School for Creative and Performing Arts
Encyclopedia
The School for Creative and Performing Arts (SCPA) is a magnet
arts school in Cincinnati, Ohio
, United States
, and part of the Cincinnati Public Schools (CPS). SCPA was founded in 1973 as one of the first magnet schools in Cincinnati and became the first school in the country to combine a full range of arts studies with a complete college-preparatory
academic program for elementary through high school students. Of the approximately 350 arts schools in the United States, SCPA is one of the oldest and has been cited as a model for both racial integration
and for arts programs in over 100 cities.
SCPA had three different homes in its first four years, including a makeshift campus in the Mount Adams neighborhood and another in Roselawn. In 1976, it occupied the Old Woodward High School
building, on the site of one of the oldest public schools in the country. The school rose to national prominence in the 1980s, but was nearly closed in the 1990s following a series of scandals, leadership struggles, and an arson fire which destroyed the auditorium. Its reputation recovered in the years that followed and in 2009–10, the school was featured in the MTV
reality series Taking the Stage
, filmed at the school and featuring SCPA students. In 2010 SCPA combined with the Schiel Primary School for Arts Enrichment to create the first kindergarten
through twelfth grade
(about ages five to seventeen) arts school and first private sector/public arts school in the US. A new facility in Over-the-Rhine
was championed by the late Cincinnati Pops Maestro
Erich Kunzel
and funded through a unique public-private partnership that raised over $31 million in private contributions to match public funding. The building features specialized facilities for the arts and three separate theaters and is the key to redevelopment plans for the area.
Students must audition for admission; fewer than 20 percent of those who apply each year are accepted. SCPA is free to CPS students but also attracts tuition-paying students from outside the district and the state. The newly combined school will serve approximately 1,300 students in 2010, offering a curriculum designed to prepare students for professional careers in creative writing
, dance
, drama
, music
, technical theater
, and visual art
. The emphasis is on performance, and students in every field are required to perform or present their work in public regularly. Students compete successfully in arts competitions locally and internationally. On standardized test
s, SCPA ranks second among Cincinnati public schools. Ninety percent of graduating seniors continue on to college, and those students receive one of the highest levels of scholarship funding in the city. A limited number of extracurricular activities are offered, as students are expected to commit significant after-school time to training and performance. SCPA has produced notable graduates in a wide range of artistic fields, including award-winning actors, singers, directors and technicians.
battles in the Cincinnati Public Schools (CPS) in the late 1960s and early 1970s. In a 1965 civil rights suit, the city prevailed when a federal judge found that the schools were not intentionally segregated, but that "the racial composition of each school is simply a result of the racial composition of the neighborhoods which they serve". By 1971, Cincinnati's neighborhoods and schools had grown more segregated and the Supreme Court of the United States
upheld forced busing as a remedy for school segregation in other cities.
Desiring to avoid such drastic remedies for Cincinnati, newly appointed Superintendent Dr. Donald Waldrip pushed forward a program of alternative schools
(later called magnet schools), designed "to calm the desires of parents for academic choice and to stem the demands of federal judges for court-ordered desegregation." The theory behind alternative schools was open enrollment
: students could attend any alternative school they chose at no cost, so long as an even racial balance at the new school was maintained. So far as possible, students were admitted to these programs on a one white for one black basis. The School for Creative and Performing Arts was the first alternative school in what would become one of the largest and most robust magnet programs in the country.
In 1965, Robert McSpadden and Bill Dickinson, both music teachers in the Cincinnati Public Schools, founded the Cincinnati All-City Boy Choir, where they were struck by how the discipline they established for the boys in the choir carried over into their academic studies. They conceived the idea of a school where basic education was combined with intensive attention to children with artistic talents. With the support of Waldrip and Tom Murray, director for the west-central division of Cincinnati elementary schools, they pushed for $119,000 as part of a tax levy referendum in May 1973; the measure was defeated. The school was approved with a drastically reduced budget of $27,000 plus $9,850 from the Board of Education’s general fund. They turned to private funding and won a $292,000 grant from J. Ralph Corbett, one of the city's foremost philanthropists for the arts, and $24,500 for a piano lab from the Baldwin Piano Company
, which had manufactured pianos in Cincinnati since 1891.
The School for Creative and Performing Arts opened in August 1973, as the only grade four
through six
school for the performing arts in the country and the first public school that combined all of the arts in a single program. The curriculum included art, instrumental
music, choral music
, dance and drama, and was not organized strictly by grade, but permitted students to advance as soon as their abilities allowed. Murray explained:
Dickinson was named coordinator and six weeks later he, McSpadden, Murray and others had selected a staff, developed a program, recruited students, and moved into the Mount Adams Public School building at 1125 St. Gregory Street. Described by Cincinnati Magazine
as "a quaint village of imaginative, arty residents, unusual shops and restaurants, and historic buildings" and overlooking downtown Cincinnati and the Ohio River
, Mount Adams had been home to the Art Academy of Cincinnati
(the museum school of the Cincinnati Art Museum
) since 1887, and was a "mecca for students and teachers of art". The Mount Adams School was nearly defunct, with fewer than 80 students remaining. Fifty of those children, ranging from kindergarten
(around age five) to third grade
(around age eight) remained alongside the new SCPA. A dozen of the Mount Adams middle school
students were accepted into the new program, along with the 140 other fourth through sixth grade pupils selected from schools around the city by audition.
