at LAWG via email or call (323) 963-3180 during regular business hours.

2. Making a Scene with Elizabeth L. Silver (Writing Workshops Los Angeles)

Writing Workshops Los Angeles (WWLA) is undoubtedly a leading authority when it comes to helping writers broaden their horizons and sharpen their creative writing skills. Originally founded by Edan Lepucki, they offer a multitude of different classes from fiction writing, nonfiction writing, poetry workshops, and more. WWLA’s talented faculty have published titles like “The Education of Margot Sanchez” by Lilliam Rivera, “Grace and the Fever” by Zan Romanoff, and Neon Green” by Margaret Wappler.

They are currently offering a memoir writing workshop called Making a Scene: How to Craft the Most Powerful Scene in Your Memoir . This class is being taught by Elizabeth L. Silver, the author of memoir “The Tincture of Time: A Parent’s Memoir of (Medical) Uncertainty.” The class takes place on March 30 th , 2019 from 10:00am to 2:00pm. This class will help any aspiring memoirist to focus writing on important, high-impact scenes to really help bring your memories to life.

Enrollment to this class is limited to eight students only, so if you’re interested in taking part, be sure to sign up as soon as possible. Class enrollment for new students is $130, and only $120 for returning students of the WWLA. This particular writing class will be hosted in Encino, about a 25-minute drive from downtown LA. Light snacks, coffee, and sparkling water will be provided. For more information, you can contact the team at WWLA via email .

3. Short Story Writing Workshop with Abigail Ulman (Writing Pad)

Writing Pad was founded by writers Marilyn Friedman and Jeff Bernstein in the hopes of helping writers gain the most of their writing experience. With several locations throughout Los Angeles, Writing Pad offers an assortment of different classes for different kinds of writers. Whether you’re interested in nonfiction writing, creative fiction, screenwriting, or TV writing, Writing Pad definitely has a class to offer you.

They are currently offering Short Story 1 , a short story writing workshop taught by Abigail Ulman. Abigail is the author of “Hot Little Hands,” and was recently a Wallace Stegner Fellow in Fiction at Stanford University. In this class, she hopes to help you with the essential elements of fiction writing, including productive outlining, plot mapping, character, plot, change, and point out mistakes that are all too common amongst inexperienced writers.

Short Story 1 is a 5-week program being hosted May 22 nd , May 29 th , Jun 5 th , June 12 th , and June 19 th from 7:30pm to 10:30pm at Writing Pad’s LA-East location. There are only four spots left, so it’s imperative that you sign up quickly before space runs out! The cost for this extensive 5-week course is $425 per person. One of the great things about Writing Pad is they also accept course payments in installments! For more information, you can contact the team at Writing Pad either via email or call (213) 325-6910.

4. Write Fiction Like A Pro with Steve Alcorn (LA County Library)

The LA County Library is a great resource for aspiring authors looking to get a leg-up in their writing careers. The LA County Library offers free writing classes through Gale Courses, so if you’re a library card holder, this is definitely a service you should try and take advantage of! Gale Courses currently offers several creative writing classes, including Writing Fiction Like A Pro with Steve Alcorn.

Steve Alcorn is a published author of both fiction and nonfiction. Over the past 10 years, he has helped more than 300,000 students develop their ideas into full stories. Many of his former students have even gone on to write and publish their own novels. He has written titles like “A Matter of Justice,” “Everything in Its Path” and the children’s storybook, “Molly Builds a Theme Park.”

Write Fiction Like A Pro will go over story structure, dramatic elements, the development of character, story ideas, outlining, plotting, and more. This is a six-week program that has several different starting dates: March 13 th , April 17 th , May 15 th , and June 12 th . There are no requirements to enter this program, although you should at least have a working PC or Mac device you can use with an up-to-date writing software. As mentioned before, this course is free to all LA County Library patrons, so be sure to enroll now !

5. Six-Week Writing Workshop with Jonathan Blum

Jonathan Blum is the author of “Last Word” and “The Usual Uncertainties.” After having graduated from UCLA and the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, Jonathan resettled in Los Angeles and now offers an assortment of writing classes. He is currently offering a six-week long fiction writing workshop with a limited class size of 10 students. In this course, he helps his students workshop short stories and novel excerpts up to 20 pages to help in structure, characterization, and language.

This course runs twice a year, once in the spring between March 31 st to May 5 th , and once in the fall between September 22 nd to October 27 th . All classes take place on Sundays between 5:00pm to 7:00pm. The course fee is $575 per person. Alternatively, Jonathan offers a two-month intensive workshop for writers that not only assists with a 20-page story workshop, but case studies of select published fiction. This course goes for $720 per person, and the class is again limited to 10 students. For more information, you can contact Jonathan directly through his website’s online contact form .

6. WriteGirl Writing Workshops by WriteGirl

WriteGirl is a program honored by First Lady Michelle Obama and the National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Award. This fantastic program offers young girls the opportunity to explore the realm of creative writing and hopefully nurture their imagination and self-confidence. This Los Angeles-based organization offers dozens of writing workshops, panel discussions, and special events. Their up coming panel, Lights, America, WriteGirl! features speakers like Lauren Graham, Seth Rogan, Stephanie Katherine Grant, and Keiko Agena.

