Dallas

Firstly, apologies for the long gap between posts – the Inter State travel finally caught up with me it’s taken me a few days to work out a) what day it is b) what’s the time difference and c) which way is up and which is down!

My final week in the US was another exceptional week as I moved from LA to Dallas Texas. My hosts this time are the lovely staff and Pupils of Booker T Washington High School.

Nestled with the heart of Dallas, Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts boasts the honour of being the first institution in the Dallas Arts District and the only school. The school, again like the two previous school’s I visited, has a dual emphasis on arts and academics and has produced a stellar list of famous graduates including R&B vocalist Erykah Badu; jazz trumpeter Roy Hargrove; and, members of the gospel group “God’s Property”. Other noted graduates are dancer Jay Franke; cellist John Koen; visual artists Chris Schumann and Chris Arnold; drummer Aaron Comess; and musicians Edie Brickell of the “New Bohemians”, as well as Grammy Award winner, Norah Jones.

The first day I was there, the school was closed for a teacher training session. It was intriguing to see that created methods of teaching and team building where not limited to just the students! Topics discussed during this session included “Do Schools Kill Creativity?” and “Can a Holistic Approach to Education Really Lead to True Health?”. Other sound bites that came up included:

– It takes creative teachers to teach creative children
– Time must be invested to make sure teachers remain motivated and creative
– True long term learning is only achieves when using all 5 senses to teach

Food for thought.

At this school I learned a substantial amount about the sociology of the school and how it relates to that of the local area it’s sits in. Dallas is a city with an extremely high ethnic population. It’s citizens are mostly Hispanic, followed by African American and then white, however this isn’t totally mirrored in the school where 49% are white. Having said that, it’s still an extremely diverse school in terms of gender, race and economics. I was again really pleased to be visiting another school with a 100% graduation rate with 98% of students then going on to higher education.

One thing that did differ at this school was the participation of me the teaching faculty for one day! the poor, poor students were subject to a lesson for me on how to speak with a Birmingham and Standard English accent. There’s video evidence somewhere but I’m not brave enough to post it on the internet yet!

I’m now in Ghana on the second leg of my trip looking at performing arts in schools at an embryonic stage. I spend today at the National Theatre and will be visiting a specialist music school this week. More on that (with pictures) over the next few days

Lala Land

My next stop on this trip to the USA was LA County High School for the Arts (LACHSA). LACHSA offers a specialised program combining college-preparatory academic instruction and conservatory-style training in the visual and performing arts.

Hollywood

Founded in 1985, the tuition-free public school is run by the Los Angeles County Office of Education in partnership with and on the campus of California State University, Los Angeles (CSULA).  So this school sits within the campus of a university which has a tremendous affect.

The View from the Top of the School

Recognised as the premier public arts high school in the western U.S., LACHSA is the recipient of numerous awards, including: California Distinguished School for academic excellence, Golden Bell Award (visual arts program), Grammy Signature School (music program) and Bravo Award (Music Center of Los Angeles County) for excellence in arts education.
The school serves over 570 culturally and socioeconomically diverse teens from more than 60 school districts in the region.
During my visit I was looked after by the wonderful and inspirational Ms Suzanna Guzaman (who might I add is an amazing opera singer with a Grammy Award Nomination!) and one of LACHSA’s vocal students, Rhodri.

Myself, Rhordi and a student

A much smaller High School than La Guardia, LACHSA has approximately 600 students and the major art courses offered are Dance, Music (vocal and instrumental), Theatre and Visual Arts.  In addition students in any of those arts areas may also study Television, Film, and/or Musical Theatre.
Once again I found myself in the company of student who were totally focused and had a complete desire to learn and excel.  This was undoubtedly reflected in the school’s graduation rates which is 100%.  Compare to the nearest local state run high school to LACHSA which as a graduation rate of 20%, this is exceptional and a try testament to the pupils and teachers.
I learnt so much about LACHSA, most of which of course you’ll read about in my final report, but below are a few bullet points:

• LACHSA actively recruits students to attend through a variety of out reach programmes

• It is a feeder school for many of the top and Ivy league colleges in the US

• The school has access to ALL of the university’s facilities including the library, labs, research facilities and medical centre

• The students typically travel at least one hour to attend school which starts at 8am and ends at 4pm

• Each day consists of three academic classes of 1.5 hours each and then an afternoon of arts tuition.

• All students have to have a tangible talent and have reached the school’s set standard before they can attend.