By 1974, SCPA had 332 students, with 500 on the waiting list, and had overflowed into rented space in the surrounding neighborhood, including three rooms at the nearby Holy Cross School, two rooms at the community center two blocks away, and large room for drama above Mike's Meat Market across the street. Students practiced instruments in hallways and restrooms, and the library was in the middle of the second floor hall. Student productions were held in other schools around the city, and the first major musical, Babes in Toyland
, was performed at Education Center downtown. With plans to expand to ninth grade
(around age 14) and 540 students in 1975, and to twelfth grade
(around age 17) and 1,400 students in 1977, a new facility had to be found. Waldrip proposed the school move to the Old Woodward school building, then home of Abigail Cutter Junior High School, in Over-the-Rhine
, a predominantly African-American area near downtown. Neighborhood resistance was strong and opponents, arguing that "the school administration was trying to avoid problems of integration by moving an alternative school to Cutter and transferring Cutter students elsewhere", blocked the plan.
Councilwoman Bobbie Stern proposed the school move to Cincinnati Union Terminal
, a National Historic Landmark
which the Historic American Buildings Survey
called "a unique and monumental manifestation of Art Deco
architecture and interior decoration", noted for its mosaic murals depicting the history of Cincinnati and its rotunda
, 106 feet (32.3 m) high and 110 feet (33.5 m) long, the largest semi-dome
in the western hemisphere. The facility, vacant since it was abandoned by Amtrak
in 1972, was to house the school, a maintenance facility for the Queen City Metro
transit service, and a new rail terminal for Amtrak. The plan was approved in April 1975 and was due for completion for the 1976 school year.
building at 1636 Summit Road and the nearby Jewish Community Center. The Yavneh Day school, founded in 1952 by parents who wanted to combine secular and Jewish education for their children, moved to Roselawn in 1958 but had outgrown that facility. The school had no lockers; students carried their belongings between buildings. Lunches were delivered from another school and served at a nearby church.
Dickinson became principal in 1975, and worked to fully integrate the arts into the academic program. "Academics don't end when art, drama or music classes begin," he said, "but blend, in an interdisciplinary approach to education." Music study included acoustics and the history and architecture of important musical periods; art history was part of the art curriculum and anatomy and physiology were studied in the dance program. The school was recognized with The Cincinnati Post
's Corbett Award in 1976 as "the arts organization making an outstanding contribution to the community".
The Union Terminal project was derailed when the three prospective tenants failed to agree on how to share the space. Having outgrown its temporary facilities, SCPA was again forced to find a new home for the following year. After examining options including the historic Rockdale Temple
and two schools slated to be closed in the city's West End, the school board once again settled on the Old Woodward building, over the objections of the community.
ns in the 20th century. By 1970, a combination of white flight
and the destruction of surrounding slums had transformed the area into Cincinnati's most infamous ghetto. It is one of the largest, most intact urban historic districts in the United States and the most dangerous neighborhood in Cincinnati. The school, with its 650 students, moved into this historic but blighted neighborhood, and its Old Woodward School building at 1310 Sycamore Street.
Woodward was one of the oldest public schools in the country, founded as the Woodward Free Grammar School in 1831; it was named for William Woodward, a local tanner who donated the land to provide, in his words, "facilities to educate the children of persons who could not afford the expense of private schooling". The building was replaced once in 1855, and again in 1907 when President William Howard Taft
, who graduated from Woodward in 1874, laid the cornerstone of the current building; it opened in 1910. The site is linked to the Underground Railroad
, an informal network of secret routes and safe houses used by 19th-century black slaves in the United States; Levi Coffin
(known as "The President of the Underground Railroad") had a home there from 1856 to 1863. The five-story brick, stone, and terra cotta
building is 225000 sq ft (20,903.2 m²) and was designed by Gustav Brach, was considered "an architectural gem" in its time, with some of the most modern facilities of its day, including flush toilets, central heating, and two swimming pools. It is graced with 12 rare Rookwood Pottery
drinking fountains from the early 1900s, gifts of the Art League, founded in 1895, which raised dues from students who would then vote on works of art to buy for the school. The building is part of the Over-the-Rhine National Register Historic District
, which encompasses 362.5 acre of the original German community and adjoins the Sycamore – 13th Street Historic District, which reflects the significant architecture associated with middle and late 19th century Greek Revival, Queen Anne
, and Italianate styles.
