Summer Arts Conservatory
Our five-week Summer Arts Conservatory offers students in grades 7-12 the opportunity to immerse themselves in theater, playwriting, and the visual arts.
- The Theater Program — students explore acting styles, stage movement, and musical theater (voice and dance) and perform in previously published plays, new works, and musical theater pieces.
- The Student Playwriting and Screenwriting Programs — provide young writers the foundation for developing both film and stage plays. They learn how to create character, dialogue, setting, plot and theme within established formats.
- The Visual Arts Program — a rare opportunity to explore the creative process and challenge artistic potential under the instruction of professional artists.
Students live together with resident faculty and interns in assigned dormitories located at the heart of campus.
"The Summer Arts Conservatory was vital in my development as a playwright and as a person. I have found a true passion which I am now pursuing."
—Benjamin Firke
Chicago, Illinois
“The Arts Conservatory is simply one of the best places I can think of to spend a summer for those interested in the arts.”
—Charlotte Madere
Old Lyme, Connecticut
“I’ve had a lot of fun here. I loved the play and my character was great. I’ve never really danced before, but now I know how to tap.”
—Patrick Cook
Fort Lee, New Jersey
“When you are in the black box, singing your solo, with your closest friends behind you, and your other friends (the faculty), smiling at you from the audience, you realize that you can only feel so supported, and happy at the Choate Summer Arts Conservatory.”
—Alexandra Keegan
New York, NY
"It was an amazing experience and I would recommend to anyone who is interested in improving their artistic skills or simply trying to determine if art is right for them… I feel that this experience prepared me for school life away from home, and it made me much more independent."
—Meredith Greenberg
Ridgefield, CT
“Choate's Summer Arts Conservatory truly allowed me to focus on my passion: the visual arts. When I am at school, I never have the chance to really do much of it; however, during the time that I was a part of the Arts Conservatory, every aspect—my fellow artists, the curriculum, the projects, and the trips-- helped me understand why I love visual arts so much.”
—Brit’nee Haskins
Crozet, Virginia
Time is set aside for leisure activities, including swimming, tennis, and volleyball. Students have the opportunity to interact with other Summer Program students in the Dining Hall, the Student Activities Center, and they have full use of Choate facilities.
Weekends are spent in rehearsals, art studios, and in the playwriting lab, working on projects. Students in all disciplines attend weekly theater trips together and arts openings, as well as field trips directly related to their specific area of concentration.
During the final week of Arts Conservatory, students in the theater, playwriting and the visual arts programs present their projects to the public.
Artists in Residence
For two weeks, the Hourglass Group, Ltd. takes residency here at Choate and participates in class work, workshops and original readings alongside the students. The group was founded in 1998 by Elyse Singer (Choate ’85), Carolyn Baeumler and Nina Hellman with the mission to develop new plays and reinvestigate neglected classics.
Summer Arts Conservatory Faculty
Executive Director, Paul Mellon Arts Center
Paul Tines- (M.A., Johns Hopkins University; certificate of advanced studies, Wesleyan University; study at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and the Royal Academy) is the executive director of the Paul Mellon Arts Center and the head of the Choate Rosemary Hall Arts Department. He previously served in the same capacities at the Ward Center for the Arts at the St. Paul’s School in Baltimore.
Admission Director
Randi Brandt- (B.F.A., printmaking and art history, Beaver College; advanced degree, Sotheby’s London) is the assistant to the Executive Director. She has been curatorial assistant in prints and drawings at the Yale Center for British Art, gallery assistant at the Schwartz and Company, and a guest curator at the Wadsworth Athenaeum.
Program Co-Director, Faculty
Jim Balmer- (B.A. music education, College Misericordia; MM choral music and music education, Hartt School of Music, University of Hartford; DMA candidate conducting and choral music, University of Illinois) is co-director of music programs at Fairfield Country Day School, teaches in Choate’s Theater Saturday Program, and is conductor/co-musical director of Choate’s annual spring musicals.
Program Co-Director, Faculty
Mary Nelson- (B.S., music education, University of Wisconsin; M.M., choral music and music education, Hartt School of Music, University of Hartford) Is co-director of music programs at Fairfield Country Day School, teaches in the Theater Saturday Program at Choate, and is a pianist/co-musical director of Choate’s annual spring musicals. Ms. Nelson has appeared at Carnegie Hall on several occasions.