Arts Concentration
The mission of the Arts Concentration Program is to allow students with exceptional talent in the visual or performing arts to develop their talents within the context of a rigorous academic program. The program allows each student to pursue his or her passion as well as to engage in other academic departments and school life. Thus, Arts Concentration students have schedules individually crafted to facilitate their development in the arts. Current third or fourth formers may apply for the Arts Concentration Program with the approval of the arts department head. Concentration program options: Theater, Visual Arts, or Music (instrumental and vocal).
Music students are required to take two courses in music history (History of Jazz, Music of the 1960s, Six Degrees of Separation, Classical Giants), AP Music Theory and Harmony, and Advanced Harmony/Counterpoint as well as weekly instrumental or voice lessons. Students are expected to practice four afternoons in the Paul Mellon Arts Center two hours a day, if they are not participating in an afternoon sport. In the sixth form, music students participate in the Arts Concentration Recital.
Theater students are required to take Acting I, Acting II, Acting III, and Directing. In addition students are assigned to work on set construction, props, costumes or technical positions such as stage manager or assistant director in a Main Stage production and must complete one term per year of technical theater, depending on the year of admission to the program. During the fifth and sixth form years, theater students present a one-person show as a well as direct a scene of their choosing. Sixth form theater students prepare for conservatory auditions in Acting III.
Note: A theater concentration student is never guaranteed a role in a show.
Visual Arts students are required to take one visual arts course each year, and Life Drawing, AP Art History and AP Studio Art Portfolio in fifth or sixth form. Students are expected to work in the arts studio on projects four afternoons a week two hours a day, if not participating in a sport. Sixth form visual arts students mount a solo art exhibition in the Gallery in the spring term. At the opening of the show, students are expected to make a presentation of their work to invited guests.
The Arts Department reviews each participant at the end of each academic year to determine if the student should remain in the program. Students are not allowed to continue in the Arts Concentration Program if obligations and expectations are not fully met, or if the program has not been beneficial to the growth of the student.