Woodward High School moved to a new facility in Bond Hill in 1953, and the building became Abigail Cutter Junior High School (also known as Cutter), named for William Woodward's wife. SCPA occupied the fourth floor in 1976, and the entire building in 1977, displacing the Cutter students to other public schools. It graduated its first class in 1979, becoming the first elementary through grade twelve arts program in the country. The first so-called "survivors", who began in fourth grade, graduated in 1982.
SCPA continued to attract national attention, and as a local TV special reported, "educators from all over the country flock[ed] to Cincinnati to see how, and why, it works." In 1981, SCPA was invited to perform The Wiz
at the National Theatre
in Washington, DC, the "Theatre of the Presidents" and oldest major touring house in the country, becoming the first non-professional group to perform there since it opened in 1835. SCPA student Roscoe (Rocky) Carroll
won the 1981 National Endowment for the Arts
Talent Search in drama and became a Presidential Scholar
in the Arts. The school received the Blue Ribbon School
of the United States Department of Education
in 1984 and the National Secondary School Merit Award in 1985. By 1985, it had been credited as the model for arts schools in 100 cities in the US, Europe, and Asia, and had been cited in textbooks as a model of excellence in school integration.
The school relied heavily on donations, which made up over ten percent of the total budget. The Friends of SCPA (commonly known as The Friends), a nonprofit organization led by parents and members of the business and arts communities, had been a vital source of funding since the school's inception. In 1984, The Friends raised over $400,000 to pay the salaries of the artistic director, technical director, costume designer, and dance, strings, and production teachers. In later years, The Friends raised up to $1 million each year through special events, corporate gifts and sponsorships, advertising sales, and other programs to support the artistic needs of the school including staff salaries, production expenses, scholarships for private lessons, and artists in residence.
In April 1996, an arson fire destroyed the school's auditorium, causing over $1 million of damage; it was a turning point for a school then dangerously close to closure. The culprit was never identified. Erich Kunzel
, long time Maestro
of the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra
and nationally renowned as "the Prince of Pops
", announced his vision for a new SCPA campus near Cincinnati Music Hall, which would be part of an arts and education complex that would help revitalize Over-the-Rhine. A campaign was launched that, over the following 13 years, raised funds and made plans for the new facility.
England abruptly retired in 1997 and was replaced by Jeff Brokamp, who had been principal of the Crest Hills Year-Round School, which had won awards for its all-year curriculum. Brokamp, with no previous arts experience, began to turn the school around. A new emphasis on academics, more Advanced Placement courses and more stringent audition standards that admitted only the most dedicated students led to better test scores and a higher level of artistic talent; Brokamp pushed to expand the school's vocational training programs in photography, stage management, and costume design by 50 percent. Applications to audition more than tripled by 2001 and fund-raising rebounded.
Brokamp resigned and was replaced by Clarence Crum in 2004, who was followed by John Carlisle in 2006. Carlisle went on extended leave in October 2007, pending an investigation into the alleged rape of a former student off school grounds. Carlisle denied the accusation and no criminal charges were filed. He resigned in March 2008. According to Cincinnati Magazine, the "scandal launched rumors and confusion" and "the revolving door of school administrators" took a toll on faculty and student morale. Carlisle was replaced by Dr. Jonathan Futch, formerly Assistant Principal at Withrow High School.
Taking the Stage
, a "musical reality" TV series set at SCPA, premiered on MTV
in March 2009. The series, co-created and co-produced by SCPA graduate Nick Lachey
, was a dramatized depiction of life at the school. The show chronicled the lives of five real SCPA high school students and their friends in their careers at SCPA. Each episode featured original music and choreography by the students themselves, performed at the school and other locations in Over-the-Rhine.
The first season, which premiered on March 19, 2009, was the number one primetime cable telecast among females 12–24 years old and one of the top four among all viewers 12–34 years old. The second season began filming at the school in 2009, and first aired on January 16, 2010. The show was cut from one hour to 30 minutes and focused on new transfer students instead of current SCPA students, leading some students and parents to complain that the admission process had been compromised. The school denied the claim.
It ran for 16 episodes, through April 15, 2010. In May 2010, MTV announced there would be no third season.
The school was paid $10,000 for each of the nine episodes in season one and twelve in season two. The show attracted international attention for the school and interest from prospective students around the world; applications for admission increased by 60 percent in 2009.
Schiel, built in 1911 as an elementary school for the Corryville neighborhood, was converted to a Spanish-language magnet school in 1974 and again to an arts enrichment school in 1985. Schiel students have been admitted by open enrollment on a first-come-first-served basis. With 420 kindergarten through third grade students in 2008 (around ages five through nine), 83 percent of them black, 72 percent economically disadvantaged, it has been the primary feeder school for SCPA, for which Schiel students have been required to audition. Schiel was one of two CPS schools recognized as a Blue Ribbon School in 2010.
