Arts
The Arts Department embraces the belief that all students have the potential to express themselves creatively. The mission of the department is to foster and nurture each student as an artist and to give each student the requisite tools to be successful. It is also our mission to cultivate an understanding and love of the performing and visual arts by providing a positive environment in which the student and teacher can appreciate and explore the creative process. We believe that a truly educated student must possess a clear understanding of how the arts impact his or her life in a personal, social, economic, and cultural context.
The arts curriculum is dual tracked: foundation classes are offered in dance, music, theater, and visual arts for the beginner as are advanced classes for the gifted student who wishes to achieve distinction in a particular arts discipline.
We believe that the arts engage the whole person—the intellect, the heart, and the body. The arts connect the students to themselves and to each other. Extensive selections of musical and theatrical ensembles provide many diverse performance opportunities for students. Students are able to observe the artistic process through the course offerings in the classrooms and studios. Students who are highly motivated have the encouragement and support of the arts faculty to create substantial works of art in any of the three major disciplines: music, theater, and visual arts.
Once a student has exhausted the course offerings of the arts curriculum, he or she may work individually with a member of the arts faculty to design a specific area of study that is relevant to his or her passion. Students have the opportunity to showcase their talents in original music compositions, recitals, original playwriting, one-person arts exhibitions, Capstone presentations, Senior Projects, Directed Studies, dance recitals, and international concertizing.
Through our Arts Concentration Program, students have individually tailored schedules, with arts classes most terms in concert with courses selected from Choate’s comprehensive curriculum. The Arts Concentration Program allows, for example, an instrumentalist to use afternoons to rehearse or a visual arts student to focus on a studio project, with an adjustment in the athletic requirement.
Department members are working artists themselves, and therefore bring a unique perspective to the classroom, rehearsal hall, and studio.
––Paul Tines, Department Head