Mission :
Kala Art Institute’s mission is to help artists sustain their creative work over time through its Artist-in-Residence and Fellowship Programs, and to engage the community through exhibitions, public programs, and education.
The heart of Kala’s mission as a vital, California art-making hub is supporting artists and engaging the community. Kala offers professional facilities to those working in and across print and digital media, new media, and performance. Artists at Kala are encouraged to work across disciplines, produce innovative artwork of the highest quality, and are given total freedom to realize their artistic vision using media that span the Gutenberg to digital eras. Kala offers access to equipment, time, and space to cultivate creative projects. Kala’s studios provide tools for printmaking, photography, video, performance, installation, and digital media. Kala fosters a fresh approach to experimentation, as artists investigate the interface of digital work, work made by hand, work made in the studio, performance-based work that engages the community and everything in between. A spirit of exchange and education is nurtured through all Kala’s community programs.
Kala’s creative community builds bridges between the intense art-making environment of the Kala studios, located in the historic Heinz ketchup factory in Berkeley and life outside the studio in Kala’s immediate neighborhood and far beyond. Additionally, Kala is committed to offering quality art education to the general public and public school children through its on-site program of classes and workshops, summer programs and its Artists-in-Schools program, established in 1991, providing multiple-week artist-led instruction to students in neighboring East Bay public schools.