The construction plans faced opposition from those in the community who feared the project would displace the Drop Inn Center
, the region's largest homeless shelter, and the design was revised to build around it. By 2007, after more than a decade of fund-raising and negotiations, 90 percent of the final $72 million budget had been secured and ground was broken for a new building across from Washington Park in September of that year. The 5.75 acre park, reclaimed from old burial grounds between 1858 and 1863, is lined with trees and benches and features statues of Friedrich Hecker and Robert Latimer McCook
, German-American heroes of the American Civil War
. As Over-the-Rhine has declined, a significant homeless population has overtaken the area.
The park faces Cincinnati Music Hall, home to the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra
, Cincinnati Opera
, Cincinnati May Festival
, and the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra
. Designed by Samuel Hannaford
, one of Cincinnati's most important architects, and built with private funds in 1878, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places
in 1971, noting its "stunning composition in the High Victorian Gothic
mode". It was listed as a National Historic Landmark in 1974. Memorial Hall
, a Beaux Arts theater built by Hannaford in 1908, is immediately south of Music Hall, and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1978. Since 2005 the area has also been home to the Art Academy of Cincinnati, founded in 1869. Formerly aligned with the Cincinnati Art Museum
, it became an independent college of design in 1998. The Ensemble Theater of Cincinnati and Know Theater are also part of the rich cultural community that has developed around the park and Music Hall.
The combined school retains the name School for the Creative and Performing Arts. Private donors will have a significant and ongoing voice in how the school is operated. According to the Cincinnati Enquirer, the school board approved a plan in 2003 to allow the GCAEC to choose five of the twelve members of the Local School Decision-Making Committee (LSDMC), an independent body that provides oversight for the school, as a condition for continued fund-raising. This private sector oversight has been criticized by union leaders as excluding faculty and staff. The GCAEC began fundraising for an endowment in 2010, and as of 2010, had pledged to contribute at least $150,000 per year to the school.
No plans were announced for the Old Woodward building, but it will likely remain vacant for years. An Ohio School Facilities Assessment in 2002 reported that it is "very attractive architecturally and merits any means required to preserve it", and that residential units would be the best use. State laws could restrict options for selling it, and a major redevelopment project, while attractive to private developers, would be prohibitively expensive.
As a magnet school founded to promote school integration, racial and economic diversity have been important factors in admissions decisions. The student body was 52.1 percent black, 41.7 percent low income, and 7.7 percent disabled in 2009–10. In 2007, in response to a US Supreme Court decision prohibiting racial criteria for assigning students to public schools, CPS eliminated race and gender as determining factors in magnet school admissions. School officials insist this will have little impact, despite parent concerns that the decision will erode diversity.
The program stresses discipline and performance. There are no appreciation courses; the curriculum emphasizes that arts appreciation grows from practicing an art. The interrelation of the arts is also stressed. All students take at least one course in each major area. A dancer, for example, will be required to study visual art, drama, and music.
The visual arts program includes drawing, painting, photography, sculpting, digital art, and art history. The program is highly structured, emphasizing technique and control over free expression, which has attracted criticism from the local art community. Art students receive individualized instruction, participate in art exhibits and competitions, undertake commissioned work, and work at in-house galleries and off-site exhibits. Most art majors take Advanced Placement art courses by the end of their sophomore year, and many attend pre-college programs at major universities between their high school years.
The drama program stresses technique and performance; students must perform in public at least twice a year. There are three major dramatic productions each season, and high school students are required to compete in the English Speaking Union Shakespeare Contest. Advanced students audition for the Acting Ensemble Company, which provides a full season of performances in venues outside the school. The creative writing program focuses on writing as an art in journalism, script writing, poetry, and creative non-fiction. Students participate in writing competitions, internships, and develop portfolios to showcase their work.
The dance program was founded on the training principles of the "most famous dance schools of Europe", which emphasize body training. All dancers are required to study ballet, but may also learn modern dance, jazz, tap, and other forms of dance. There are nine levels of ballet, and students begin intensive training in fourth grade. Dance classes meet for at least two 45-minute periods every day; advanced students may train for three or more. Dance Ensemble, selected by audition, stages public performances throughout the year.
The instrumental music program offers specializations in orchestra, band, piano, jazz, percussion, and harp. Students major in an instrument and specialized training begins in grade four. Advanced students take private lessons, arranged by the school, and have master classes with guest instructors from the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. Vocal music students audition to perform in one of 13 vocal performance groups. High school students may audition for the most selective of these, "13th & Broadway", which performs throughout the region.
The technical theater program offers college-level training in stage management
, lighting
, sound
, and set
and costume design
. Each specialty has a lab for students to develop concepts and practice technique, and students work side-by-side with professional trades people in their chosen field.
Student present to the faculty of their major department twice a year in a "proficiency review" to assess their progress. It is a learning experience for younger students, but students in grades 7–12 who fail to attain a passing rating are placed on probation and must pass their subsequent review to be allowed to continue in that major. Students must audition if they wish to change majors for the following year.
