The San Diego School of Creative and Performing Arts, known as SDSCPA, is an audition only public arts magnet school in southeastern San Diego, California, US. The San Diego SCPA is a non-tuition, public, dedicated magnet school in the San Diego Unified School District serving families throughout San Diego County. The San Diego SCPA provides pre-professional training in the arts alongside a college preparatory curriculum. All students audition and complete a required series of specialized arts training in Theater, Music, Dance, Visual and Cinematic Arts, or Creative Writing. Upon graduation, most SDSCPA students continue to universities or conservatories for further study in the arts and academics. Recent acceptances include the Juilliard School, Cornish, Art Institute of Chicago, Curtis, New England Conservatory, Oberlin Conservatory, Manhattan School of Music, Boston Conservatory, Peabody Institute, and CalArts.
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History
Established in 1978, under the leadership of founding principal Florence Johnson and project resource teacher Ole Kittleson, the School of Creative and Performing Arts opened as a school-within-a school on the Roosevelt Middle School campus. As a result of a court mandate, SCPA was one of San Diego Unified School District's first magnet schools created to facilitate voluntary integration. SCPA first opened with 1 administrator, 17 teachers, 1 counselor, 17 support staff and 180 students in grades 4, 5, and 6. 46 seventh grade students were added in the spring semester with 8th grade added the following year. These 8th grade students became the first graduating class of SCPA. In the Fall of 1982, SCPA relocated to the former Mabel E. O'Farrell site in Southeast San Diego and became known as the O'Farrell School of Creative and Performing Arts.
As the program grew in popularity, it became inevitable that SDSCPA would require a new facility to meet the demands of this unique and successful new school. In the Fall of 1990, SDSCPA moved to its new, permanent site and became known as the San Diego School of Creative & Performing Arts. SDSCPA today occupies a 12 million dollar facility in southeast San Diego(Paradise Hills) that maintains a fully equipped 500 seat theatre, a 100 seat black box, box office, 6 dance studios, TV studio/video recording booth, art and music rooms, library, computer labs as well as traditional academic classrooms and science labs. The school now boasts 1500 students, an administrative team of 4, 72 teachers, 4 counselors,and a support staff of 70. The school offers annually an artistic season consisting of dance, choral and instrumental concerts, an art exhibition, and musical theatre and dramatic productions presented in both the Florence Johnson Grand Theatre and the Ole Kittleson Theatre.
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Admissions
Middle school
Middle school applicants must complete the San Diego Unified School District Open Enrollment application and then contact artistic director, Richard Trujillo, to set up an audition. Auditions usually take place in the Fall. Acceptance is via audition only.
High school
All students must first complete the San Diego Unified School District Open Enrollment Application. Prospective high school students must audition for a specific program in one of six majors: Creative Writing, Dance, Dramatic Arts, Music, Visual and Media Arts, and Interdisciplinary. Students may audition and be accepted into several programs, but must choose which one they will pursue while at SDSCPA. Each program has its own audition panel.
Productions
Mainstages
Each spring the San Diego School of Creative and Performing Arts releases their upcoming performance season. Shows are typically staged in one of two main locations - the Florence Johnson Grand Theater or the Ole Kittleson Little Theater.
Arts
Music
Students can choose from two main forms of music: Jazz or Orchestra. The advanced musical groups go on annual tours to compete against other schools from around the nation. These tours can be to places as close as Anaheim and Las Vegas, or as far as Boston and Hawaii. The most notable tour was in 2016 to New York City, featuring the school's Jazz Band at the Jazz at Lincoln Center Competition.
Dance
Several dance classes are available. These classes, ranging from beginning to advanced levels, are not limited to only one or two types of dance. Classes include Theater Dance, Ballet, Irish Dance, Modern Dance, and Dances of Mexico and Spain.
A professional strand dance class is two periods long. These are meant for more serious dancers who want to get the best of their training.
Visual and Cinematic Arts
Students in the Visual and Cinematic Arts programs take courses in photography, drawing and painting, video production, and yearbook.
In 2015, the SDSCPA opened a new multimillion dollar film studio launching the Cinematic Arts program.
Theatre
Students majoring in Theatre complete courses in Acting, Musical Theatre, or Technical Theatre.
Creative Writing
Students majoring in Creative Writing take courses in Creative Writing and Journalism. Students may also elect to take courses in Broadcast Journalism.
Notable students
- Andra Day, singer
- Megan Good, actress
- Jane Granby, artist
- Christian Hoff, 2006 Tony Award winner
- Ananda Lewis, television personality
- James Maslow, actor
- Sara Ramirez, Tony Award-winning actress
- Giovonnie Samuels, actress
- Johnny Steele, drummer
- Lakshmi Pakerek aka "La' chimi" Basile,-Performer-Flamenco
- Brian Justin Crum, singer
- Lou Romano, Animation Production Artist, Voice Actor, Emmy Winner
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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