Otis moves DTLA classes to main campus

The Otis College of Art and Design is making a couple of changes for 2016. Instead of hosting its classes at the California Market Center, the college is moving from its downtown Los Angeles territory and into the its main campus.

The Otis College of Art and Design reigns as Los Angeles’ premier school for fashion design, art, graphic design, digital media, and more. Since the school’s establishment in 1918, Otis has offered various BFA and MFA degrees for its students. For the past 20 years the school has hosted its fashion classes at the CMC, right in the midst of L.A.’s fashion district. Due to the move, approximately 145 students and 50 faculty members will have to move to the main campus to continue their classes. This will leave 38,000 square feet of vacant space including 24 former classrooms. The main campus, located near Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), will start hosting these classes after the move is completed. According to Apparel News, the move will take place next summer on July 1.

The decision was made so that all of Otis’s class offerings would be within close proximity to each other. “The school’s administration is into campus consolidation, and they want the students to have access to all the student services within walking distance,” Rosemary Brantley, the fashion designs department’s founding chair, told Apparel News of the move.

Although the students will have better access to the rest of the campus, they will be missing out on some of the perks of being near the fashion district. “The faculty and students share the same feeling that they will miss the proximity to fabrics, notions, and trims as well as having so many mentors who are just around the corner,” Brantley told the publication. Ultimately, the move leaves missed opportunities for networking and exposure to the real world in the heart of L.A.’s fashion district.