When news broke last week that California College of the Arts would close in 2027, the announcement came as a shock to students and the broader art world. It also appears to have caught one key figure off guard: Governor Gavin Newsom.
The San Francisco Standard reported that text messages sent by Newsom after the announcement suggested he “had no clue” and received “no heads up” about CCA’s impending closure, now slated for the end of the 2026–27 academic year.
CCA and its president, David Howse, disputed that account, however, telling the Standard that Newsom had been notified the Monday before the announcement. A meeting between CCA leadership and the governor’s office to discuss the transition is scheduled for this week.
Founded in 1907 in Berkeley, CCA is the last remaining nonprofit, standalone art school in San Francisco. The school has said it will sell its campus to Vanderbilt University, as the Nashville-based institution looks to expand its footprint and recruit talent in Silicon Valley.
Although CCA has struggled financially in recent years, its closure has prompted surprise in part because Newsom allocated $20 million to the school in last year’s state budget. Shortly thereafter, the college received a $22.5 million donation from Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and his wife, Lori, followed by an additional $22.5 million from other private donors. Huang’s gift was the largest in the school’s history.
Newsom’s decision to allocate the funds drew criticism at the time. The $20 million grant far exceeded the $2.5 million the state had provided CCA the previous year.
“Given that this was such a tough budget year, it doesn’t make sense to me why we are giving $20 million to a private college,” Al Muratsuchi, chair of the Assembly Education Committee, told Politico at the time. “I’m sure the California College of the Arts provides worthwhile educational programs, but our first priority should be to support our public universities, especially when the Trump administration is defunding public higher education.”