WriteGirl offers writing workshops from September all the way through June to cover topics about poetry, songwriting, journalism, screenwriting, creative nonfiction, and fiction. They just recently wrapped up their Character & Dialogue Workshop at the Linwood Dunn Theater at The Academy, Hollywood. For a full list of their upcoming events, click here . If you’re a young writer interested in this program, simply contact the team at WriteGirl via email or call (213) 253-2655 to see about getting involved.

7. Creative Writing Workshop by Writopia Lab

Writopia Lab is another great resource for young writers hoping to develop their writing skills. Writopia Lab offers a wide range of writing classes in the hopes of promoting literacy and critical thinking in children and teens. They currently offer half-day creative writing workshops in the Los Angeles Metro area. They offer creative writing workshops, classes for screenwriting, memoirs, narrative therapy, language play, graphic novels, and so much more!

You’re strongly encouraged to check out their class availability to check out the time, date, and age group for each class. Fees for half-day writing classes start at $595 per attendant. They also offer full-day writing camps during summer break and school-year breaks, with fees starting at $880 for one whole week. For more information, you can contact the team at Writopia Lab via email or call (323) 761-0453.

8. The Veterans Writing Project by The Writers Guild Foundation

The Writers Guild Foundation offers a unique writing class intended specifically for veterans. Their Veterans Writing Project helps individuals with military backgrounds to nurture and develop a passion for writing that can help them transition from their life of service. This is a year-long project that offers a weekend-long writing retreat, and a monthly follow-up with workshops and other special events.

The program’s application window to apply for the 2019-2020 year is now closed, but you’re strongly encouraged to subscribe to the Writer Guild Foundation’s email list to receive updates and to learn when the application window reopens. This program is completely free and accepts up to 50 veterans every year to participate. For more information, you can contact the Writers Guild Foundation via email or call (323) 782-4692.

9. Professional Screenwriting and Television Writing Workshop with Corey Mandell

Fiction and nonfiction writing aren’t the only avenues authors can explore when it comes to their literary creativity. Corey Mandell is an award-winning playwright and screenwriter who has worked on projects with Ridley Scott, Harrison Ford, Meg Ryan, Julia Roberts, John Travolta, the Warner Brothers, Universal, 20 th Century Fox, Walt Disney Pictures, and more! He offers both author coaching and script consultations to interested writers.

Corey currently offers a Professional Screenwriting and Television Writing workshop for writers living in Los Angeles. His class is also offered through multi-video conference technology, so it’s actually available to students around the world. The class costs $595 per person and spans a total of 8 weeks. The course goes over narrative intensity, organic escalations, clarity, efficiency, high-impact pacing, and more. For more information, you can contact Corey directly via email .

10. Sketch Level 1 Intensive: Intro to Sketch Writing with Anna Cecilia

The best comedians know that the best rib-ticklers come about thanks to a great sense of improvisation and a keen storytelling ability. The Improve Space is a Los Angeles-based performance school that offers a wide range of workshops to help comedy writers focus on building industry relationships, help with character development, and storytelling skills. This non-profit organization is located near UCLA and offers a safe place for actors and writers alike to nurture their imagination.

They have a long list of classes that are coming soon, including Sketch Level 1 Intensive: Intro to Sketch Writing led by Anna Cecilia. Anna herself is a sketch comedy writer, performer, and director who graduated from Harvard University. The class itself offers four intensive classes and a table read to showcase your brilliant work. Enrollment is now open, and only costs $199 per person. If you’re interested in this class, you can contact The Improv Space through their website’s online contact form to apply or request more information.

11. UCLA Extension Writer’s Program

The University of California Los Angeles’ Extension offers a fantastic writer’s program for those determined to refine their skills and prepare for a long and successful career in the industry. Widely regarded as one of the best writing programs Los Angeles has to offer, UCLA Extension offers classes for the basics of writing, fiction (for beginner, intermediate, and advanced writers), creative nonfiction (for beginner, intermediate, and advanced writers), writing for young readers, poetry, and editing and publishing courses. They also offer classes for screenwriting (both TV and film).

They are currently offering a Master Class in Novel Writing taught by Alyx Dellamonica, author of the award-winning “The Town on Blighted Sea.” This class is just one of many that you can apply for, and has a registration fee of $3860 payable upon program acceptance. It is a 30 week master-level course limited to 8 students only. Not only does it include a guaranteed entry into the James Kirkwood Literary Awards competition, but your work during the course will be considered by a literary agent upon course completion.

There are several ways to enroll into the Writer’s Program, the primary methods being either online , by phone (call 1-800-825-9971), or in person (visit the UCLA Extension Temporary Registration Office on the 1 st floor at Gayley Center at 1145 Gayley Avenue). An estimated breakdown for the program’s tuition comes to roughly $5400. You’re strongly encouraged to check out the program’s information section here .

12. One Person Show Workshop with Anne Marie Scheffler (The Second City)

The Second City is an organization that was founded in 1959 by Bernie Sahlins, Howard Alk, and Paul Sills with the aim to make big waves in the entertainment industry. Among other things, Second City offers writing workshops at their Hollywood location like their Satirical Writing Intensive and their One Person Show Workshop , currently led by Anne Marie Scheffler.