The highlight of the performance season is a major musical production which is an important source of revenue for the school. There are two ballets each year: The Nutcracker
in the winter and a piece from repertoire in the spring. The technical and production aspects of performances are handled entirely by students, a level of responsibility the school claims is unusual even among arts schools. Strict racial balance is maintained in all school performances through "non-traditional casting", in which the race of each lead role alternates in each production.
SCPA students and faculty have performed with professional companies and in major venues including Carnegie Hall
and the Kennedy Center. Students are selected to perform with every major local arts company, including the Cincinnati Opera, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park
, and the Cincinnati Ballet
, and appear in local television programs and commercials. SCPA students have performed on PBS
with the Cincinnati Pops and toured with Broadway productions including 42nd Street
and The King and I
. Students on tour continue their studies at "set school" and rejoin their classmates when they return.
SCPA students are encouraged to compete in arts competitions at all levels, including international contests like the World Piano Competition and the American High School Theater Festival in Edinburgh
. Honors since 2008 have included first place in the Ohioana Robert Fox Award for Young Writers, a bronze medal at the Cincinnati World Piano Competition, top honors at the Days of International Choir Music Competition, and the 2008 Cincinnati Arts Association Overture Award in Visual Art.
). On the Ohio Department of Education 2009–2010 School Year Report card, SCPA was designated "Effective" and Schiel was designated "Excellent." Ninety percent of graduating seniors continue on to college, and those students receive one of the highest levels of scholarship funding in the city. In 2007, the 98 graduating seniors received a combined $7.1 million in scholarships and SCPA averaged $72,449 per student, the third most of any public or private school in Cincinnati.
(for grades ten to twelve) and National Junior Honor Society (for grades seven through nine) are by invitation only to students who demonstrate outstanding achievement, service, leadership, and citizenship.
German, French, and Spanish clubs are open to all students and plan language-related activities. The Astronomy Club for Girls for fourth through sixth graders takes advantage of the nearby Cincinnati Observatory
to explore astronomy. The Brain Bowl team, also for fourth through sixth graders, participates in academic competitions. Students Involved in Fostering Tolerance (SIFT) works to promote tolerance and diversity through awareness field trips and fundraisers.
Student publications include the yearbook
, 1310 Address of the Arts, a monthly newspaper published by the Creative Writing department, but open to contributions by all students, and Pandora's Backpages, a full-color magazine featuring creative writing, visual art and musical compositions by students, faculty, and alumni.
The school competes athletically in Cincinnati's Independent conference in boys' and girls' basketball, boys' baseball, and girls' softball. Intramural sports are open to all high school students.
A reflective stainless steel panel with a diapering
pattern curves around the L-shaped building and an "urban curve" of zinc wraps the main theater at the front of the building, contrasting with the brick walls of the school, the design and materials of which reflect those used in the building's neighborhood. The box office is a red, smokestack-shaped structure that projects a beam of light up into the sky. The four-story, disabled accessible
building of 250000 sq ft (23,225.8 m²) combines arts and academic spaces on each floor, arranged by grade, with the youngest students on the lowest floor. The main entrance features student sculptures selected by contest. An "Avenue of the Arts", with gallery space for more student artwork, links the 750-seat main Corbett Theater, the 350-seat Mayerson Theater, and a 120-seat black box theater
. The Corbett Theater has an 80 feet (24.4 m) stage, a hydraulically operated orchestra pit
, and is acoustically isolated from the rest of the building. An outdoor amphitheater is also planned.
The music facilities include rooms for band, orchestra, jazz ensemble, and vocal music, along with a music library, a grand piano studio, and twelve soundproof practice rooms. Other arts-specific spaces include specialized drama rooms, four rooms for painting and sculpture, and a photography studio with adjoining darkroom. The technical theater
facilities include labs for lighting and sound engineering, as well as costume, scenery, and stage prop shops. The main 5500 sq ft (511 m²) gymnasium is augmented by a fitness center and six multipurpose spaces for gym and dance. Academic facilities include four project labs, two chemistry rooms, two biology rooms, and a 4300 sq ft (399.5 m²) library, with 45 academic classrooms designed around flexible "extended learning areas" where students from different classes can study in groups.
, Kung Fu Panda
, Robin Hood
and the Emmy-nominated miniseries Sleeper Cell and Todd Louiso
, director of Love Liza
and actor in Apollo 13
, High Fidelity
and other films.
Emmy- and Golden Globe-winning Sex and the City
star Sarah Jessica Parker
attended SCPA, as did four-time Emmy nominee Rebecca Budig
of soap opera Guiding Light
, Emmy-nominated Chicago Hope
and NCIS
star Rocky Carroll
, film and TV actor Jeff Sams
, and Baywatch
actress Carmen Electra
.
Nick Lachey
, Drew Lachey
, and Justin Jeffre of the multi-platinum album group 98 Degrees
graduated from SCPA, as did Canadian Jazz Vocalist of the Year nominee George Evans, Broadway star Ron Bommer, and nationally known Obama impersonator Iman Crosson
.
