Creative Ticket Awards

2002-03 Winners of Creative Ticket National School of Distinction Award

WASHINGTON, D.C.—The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts announced the recipients of its national awards program that honors outstanding school arts programs. Five schools are being recognized as a Creative Ticket National School of Distinction for the 2002-2003 school year. The award recognizes schools that have done an outstanding job of making the arts an essential part of the education of their students. Each school will receive a cash award to support their arts education program.

Glendale High School, Grades 9-12, Glendale, CA
Glendale High School offers a comprehensive, sequential arts program. More than half of Glendale High School’s nearly 3,400 students are enrolled in the arts. There are 22 performing arts classes in the areas of music, dance and theater and 33 classes in the visual arts covering everything from art history to design, painting, ceramics, sculpture and photography. Community partnerships include ongoing relationships with Disney Imagineering and the Pasadena Art Center of Design. The Center for the Arts and Arts Technology programs provide specialized learning opportunities for students who plan to complete at least three years of arts coursework. Students who complete the program receive special recognition upon graduation. Glendale High School has one of the few three-year, sequential technical theater training programs in the state, where students receive training in set design, lighting design, sound design, stage management and house management. Its high-quality, comprehensive arts program garnered Glendale High School the 2001 BRAVO award for excellence in arts education, an honor presented by the Los Angeles County Music Center.

The Classical Academy, Grades K-6, Colorado Springs, CO
The Classical Academy (TCA) is a Colorado Charter school established in 1997 that has made the arts an essential part of its students’ education. The arts are treated as core academic subjects with the knowledge that a truly educated person benefits from a proficiency in the arts. Sequential and comprehensive curricula in the visual arts, music and drama programs are taught by arts specialists. Students at TCA benefit from a philosophy of classical learning with the curriculum taught in relation to modern and ancient cultures. Examples include intensive study of the Renaissance or Greek culture. Dance is often incorporated into the curriculum through study units such as Middle Ages or for school-wide arts celebrations. The arts at TCA are also successfully integrated into other subjects, including the sciences, literature and mathematics. With a current enrollment of 1,900 and more than 4,500 on the waiting list, TCA is well regarded as a premier school locally and throughout the state. Its students’ 2002 CSAP scores recently earned them the John Irwin Academic Excellence Award, an honor given to those schools that receive an “excellent” rating on the School Accountability Report.

Lusher School, Grades K-8, New Orleans, LA
Arts education is an integral part of the K-8 curriculum at the Lusher School, whose strong arts-centered academic program offers all learners the opportunity to achieve. Art history, criticism, aesthetics and production are included as part of the curriculum. Students read, research and write about the arts. They explore historical times and cultures through the arts. For example, students listen to jazz artists and write poetry then compose lyrics for the instrumental jazz music they study. Lusher paid tribute to the historic desegregation of schools in a school-wide celebration with alumni and students that featured performances on this issue through dance, theater and song. Lusher has several performance groups including the Lusher Dance Troupe, the Drama Troupe, the Jazz Band Ensemble, the String Ensemble and the Suitcase Players. Lusher has benefited from its partnerships with the Contemporary Arts Center, Louisiana Institute for Education in the Arts, New Orleans Arts Council and the New Orleans Museum of Art. In 2002, Lusher ranked as the number one elementary school in the seven parish metropolitan area of New Orleans and seventh in the state. It maintains its high ranking and continues to score among the top in Louisiana schools.

Rollings Middle School of the Arts, Grades 6-8, Summerville, S.C.
Rollings Middle School of the Arts is a visual and performing arts school. Each student learns about all of the arts while developing a proficiency in one of seven core arts disciplines. At Rollings, these arts disciplines are handbells, strings, theater arts, vocal music, dance, visual arts and piano.
All cores offer a rich and rigorous comprehensive program that balances performance with theory, cultural heritage and aesthetic value. Handbells challenge students to become musicians not just skilled ringers. Vocal music students focus on music literacy through sight singing, rhythm exercises, part-singing, music theory and choreography. In creative writing, an emphasis is placed on the “Community of Writers,” where students feel free and confident as they work and grow beside their creative writing peers. Dance focuses on fundamental techniques assessed through performance and choreography. Strings students learn to play their instruments as part of an ensemble. Visual arts courses provide opportunities for students to express themselves through a variety of arts media. Theater students learn how theater reflects life, as they study the historical, cultural and societal facets of the art. Rollings students also experience involvement with all facets of musical productions, such as Annie and The Music Man, as well as learning about careers in the arts.

The Denver School of the Arts, Grades 6-12, Denver, CO
The Denver School of the Arts (DSA) is the Rocky Mountain region’s only public school with a primary focus on the arts. This magnet program draws students from Denver and surrounding areas in grades six through 12. Created in the late 1980s, this urban school grew from a conviction that passion for the arts could correlate directly with academic achievement. Students audition for admission through one of three major arts programs: Fine and Practical Arts, Music and Performing Arts (dance and theater). Students select from additional arts electives to complement their major areas of artistic study. The school enjoys numerous partnerships with Denver cultural groups, as well as guest artists. At DSA, the arts are taught both as separate disciplines and integrated with academic subjects. DSA is the only urban high school in Colorado to enjoy an “excellent” academic rating on Colorado’s standardized rating system. In its short history, DSA students and graduates have graced the stages of Broadway and the Kennedy Center and performed internationally with the Essentially Ellington Tour and the Scottish Thespian Fringe Festival. DSA begins the 2003-2004 school year in a new facility.

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