Anne Marie Scheffler is a critically acclaimed solo performer who has won several credits and awards for her writing and acting. Through this workshop, she hopes to help you take advantage of your unique voice and put it to work. One Person Show Workshop 1 is offered in a 2-day intensive starting at $200, or a 5-day course with a 1-day showcase performance for $585. Classes are available between April 8 th to April 12 th , Monday to Friday from 11:00am to 4:00pm. If you’re interested in this writing class, you can enroll here .

13. Master Class with Alan Watt (LA Writer’s Lab)

The LA Writer’s Lab was founded by Alan Watt, the author of “The 90-Day Novel” and “The 90-Day Screenplay.” Alan founded LA Writer’s Lab back in 2002 to provide a place for writers to better develop their craft and ability to tell a story. Alan himself has worked as the writer and director of the award-winning film Interior Night , so he definitely can teach aspiring writers a thing or two about how to apply their skills to their unique stories.

Alan is currently offering a Master Class in writing intended for writers hoping to complete their projects for publication or production. The class takes place over 12 weeks and costs a total of $1150 ($575 upon registration, and $575 upon the 5 th class). This class is limited to 8 students per semester and takes place on Saturdays between 10:15am to 1:15PM. Due to the small class sizes, you’re strongly encouraged to register as soon as possible to reserve your spot.

14. Organizing Your Writing with Scrivener by Neelanjana Banerjee (Writing Workshops LA)

Writing your story is one thing, but learning how to organize your ideas effectively is another. WWLA offers a class called Organizing Your Writing with Scrivener , hosted by Neelanjana Banerjee. The class takes place April 6 th and April 20 th between 11:00am to 1:00pm. The best part? It takes place online! For writers based in Los Angeles, or anywhere beyond, this means you can take part in a memorable and helpful learning experience regardless of your location.

Neelanjana is a successful author of short stories, poetry, and essays, which have been featured in Prairie Schooner, PANK, The Liner, and World Literature Today . Through this class, she hopes to help authors through their drafting stages and to help organize their notes through the well-known and industry-wide used tool Scrivener. The class is limited to 8 students only and costs $130 for new students, $120 for returning WWLA students. For more information, you can contact the team at WWLA via email .

15. Memorable Memoir Workshop with Wendy Lawless (Writing Pad)

Another fantastic class offered by Writing Pad includes Memorable Memoir Workshop with Wendy Lawless. The class takes place for seven Saturdays (June 1 st , June 8 th , June 15 th , June 22 nd , July 13 th , July 20 th , and July 27 th ) between 11:00am to 1:00pm. There are only two spots left in this course, so be sure to apply if you’re interested! The class itself costs $425 per person.

Wendy Lawless is a two-time New York Times bestselling author who specializes in memoirs. She’s written “Chanel Bonfire” and “Heart of Glass,” both critically acclaimed memoirs! Through this class, Wendy hopes to teach her students about how to craft an emotional journey that’s both vivid in detail and compelling for your readers. You can even bring in up to 1200 words to every other class to receive helpful feedback from both Wendy and your classmates. For more information, you can call the team at Writing Pad at (213) 325-6910 or send them an email .

Are you aware of any other writing classes in Los Angeles? Please tell us about them in the comments box below!

K. Z. Kwan is a freelance writer based out of Halifax, Canada.

Writing Workshops & Writing Retreats in Los Angeles & Online

Welcome to la writers group.

LA Writers Group has facilitated creative writing workshops in Los Angeles since 2003, and as of August 2019, we also offer writing retreats in San Diego (Carlsbad - North County). We also offer many online workshops via live video conference (Zoom), email-based writing challenges, and coaching programs for writers who are ready to finish their first draft.

We support, encourage, and inspire writers of all genres. We’ve helped many writers establish or reestablish a productive and creative mindset, fill their pages, and learn their craft through our creative writing workshops and private coaching. We don't believe in the tough-love approach. We believe in empowering writers to explore their craft.

We only pick leaders who lead our writing workshops with love. We hire exceptional group leaders who are adept at engaging small groups of writers. We screen them for their expertise, their diplomacy, and their belief in positive reinforcement. We believe writers need a safe space to grow.

Our creative writing workshops are never about lectures with hundreds of people. Instead, our workshops are small and geared toward individual attention. We also offer one-on-one coaching for writers working on a first draft or editing for writers with a completed manuscript.

New Workshops

Wednesday Reboot: Weekly Meditation and Freewriting Workshop

From Fan Fiction to Original Fiction

Gift Certificates

You can purchase a gift for yourself or the writer in your life. View available gift certificates .

Books by Nicole's Clients

Fiction, Nonfiction, Traditionally Published, & Self-Published

Essays and Short Stories by Nicole's Clients

A selection of published pieces

Schedule a Free Consultation.

If we are meant to work together, we will; because of that, I don't believe in high-pressure sales tactics. My consultations are all about getting to know if we are right for each other, understanding your needs, and finding out how I can help you.

Consultations are for those who have a project and are considering coaching. Please do not schedule a consultation about workshops; please email instead.