Magnet school
In education in the United States, magnet schools are public schools with specialized courses or curricula. "Magnet" refers to how the schools draw students from across the normal boundaries defined by authorities as school zones that feed into certain schools.There are magnet schools at the...
arts school in Cincinnati, Ohio
Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, and part of the Cincinnati Public Schools (CPS). SCPA was founded in 1973 as one of the first magnet schools in Cincinnati and became the first school in the country to combine a full range of arts studies with a complete college-preparatory
University-preparatory school
A university-preparatory school or college-preparatory school is a secondary school, usually private, designed to prepare students for a college or university education...
academic program for elementary through high school students. Of the approximately 350 arts schools in the United States, SCPA is one of the oldest and has been cited as a model for both racial integration
Racial integration
Racial integration, or simply integration includes desegregation . In addition to desegregation, integration includes goals such as leveling barriers to association, creating equal opportunity regardless of race, and the development of a culture that draws on diverse traditions, rather than merely...
and for arts programs in over 100 cities.
SCPA had three different homes in its first four years, including a makeshift campus in the Mount Adams neighborhood and another in Roselawn. In 1976, it occupied the Old Woodward High School
Woodward High School (Cincinnati, Ohio)
Woodward High School is a public high school located in the Bond Hill neighborhood of Cincinnati, Ohio. It is part of the Cincinnati Public School District.-Old Woodward Building :Woodward was one of the first public schools in the country...
building, on the site of one of the oldest public schools in the country. The school rose to national prominence in the 1980s, but was nearly closed in the 1990s following a series of scandals, leadership struggles, and an arson fire which destroyed the auditorium. Its reputation recovered in the years that followed and in 2009–10, the school was featured in the MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
reality series Taking the Stage
Taking the Stage
Taking the Stage is a musical reality show set at the School for Creative and Performing Arts in Cincinnati, Ohio. It is produced by Nick Lachey, a SCPA alumnnus, for MTV. The first season chronicled the lives of five high school students and their friends as they train for careers in the arts...
, filmed at the school and featuring SCPA students. In 2010 SCPA combined with the Schiel Primary School for Arts Enrichment to create the first kindergarten
Kindergarten
A kindergarten is a preschool educational institution for children. The term was created by Friedrich Fröbel for the play and activity institute that he created in 1837 in Bad Blankenburg as a social experience for children for their transition from home to school...
through twelfth grade
Twelfth grade
Twelfth grade or Senior year, or Grade Twelve, are the North American names for the final year of secondary school. In most countries students then graduate at age 17 or 18. In some countries, there is a thirteenth grade, while other countries do not have a 12th grade/year at all...
(about ages five to seventeen) arts school and first private sector/public arts school in the US. A new facility in Over-the-Rhine
Over-the-Rhine
Over-the-Rhine, sometimes shortened to OTR, is a neighborhood in Cincinnati, Ohio. It is believed to be the largest, most intact urban historic district in the United States. Over-the-Rhine was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1983 with 943 contributing buildings...
was championed by the late Cincinnati Pops Maestro
Maestro
Maestro is a title of extreme respect given to a master musician. The term is most commonly used in the context of Western classical music and opera. This is associated with the ubiquitous use of Italian vocabulary for classical music terms...
Erich Kunzel
Erich Kunzel
Erich Kunzel, Jr. was an American orchestra conductor. Called the "Prince of Pops" by the Chicago Tribune, he performed with a number of leading pops and symphony orchestras, especially the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra , which he led for over 44 years.-Early life and career:Kunzel was born to...
and funded through a unique public-private partnership that raised over $31 million in private contributions to match public funding. The building features specialized facilities for the arts and three separate theaters and is the key to redevelopment plans for the area.
Students must audition for admission; fewer than 20 percent of those who apply each year are accepted. SCPA is free to CPS students but also attracts tuition-paying students from outside the district and the state. The newly combined school will serve approximately 1,300 students in 2010, offering a curriculum designed to prepare students for professional careers in creative writing
Creative writing
Creative writing is considered to be any writing, fiction, poetry, or non-fiction, that goes outside the bounds of normal professional, journalistic, academic, and technical forms of literature. Works which fall into this category include novels, epics, short stories, and poems...
, dance
Dance
Dance is an art form that generally refers to movement of the body, usually rhythmic and to music, used as a form of expression, social interaction or presented in a spiritual or performance setting....
, drama
Drama
Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance. The term comes from a Greek word meaning "action" , which is derived from "to do","to act" . The enactment of drama in theatre, performed by actors on a stage before an audience, presupposes collaborative modes of production and a...
, music
Music
Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...
, technical theater
Stagecraft
Stagecraft is a generic term referring to the technical aspects of theatrical, film, and video production. It includes, but is not limited to, constructing and rigging scenery, hanging and focusing of lighting, design and procurement of costumes, makeup, procurement of props, stage management, and...
, and visual art
Visual arts
The visual arts are art forms that create works which are primarily visual in nature, such as ceramics, drawing, painting, sculpture, printmaking, design, crafts, and often modern visual arts and architecture...
