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Art Center College of Design (stylized as ArtCenter College of Design) is a private art college in Pasadena, California.
ArtCenter College of Design was founded in 1930 in downtown Los Angeles as the Art Center School.
In 1935, Fred R. Archer founded the photography department, and Ansel Adams was a guest instructor in the late 1930s. During and after World War II, ArtCenter ran a technical illustration program in conjunction with the California Institute of Technology.
In 1947, the post-war boom in students caused the school to expand to a larger location in the building of the former Cumnock School for Girls in the Hancock Park neighborhood, while still maintaining a presence at its original downtown location.
The school began granting Bachelor's and Master's degrees in arts in 1949, and was fully accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges in 1955.
In 1965, the school changed its name to Art Center College of Design.
The school expanded its programs, including a film program in 1973.
The school moved to the Hillside Campus in Pasadena in 1976.
The school operated ArtCenter Europe in Vevey, Switzerland from 1986 to 1996.
In 2003, ArtCenter was granted Non-Governmental Organization status by the UN Department of Public Information.
ArtCenter opened the South Campus in Pasadena in 2004.
In 2019, ArtCenter revealed they exceeded their $100 million goal when their fundraising campaign for additional scholarships and expanding their south campus started in 2011. ArtCenter raised $124 million from more than 7,000 contributions.
ArtCenter celebrated their 90th anniversary on April 16, 2020. The planned celebration was rescheduled due to the coronavirus pandemic.
In Summer 2022 ArtCenter announced "Blocky" its official mascot to accompany The dot, which has served as the unofficial mascot throughout the schools debut. Blocky will be rolled in Summer 2023 and will be a square in the official ArtCenter orange #FC4600. Blocky was designed by student Cosme Cruz in a creative strategies course during the summer 2022 term.