MFA in Creative Writing Location:  AU Los Angeles Credits for Degree:  48 semester credits Standard Mode of Instruction:  Low-residency Standard time to completion: 25 months

Program Overview

The Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing degree is offered by the Creative Writing Department of the Division of Graduate and Professional Studies, and represents the study of literature from the perspective of the writer. The reading and analytical components of each semester project, and the lectures offered during the residencies, provide opportunities for a well-integrated humanities-based curriculum, without sacrifice of direct creative manuscript work and criticism. The MFA in Creative Writing graduate is well-prepared in literature (especially the student’s primary genre) as well as in writing. While the MFA is a terminal degree and can help a student achieve their career goals, the MFA in Creative Writing program’s goal is not to credential, but rather to help students with their writing and their creative education.

Special Emphases of the MFA in Creative Writing Program

The MFA in Creative Writing program is devoted to the education of literary artists, community engagement or service, and the pursuit of social justice. The program helps writers develop the skills of their craft and teaches them about the various roles of the writer in society. The program also develops awareness of and appreciation for culturally diverse writers and traditions.

Degree Options

This low-residency MFA program for adult students is designed to provide writers with a high level of professional training and an appreciation for the multifaceted relationship of the arts and artists to society. Creative nonfiction, fiction, poetry, and young people are offered as primary genres for study, and literary translation is offered as a secondary genre for study. There are three options for completing the MFA degree:

• Single genre option - the student chooses one genre as the designated field of study and works in that genre for four terms (two years)
• Mixed genre option - the student chooses to spend three terms in a primary genre and one term in a second genre (two years). This is referred to as a ‘Genre Jump’.
• Dual concentration - the student spends three terms in the primary genre and two terms in a second genre (two and one half years). Before the beginning of their fourth residency, students seeking this option, 1) must have spent one term in the second genre, and 2) must have declared their intent to pursue a dual concentration.

Degree Requirements

The decision to grant the MFA degree is made by the MFA Faculty Committee upon recommendation of the faculty mentor. The student’s record must demonstrate the following:

• Full participation in five residencies (six for the dual concentration option)
• Successful completion of four project periods (five for the dual concentration option)
• Completion of the Art of Translation Seminar and online Art of Translation Course
• Completion of the Critical Paper
• Working with at least three different faculty mentors (during the project periods) during the course of the program
• Completion of a Core Faculty-approved Field Study
• Broad reading and the preparation of a cumulative annotated bibliography in creative writing, literature, and the dramatic arts
• Successful completion of the final semester requirements: the graduating student presentation, graduating student reading, and the final manuscript

The criteria for granting the degree includes completion of all the above degree requirements, creative writing ability, engagement with perennial questions of literature and the social role of the writer, experience in applied criticism, and knowledge of the genre/genres studied in the program. It is expected that developing mastery in these areas will be demonstrated in each residency and project period evaluation, as well as documented specifically in responses to and evaluations of the student’s work for each project period, including monthly packets of creative writing, critical papers, the field study, the final manuscript, and at the end of the student’s final residency, the graduating student presentation.

Sample Curriculum Plan

Students are required to participate in all learning activities specified as “required” for their specific cohort in the Student Handbook. The following curriculum plan illustrates a typical program of study. Bracketed items may be taken during any residency or project period in which they are offered. This is a representative plan, but each student’s progress through the program is designed individually in consultation with her or his faculty mentors.

Residency 1:

New Student Orientations, Parts I & II New Student Orientation of Online Resources Arts, Culture and Society I: The Writer at Work: The Writer as Literary Citizen

Arts, Culture and Society II: Unbuild the Wall: Self, Society & Writing Antiracism [Orientation to the MFA Field Study] [Writers at Work] Reading Like a Writer Mentor panel and selection Writing Workshop Seminars/readings/panels/graduating student presentations Residency Student Learning Analysis and Project Period Contract

Project Period 1:

Monthly submission of creative work to mentor Selected reading and written annotations Submission of workshop material for Residency 2 MFA field study preparation Book Circle Discussions on Zoom Project Period Student Learning Analysis and Student Evaluation of Mentor

Residency 2:

Mentor panel and selection [Arts, Culture and Society II (topic varies each residency)] Writing Workshop Seminars/readings/panels/graduating student presentations [Orientation to the Field Study] Art of Translation Seminar Residency Student Learning Analysis and Project Period Contract

Project Period 2:

Monthly submission of creative work to mentor Selected reading and written annotations Art of Translation Course Field study completed Bool Circle Discussions on Zoom Submission of workshop material for Residency 3 Practice Critical Paper Project Period Student Learning Analysis and Student Evaluation of Mentor

Residency 3:

Mentor panel and selection Critical Paper Seminar Writing Workshop Seminars/readings/panels/graduating student presentations Residency Student Learning Analysis and Project Period Contract

Project Period 3:

Monthly submission of creative work to mentor Selected reading and written annotations Critical Paper Book Circle Discussions on Zoom Submission of workshop material for Residency 4 Project Period Student Learning Analysis and Student Evaluation of Mentor

Residency 4:

Submission of Critical Paper to MFA Program Office How to Prepare and Teach a 20-Minute Presentation/Orientation to the Final Term Mentor panel and selection Writing Workshop Seminars/readings/panels/graduating student presentations Residency Student Learning Analysis and Project Period Contract

Project Period 4:

Performance workshop for graduating students

Preparation of the Final Manuscript Preparation of graduating student presentation and public reading Selected reading and written annotations Preparation of Cumulative Annotated Bibliography Book Circle Discussions on Zoom Submission of workshop material for Residency 5 Project Period Student Learning Analysis and Student Evaluation of Mentor