. The emphasis is on performance, and students in every field are required to perform or present their work in public regularly. Students compete successfully in arts competitions locally and internationally. On standardized test
Standardized test
A standardized test is a test that is administered and scored in a consistent, or "standard", manner. Standardized tests are designed in such a way that the questions, conditions for administering, scoring procedures, and interpretations are consistent and are administered and scored in a...
s, SCPA ranks second among Cincinnati public schools. Ninety percent of graduating seniors continue on to college, and those students receive one of the highest levels of scholarship funding in the city. A limited number of extracurricular activities are offered, as students are expected to commit significant after-school time to training and performance. SCPA has produced notable graduates in a wide range of artistic fields, including award-winning actors, singers, directors and technicians.
Background
The School for Creative and Performing Arts arose, in part, as a response to the recurring desegregationDesegregation
Desegregation is the process of ending the separation of two groups usually referring to races. This is most commonly used in reference to the United States. Desegregation was long a focus of the American Civil Rights Movement, both before and after the United States Supreme Court's decision in...
battles in the Cincinnati Public Schools (CPS) in the late 1960s and early 1970s. In a 1965 civil rights suit, the city prevailed when a federal judge found that the schools were not intentionally segregated, but that "the racial composition of each school is simply a result of the racial composition of the neighborhoods which they serve". By 1971, Cincinnati's neighborhoods and schools had grown more segregated and the Supreme Court of the United States
Supreme Court of the United States
The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest court in the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all state and federal courts, and original jurisdiction over a small range of cases...
upheld forced busing as a remedy for school segregation in other cities.
Desiring to avoid such drastic remedies for Cincinnati, newly appointed Superintendent Dr. Donald Waldrip pushed forward a program of alternative schools
Magnet school
In education in the United States, magnet schools are public schools with specialized courses or curricula. "Magnet" refers to how the schools draw students from across the normal boundaries defined by authorities as school zones that feed into certain schools.There are magnet schools at the...
(later called magnet schools), designed "to calm the desires of parents for academic choice and to stem the demands of federal judges for court-ordered desegregation." The theory behind alternative schools was open enrollment
School choice
School choice is a term used to describe a wide array of programs aimed at giving families the opportunity to choose the school their children will attend. As a matter of form, school choice does not give preference to one form of schooling or another, rather manifests itself whenever a student...
: students could attend any alternative school they chose at no cost, so long as an even racial balance at the new school was maintained. So far as possible, students were admitted to these programs on a one white for one black basis. The School for Creative and Performing Arts was the first alternative school in what would become one of the largest and most robust magnet programs in the country.
In 1965, Robert McSpadden and Bill Dickinson, both music teachers in the Cincinnati Public Schools, founded the Cincinnati All-City Boy Choir, where they were struck by how the discipline they established for the boys in the choir carried over into their academic studies. They conceived the idea of a school where basic education was combined with intensive attention to children with artistic talents. With the support of Waldrip and Tom Murray, director for the west-central division of Cincinnati elementary schools, they pushed for $119,000 as part of a tax levy referendum in May 1973; the measure was defeated. The school was approved with a drastically reduced budget of $27,000 plus $9,850 from the Board of Education’s general fund. They turned to private funding and won a $292,000 grant from J. Ralph Corbett, one of the city's foremost philanthropists for the arts, and $24,500 for a piano lab from the Baldwin Piano Company
Baldwin Piano Company
The Baldwin Piano Company was the largest US-based manufacturer of keyboard instruments, most notably pianos. It remains a subsidiary of the Gibson Guitar Corporation, although it ceased domestic production of pianos in December 2008.-History:...
, which had manufactured pianos in Cincinnati since 1891.
The School for Creative and Performing Arts opened in August 1973, as the only grade four
Fourth grade
Fourth grade is a year of education in the United States and many other nations. The fourth grade is the fourth school year after kindergarten. Students are usually 9 or 10 years old, depending on their birthday. It is a part of elementary school. In some parts of the United States, fourth grade...
through six
Sixth grade
Sixth grade is a year of education in the United States and some other nations. The sixth grade is the sixth school year after kindergarten. Students are usually 11 – 12 years old...
school for the performing arts in the country and the first public school that combined all of the arts in a single program. The curriculum included art, instrumental
Instrumental
An instrumental is a musical composition or recording without lyrics or singing, although it might include some non-articulate vocal input; the music is primarily or exclusively produced by musical instruments....
music, choral music
Choir
A choir, chorale or chorus is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform.A body of singers who perform together as a group is called a choir or chorus...
, dance and drama, and was not organized strictly by grade, but permitted students to advance as soon as their abilities allowed. Murray explained:
Fourth through sixth grades will be together in classes. Teaching will often be done in teams. Art students will design scenery for plays, written by drama students. Music pupils will supply the music. They work together regardless of age. In reading classes they will read according to their own individual levels. A brilliant music student, capable of interpreting Beethoven's wildest dreams, might stumble on fifth level reading. This does not make him a dunce simply a slow reader.