The highlight of my visit to LA (apart from the fantastic weather and trying Boba tea for the first time) was definitely having the opportunity to sit in on both academic and arts classes and witness the students’ passion for their work first hand. Have a look at some of the pictures and footage below:

Sight Singing Class 1

Sight Singing Class 2

Physical Theatre Class 1

Physical Theatre Class 2

My next stop will be Booker T High School in Dallas.

Fame!

LaGuardia Arts High School

If you Google ‘Performing Arts High School’, top of the list comes Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts aka LaGuardia Arts aka the Fame school. I’ve been fortunate enough to be spending most of this week researching and visiting this school.

I know you won’t believe me but this:

was playing in the lobby of the school when I first arrived! I knew then I should have worn my leg warmers in homage to Leroy et al.

To give you some background information, LaGuardia High School dates back to 1936, when Major Fiorello H. LaGuardia established the school to serve as a haven for students gifted in the arts. The school today is an amalgamation of two illustrious schools: The High School of Music and Art and The School of Performing Arts. It boast world class facilities including a 1150 seat concert hall, 450 seat theatre, 150 black-box theatre, dance and instrumental studios, recording facilities, an art gallery and science and computer labs. Currently LaGuardia High School has 2600 students. Typically 700 students are admitted from more than 9000 applications!

La Guardia High School

I’ve been very kindly looked after by Dr Mark Stricklin (Assistant Principle) and Claudia (Year 10 student). Whilst touring the school and sitting in on lessons, one of the key things I noticed is the uncompromising passion and dedication that is felt and displayed by both the teachers and pupils.

From top to bottom, I witnessed of culture of always striving for higher standards and excellence is maintained by instilling self discipline. There’s also a great pride in all of the work produced and achievements of the pupils. On practically every wall, there are displays of student work and posters for upcoming performances.

Display Art

What is immediately apparent is how culturally diverse the student body is however you can’t help but notice that the girls far outweigh the number of boys but I’m sure this is due to the universal phenomenon for females to lean towards the arts and males the sciences (is that a controversial statement?) .

I asked Claudia how she personally defined and maintained excellence. She replied “It’s about maintaining high standards for yourself in all areas of your life. We’ve all worked hard and sacrificed to be here and it’s important for us to personally succeed”. And this can’t be disputed with 98% of the student class graduating and moving onto college – 26% of whom to Ivy league institutions.

Attending laGuardia is serious business.  Students’ daily programmes includes a complete academic course load and extensive arts programme starting from 7.45 am and ending between 3.30 and 4.15pm.  All classes have a focus on research and writing and a range of college-level and advanced classes are offered.  What was great to see was an emphasis in academic subjects on integrating the arts to encourage interdisiplinary instruction.

Going forward

This weekend marks the mass arrival of arts producers and educationalist as two major conferences & festivals are due to take place in New York next week – Under the Radar and ISPA. Hopefully I’ll get the chance to meet up with a few.
So, my few days in the United States has been a great introduction to not only the American public school system but also its links to the thriving and vibrate arts sector. I look forward to seeing and reporting more!

Fela! The Musical

Taking a break from my fellowship, I went to see my first Broadway Show on Wednesday – Fela! The Musical. There was no way I could escape seeing this after living and breathing all things Fela for the last 12 months whilst working on Punch Records’ Lemi Ghariokwu exhibition.

Scene from Fela! The Musical

I’ve heard lots of good things about the show and although it wasn’t what I expected, the cast and fantastic band really brought to life the prolific engery and passion Fela had for his music and political beliefs. I’m sure those who go to see Fela!  without knowing too much about his life and legagcy will leave wanting to know more.

Welcome

Welcome to my blog which will be documenting my travels to American and Ghanaian Performing Arts High Schools to investigate excellence and equality in arts education, as part of my Winston Churchill Memorial Trust (WCMT) fellowship award.

I encourage all of you to find out more about the Trust and apply! www.wcmt.org.uk . Busaries cover a variety of sectors including:

Adventure, Sport & Expeditions
Business & Finance
Education & Vocational Training
Environment, Food & Rural Affairs
Support for Children
Science, Engineering & Enterprise
The Arts
The Churchill Connection
Treatment & Rehabilitation of Chronic Conditions
Young People

The topics change every year so double check the website to see if you can get involved.

My own journey begins in New York on the 4th January 2010 and from then my posts will be more frequent and interesting! For full details on what my project is about please have a look at the ‘About‘ page of this blog.

Braganti for News. Placement try-outs for freshman and sophmore ballet students at La Guardia High School, New York City.