Residency 5:

Submission of final manuscript to MFA Program Office Submission of cumulative annotated bibliography to MFA Program Office Writing Workshop Life After Antioch Seminars/readings/panels/graduating student presentations Present graduating student presentation Perform graduating student reading of creative work Residency Student Learning Analysis

Semester 5 (for dual concentration students only)

Project Period 5:

For Dual Concentration students, same as Project Period 4

Residency 6:

For Dual Concentration students, same as Residency 5

Final Semester Requirements

At the end of at least three successful semesters (four for dual concentration students), and with faculty mentor approval of the Critical Paper, the student proceeds into the final semester’s projects. During the final residency, the student is also expected to offer a 20-minute conference-style presentation under faculty supervision and to present a reading of his/her/their work. Final semester work focuses primarily on the preparation of the Cumulative Annotated Bibliography (a complete listing of everything the student has read and studied during the program) and the Final Manuscript, described below.

The Final Manuscript

The Final Manuscript is a volume of the student’s best creative work produced in the MFA program, reflecting proportionally the genre(s) the student has studied under the supervision of his/her/their mentors each project period.

For students who concentrate in a single genre, the requirements are as follows:

• Creative Nonfiction: At least 100 manuscript pages
• Fiction: At least 100 manuscript pages
• Poetry: At least 40 manuscript pages (one poem/page unless poem is multi-pages)
• Young People: At least 100 manuscript pages
• Writing for the Screen: At least 100 manuscript pages
• Playwriting: At least 100 manuscript pages  

For students who pursue a mixed concentration (3 semesters in a primary genre, 1 in a secondary genre), the minimum page requirements are listed below. Note: Creative Nonfiction, Fiction, Young People, and all genres offered by the AUSB program are each calculated as “prose.”

• Poetry (primary) and prose (secondary): 30 pages of poems, 25 pages of prose
• Prose (primary) and Poetry (secondary): 75 pages of prose, 10 pages of poems
• Prose (primary) and different genre of prose (secondary): 75 pages of primary genre, 25 pages of secondary genre
• Prose (primary) and Writing for the Screen / Playwriting (secondary): 75 pages of primary genre, 25 pages of secondary genre
• Poetry (primary) and Writing for the Screen / Playwriting (secondary): 30 pages of poems, 25 pages of dramatic writing
• Writing for the Screen / Playwriting (primary) and Prose (secondary): 75 pages of primary genre, 25 pages of secondary genre
• Writing for the Screen / Playwriting (primary) and Poetry (secondary): 75 pages of dramatic writing, 10 pages of poems

For students who pursue a Dual Concentration (3 semesters in a primary genre, 2 in a secondary genre), the minimum page requirements are as follows:

• Poetry (primary) and prose, including writing for the screen and playwriting (secondary): 30 pages of poems, 50 pages of prose
• Prose (primary), including writing for the screen and playwriting, and Poetry (secondary): 75 pages of prose, 20 pages of poems
• Prose (primary), , including writing for the screen and playwriting, and different genre of prose (secondary): 75 pages of primary genre, 50 pages of secondary genre  

Current Tuition and Fees

University Tuition and Fees    

Plan of Study

• CRW-5100: Residency & Project Period I
• CRW-5200: Residency & Project Period II
• CRW-5300: Residency & Project Period III
• CRW-5400: Residency & Project Period IV

Undergraduate Programs Creative Writing Minor

Ug programs creative writing minor.

The creative writing minor allows students to develop the craft of poetry writing or short fiction writing, as well as to explore other and emerging areas of writing practice such as creative nonfiction, screenwriting, playwriting, hybrid genres, and electronic forms. The minor is excellent preparation for those who seek to pursue advanced degrees in writing, as well as for those who seek to pursue careers in writing and the creative industries.

Course Requirements

2 Lower Division Courses, 10 units:

• English 4W (Critical Reading and Writing) or 4HW (Critical Reading and Writing (Honors)) or 4WX (Critical Reading and Writing (Community-Engaged Learning).
• English 10C (Literatures in English: 1850-Present), OR English 11, OR English 20 or 20W (Introduction to Creative Writing).

Five or Six Upper Division Courses, 24-25 units:

• One core genre (poetry or short fiction) course (English 136A: Intermediate Creative Writing: Poetry, or 136B Advanced Creative Writing: Poetry, or 137A, Intermediate Creative Writing: Short Story, or 137B, Advanced Creative Writing: Short Story).
• One advanced core genre course (or additional advanced core genre course) in the same genre as the first core genre course (old course English 136 or English 136B; old course English 137 or English 137B).
• One additional creative writing course (136, 136 A or B, 137, 137 A or B), or English/English Composition M138 (Topics in Creative Writing).
• One or Two elective courses (depending on unit count) from English 136 A or B, 137 A or B, M138, or from an approved list of courses in English and other departments across campus. Approved courses are other creative writing courses and courses that focus on 20th and/or 21st century literature.
• One capstone course or internship course culminating in a project with a creative writing focus (English 184 (any course 184 that allows a creative project), English 195CE, English 198B or English 199).

NOTE: Students who have received credit for old course 136 or new course 136B are ineligible to receive credit for course 136A; students who have received credit for old course 137 or new course 137B are ineligible to receive credit for course 137A.

Alternative courses for any of the above categories may be considered for credit by petition.

Transfer students may petition for credit for courses completed at other prior college-level institutions.

Grade requirements:

Students enrolled in the Minor must remain in good academic standing (overall grade-point average of C or better). All courses in the Minor must be taken for a letter grade, except those electives offered exclusively with P/NP grading.

Students seeking to declare the Minor in Creative Writing must: (1) be in good academic standing (overall grade-point average of C or better); (2) have completed the lower division requirements; (3) have completed at least one course 136 or 137; and (4) provide a PDF copy of their UCLA Degree Audit Report, a brief letter of application, and a writing sample (at least 10 pages of prose or 7-10 poems).

Download your degree checksheet !

WINTER 2024 APPLICATION PROCEDURES

*PLEASE READ CAREFULLY*

Students who will graduate by Winter, Spring, or Summer 2024 and who have completed or are completing at least TWO upper division core genre courses in the same genre (one of which must be either old course 136 or 137 OR new course 136B or 137B) are invited to apply for the Minor this quarter.  THERE WILL BE ANOTHER APPLICATION PERIOD IN SPRING QUARTER WITH THESE SAME STIPULATIONS.

To apply, e-mail the following as PDF attachments to [email protected] :

• a brief letter of application, stating what you have taken so far to satisfy Minor requirements, and how/when you intend to complete the requirements.
• a writing sample (at least 10 pages of prose or 7-10 poems).
• a copy of your Degree Audit Report.

DEADLINE: MARCH 1, 2024

Creative Writing Graduate Programs in the Los Angeles Area

1-11 of 11 results

Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences

Los Angeles, CA •

University of Southern California •

Graduate School

University of Southern California ,

Graduate School ,

LOS ANGELES, CA ,

UC Irvine School of Humanities

Irvine, CA •

University of California - Irvine •

University of California - Irvine ,

IRVINE, CA ,

Bellarmine College of Liberal Arts

Loyola Marymount University •

Blue checkmark.

Loyola Marymount University ,

University of La Verne

Graduate School •

LA VERNE, CA

• • Rating 4.49 out of 5   65

College of Business - University of La Verne

University of La Verne •

• • Rating 4.54 out of 5   13

LaFetra College of Education

• • Rating 4.44 out of 5   9

Wilkinson College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences

Orange, CA •

Chapman University •

Chapman University ,

ORANGE, CA ,

College of Liberal Arts - California State University - Long Beach

Long Beach, CA •

California State University - Long Beach •

California State University - Long Beach ,

LONG BEACH, CA ,

College of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences

Riverside, CA •

University of California - Riverside •

• • Rating 4.25 out of 5   4 reviews

Master's Student: I hope to learn a lot from the Teacher Education Program at UCR! I love the opportunities that are offered to me and my peers. ... Read 4 reviews

University of California - Riverside ,

RIVERSIDE, CA ,

4 Niche users give it an average review of 4.3 stars.

Featured Review: Master's Student says I hope to learn a lot from the Teacher Education Program at UCR! I love the opportunities that are offered to me and my peers. .

Read 4 reviews.

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School of Critical Studies - California Institute of the Arts

Valencia, CA •

California Institute of the Arts •

California Institute of the Arts ,

VALENCIA, CA ,

Mount Saint Mary's University Los Angeles

• • Rating 4.55 out of 5   44 reviews

Alum: I enjoyed the community and atmosphere. I met so many amazing peers, staff, and faculty who impacted my life in more ways than one. As with any school or program, there are cons. Unfortunately, I did experience a time where my advisor was not helpful and I struggled to understand my next steps. I quickly reached out for help from another faculty member who then became my new advisor. I learned how to advocate for myself through this experience. ... Read 44 reviews

44 Niche users give it an average review of 4.5 stars.

Featured Review: Alum says I enjoyed the community and atmosphere. I met so many amazing peers, staff, and faculty who impacted my life in more ways than one. As with any school or program, there are cons. Unfortunately, I did... .

Read 44 reviews.

California State University - San Bernardino College of Arts and Letters

San Bernardino, CA •

California State University - San Bernardino •

• • Rating 5 out of 5   2 reviews

Master's Student: This tight knit community is surrounded by students, faculty, and staff who encourage and uplift each other in order to reach personal and acadmic goals. It is just as connected inside the classroom as it is outside. There is not trouble reaching out to other for questions and concerns as it is always an open door. ... Read 2 reviews

California State University - San Bernardino ,

SAN BERNARDINO, CA ,

2 Niche users give it an average review of 5 stars.

Featured Review: Master's Student says This tight knit community is surrounded by students, faculty, and staff who encourage and uplift each other in order to reach personal and acadmic goals. It is just as connected inside the classroom... .

Read 2 reviews.

Otis College of Art and Design

• • Rating 4.33 out of 5   3 reviews

Master's Student: It’s a great school, and I’m glad I was accepted based upon my art portfolio. This is my dream school to attend, and the courses are very well organized, and educational. This contribute s to my knowledge, and prepares me for a great career in my field. ... Read 3 reviews

3 Niche users give it an average review of 4.3 stars.

Featured Review: Master's Student says It’s a great school, and I’m glad I was accepted based upon my art portfolio. This is my dream school to attend, and the courses are very well organized, and educational. This contribute s to my... .

Read 3 reviews.

Antioch University Los Angeles

Culver City, CA •

• • Rating 4.44 out of 5   18 reviews

Master's Student: I am a new student to Antioch University & so far my experience has been wonderful. They have provided multiple resources such as a writing workshop for the admissions letter. Additionally, the orientation was very informative & helpful for getting my courses selected. ... Read 18 reviews

CULVER CITY, CA ,

18 Niche users give it an average review of 4.4 stars.

Featured Review: Master's Student says I am a new student to Antioch University & so far my experience has been wonderful. They have provided multiple resources such as a writing workshop for the admissions letter. Additionally, the orientation was very informative & helpful for getting my courses selected. .

Read 18 reviews.

Southern California Institute of Architecture

LOS ANGELES, CA

• • Rating 4.56 out of 5   9

American University

WASHINGTON, DC

• • Rating 4.54 out of 5   147

University of Texas - Rio Grande Valley College of Fine Arts

University of Texas - Rio Grande Valley •

EDINBURG, TX

• • Rating 5 out of 5   2

Showing results 1 through 11 of 11

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MFA or Certificate

Creative writing, it's time to tell your story..

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Complete the form below to receive more information about the Master of Fine Arts or Graduate Certificate programs in Creative Writing at MSMU Los Angeles.

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About the Program

The MFA and certificate programs in Creative Writing at the Mount are artist-training programs for students seeking to write professionally across multiple genres and who wish to integrate different areas of academia into their work. We believe that a foundation in intellectual history and the humanities are essential qualities of any artist. Our low-residency MFA and certificate programs offer working professionals the flexibility to enroll in online or on-campus courses, or both! Classes meet every other weekend and are designed to prime students for a productive artistic future.

• Writing for Screen & Television
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• Latin American & LatinX Creative Studies
• Writing for Media
• Weekend Residency
• Cross-Training on Multiple Genres
• Bilingual Study
• Summer Study Abroad

Weekend or fully online courses

Designed for working professionals, classes meet every-other weekend, for a total of 6 weekends per semester. Students can take classes in-person or online. This flexible format allows students to balance work and family while completing their MFA or certificate in 2 years.

Interdisciplinary education

Integration of the humanities and other disciplines into our course of study reflect commitment to intellectual rigor and liberal arts as the cornerstone of human understanding.

Bilingual study

To reflect the cultural diversity of our Los Angeles location, we created a unique Bilingual Study program. Students can take courses in both English and Spanish and complete their culminating thesis in Spanish.

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Downtown Los Angeles Places Another Big Bet on the Arts

The pandemic was tough on city centers and cultural institutions. What does that mean for Los Angeles, whose downtown depends on the arts?

By Robin Pogrebin

Reporting from Los Angeles

For decades the effort to revitalize downtown Los Angeles has been tied to arts projects, from the construction of the midcentury modern Music Center in 1964 to the addition of Frank Gehry’s soaring stainless steel Walt Disney Concert Hall in 2003.

But the pandemic was tough on downtowns and cultural institutions around the country, and Los Angeles has been no exception.

Its downtown office vacancy rates climbed above 25 percent . Storefronts are empty. Homelessness and crime remain concerns. Many arts organizations have yet to recover their prepandemic audiences. And there have been vivid displays of the area’s thwarted ambitions: Graffiti artists covered three abandoned skyscrapers just before the Grammy Awards were held across the street at the Crypto.com Arena, and some lights on the acclaimed new Sixth Street Viaduct were doused after thieves stole the copper wire.

So it was a major vote of confidence in the area’s continuing promise when the Broad , the popular contemporary art museum that opened across the street from Disney Hall in 2015, announced last month that it was about to begin a $100 million expansion .

And it was very much a continuation of the vision of its founder, Eli Broad, the businessman and philanthropist who played a key role in the effort to create a center of gravity in a famously spread-out city by transforming Grand Avenue into a cultural hub. Broad, who died in 2021 , helped to establish the Museum of Contemporary Art and get Disney Hall built before opening the Broad to house his own art collection.

“As Eli said — and he said this when really almost no one agreed with him — downtown L.A. is the center and this region needs a cultural center,” said Joanne Heyler, the founding director and chief curator of the Broad. “He was right. At least our experience and our audience proves that point.”

The Broad — which offers free admission — says its attendance has recovered to prepandemic levels, as does the Los Angeles Philharmonic, which says it is once again averaging 89 percent attendance.

But other presenters have struggled. Last summer, Center Theater Group suspended productions at one of its three stages, the 736-seat Mark Taper Forum at the Music Center complex, citing financial woes.

“It’s no secret that many art institutions critical to the downtown Los Angeles arts ecology are continuing to face hardship,” Hilda L. Solis, the Los Angeles County Supervisor who represents the Grand Avenue stretch of Bunker Hill and the nearby Arts District, said in an email. “But despite the setbacks, this field is resilient. Artists and organizations in the area are finding ways to pivot in an effort to reconnect with Angelenos.”

They are also working to lure audiences back downtown at a moment when office vacancy is up and hotel occupancy is down. “It feels a little hollowed out,” said Christopher Koelsch, the president and chief executive of the Los Angeles Opera, adding that “it is much harder to sell our midweek performances than it used to be.”

The opera is projecting that attendance will reach 75 percent of capacity this season, an improvement over the last few years but still down from the 83 percent attendance it had during the last full season before the pandemic.

Traffic congestion remains another hurdle to getting people to travel downtown, and some galleries and arts organization have been expanding into other areas to meet people where they are.

The galleries Hauser & Wirth and François Ghebaly , which have spaces downtown, both recently added locations in West Hollywood. And while the L.A. Dance Project is expanding its downtown studio and performance space, doubling its seating capacity, it also just entered an agreement to perform regularly at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts in Beverly Hills.

The galleries say that they are not giving up on downtown. “They both complement each other,” said Stacen Berg, partner and executive director of Hauser & Wirth in Los Angeles, referring to her gallery’s two locations. “West Hollywood is a more trafficked area — we have people pop in multiple times to see one show. Downtown serves as a destination. They make their way to come to us.”

Ghebaly said he decided to open another space in West Hollywood to give collectors the convenience of “proximity shopping.”

“The ideal way of covering a city like Los Angeles is to have several locations,” he said. “These neighborhoods are essentially different cities, cultures, identities — like island states in Greece, only instead of being separated by seas, they’re separated by freeways.”

Dealers say downtown offers an unusual degree of physical space and creative freedom. “You simply cannot see these shows anywhere else in L.A. or in New York,” said the dealer Susanne Vielmetter, who in 2019 expanded her downtown gallery and closed her Culver City location.

Hauser’s downtown space, a sprawling complex that includes a bookstore and the popular restaurant Manuela, says it drew 4,000 people to its recent opening for Jason Rhoades, Catherine Goodman and RETROaction (part two) .

Young people who live and work in the Arts District contribute to a liveliness among galleries. “People go out downtown,” said Mara McCarthy, the founder of the Box gallery, which presents contemporary art and performances. “They will go see a show over there and get a beer down here and go get ramen.”

Grand Avenue remains a case study in progress and challenges. Some hope that the recently completed development, Grand L.A. , across from Disney Hall — which was designed by Gehry and includes restaurants, shops, a hotel and residences — fulfills its promise. Just a few blocks away another hotel, the L.A. Grand Hotel, is being used to house the homeless .

“Downtown is stalled,” said Richard Koshalek, a former director of the Museum of Contemporary Art who also led the committee that selected Gehry for Disney Hall. “There should be a commitment to a visionary plan.”

There have been signs of attention from government officials.

Gov. Gavin Newsom announced last month that his administration would push to expedite construction of a $2-billion, 7.6-acre residential and commercial development called Fourth & Central, which bills itself as “the New Gateway to DTLA.” And Mayor Karen Bass of Los Angeles has continued to work to address the homeless crisis . And the City Council approved nearly $4 million to remove the graffiti on the abandoned skyscrapers and secure the buildings.

Mark Falcone, the founder and chief executive of Continuum Partners, which is developing Fourth & Central, said that “at the moment, there is the perception that there is more risk in L.A. and San Francisco than there was five years ago” but that he remains “very bullish” on downtown’s prospects.

“We believe cultural enterprises are the things that give a community more long-term resilience and stability than anything else,” he said.

Arts administrators are making plans too. The Mark Taper has begun to offer some programming again ( a return of Alex Edelman’s one-man show and a Michael Feinstein concert ) and plans to announce a new season that its artistic director, Snehal Desai , says will focus heavily on weekends to accommodate the weakness in weekday attendance.

“The pandemic accelerated some of the trends that were already going on,” said Rachel S. Moore, the Music Center’s president and chief executive. “People are much more selective about what they’re seeing, but things that are super popular are super popular.”

The Broad recently hit the highest daily attendance in its history: 6,200 visitors on March 30. (By way of comparison, the nearby Museum of Contemporary Art said its attendance was 1,985 that day.) “There was a feeling in the beginning that downtown was in mothballs,” Heyler, its director, said. “We’ve emerged from that moment fully.”

In another promising development, the Colburn School for music and dance just broke ground on a Gehry-designed expansion to its downtown campus that will include a 1,000-seat concert hall.

“There is a need for a medium-size venue in the heart of the cultural district,” said Sel Kardan, the school’s chief executive and president, adding that he hoped the stage would be used during the upcoming Olympics.

And the Los Angeles tourism board has focused its latest — and largest — ad campaign on art and culture. “Most people don’t know that Los Angeles is now home to the most museums and performing arts venues in the country,” said Adam Burke, the board’s president and chief executive.

A few businesses have recently put down roots downtown, including ​​Spotify, which opened a sprawling new campus in the Arts District, and Warner Music Group, which moved into a new five-story building on Santa Fe Avenue. The Institute of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, is planning to offer corporate memberships to try to leverage this new crop of executives, Anne Ellegood, the executive director, said, adding that the museum is “thinking a lot about what we can do to bring artists back to the neighborhood.

“Everyone in the cultural sector,” she said, “has to be thinking about how to ensure that artists stay in L.A.”

Robin Pogrebin , who has been a reporter for The Times for nearly 30 years, covers arts and culture in California. More about Robin Pogrebin