Founding in Mount Adams (1973–1975)
Cincinnati Magazine
Cincinnati Magazine is a monthly lifestyle magazine concerning life in and about Cincinnati, Ohio.It was created by the Greater Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce in 1967. It was then purchased by CM Media in 1981....
as "a quaint village of imaginative, arty residents, unusual shops and restaurants, and historic buildings" and overlooking downtown Cincinnati and the Ohio River
Ohio River
The Ohio River is the largest tributary, by volume, of the Mississippi River. At the confluence, the Ohio is even bigger than the Mississippi and, thus, is hydrologically the main stream of the whole river system, including the Allegheny River further upstream...
, Mount Adams had been home to the Art Academy of Cincinnati
Art Academy of Cincinnati
The Art Academy of Cincinnati is a private college of art and design, accredited by the National Association of Schools of Art and Design, in Cincinnati, Ohio...
(the museum school of the Cincinnati Art Museum
Cincinnati Art Museum
The Cincinnati Art Museum is one of the oldest art museums in the United States. Founded in 1881, it was the first purpose-built art museum west of the Alleghenies. Its collection of over 60,000 works make it one of the most comprehensive collections in the Midwest.Museum founders debated locating...
) since 1887, and was a "mecca for students and teachers of art". The Mount Adams School was nearly defunct, with fewer than 80 students remaining. Fifty of those children, ranging from kindergarten
Kindergarten
A kindergarten is a preschool educational institution for children. The term was created by Friedrich Fröbel for the play and activity institute that he created in 1837 in Bad Blankenburg as a social experience for children for their transition from home to school...
(around age five) to third grade
Third grade
In the United States, third grade is a year of primary education. It is the third school year after kindergarten. Students are usually 8 – 9 years old, depending on when their birthday occurs....
(around age eight) remained alongside the new SCPA. A dozen of the Mount Adams middle school
Middle school
Middle School and Junior High School are levels of schooling between elementary and high schools. Most school systems use one term or the other, not both. The terms are not interchangeable...
students were accepted into the new program, along with the 140 other fourth through sixth grade pupils selected from schools around the city by audition.
By 1974, SCPA had 332 students, with 500 on the waiting list, and had overflowed into rented space in the surrounding neighborhood, including three rooms at the nearby Holy Cross School, two rooms at the community center two blocks away, and large room for drama above Mike's Meat Market across the street. Students practiced instruments in hallways and restrooms, and the library was in the middle of the second floor hall. Student productions were held in other schools around the city, and the first major musical, Babes in Toyland
Babes in Toyland (operetta)
Babes in Toyland is an operetta composed by Victor Herbert with a libretto by Glen MacDonough , which wove together various characters from Mother Goose nursery rhymes into a Christmas-themed musical extravaganza. The creators wanted to cash in on the extraordinary success of The Wizard of Oz,...
, was performed at Education Center downtown. With plans to expand to ninth grade
Ninth grade
Ninth grade is the ninth post-kindergarten year of school education in some school systems. The students are 13 to 15 years of age, depending on when their birthday occurs. Depending on the school district, ninth grade is usually the first year of high school....
(around age 14) and 540 students in 1975, and to twelfth grade
Twelfth grade
Twelfth grade or Senior year, or Grade Twelve, are the North American names for the final year of secondary school. In most countries students then graduate at age 17 or 18. In some countries, there is a thirteenth grade, while other countries do not have a 12th grade/year at all...
(around age 17) and 1,400 students in 1977, a new facility had to be found. Waldrip proposed the school move to the Old Woodward school building, then home of Abigail Cutter Junior High School, in Over-the-Rhine
Over-the-Rhine
Over-the-Rhine, sometimes shortened to OTR, is a neighborhood in Cincinnati, Ohio. It is believed to be the largest, most intact urban historic district in the United States. Over-the-Rhine was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1983 with 943 contributing buildings...
, a predominantly African-American area near downtown. Neighborhood resistance was strong and opponents, arguing that "the school administration was trying to avoid problems of integration by moving an alternative school to Cutter and transferring Cutter students elsewhere", blocked the plan.
Councilwoman Bobbie Stern proposed the school move to Cincinnati Union Terminal
Cincinnati Museum Center at Union Terminal
The Cincinnati Museum Center at Union Terminal, originally Cincinnati Union Terminal, is a passenger railroad station in the Queensgate neighborhood of Cincinnati, Ohio, United States...
, a National Historic Landmark
National Historic Landmark
A National Historic Landmark is a building, site, structure, object, or district, that is officially recognized by the United States government for its historical significance...
which the Historic American Buildings Survey
Historic American Buildings Survey
The Historic American Buildings Survey , Historic American Engineering Record , and Historic American Landscapes Survey are programs of the National Park Service established for the purpose of documenting historic places. Records consists of measured drawings, archival photographs, and written...
called "a unique and monumental manifestation of Art Deco
Art Deco
Art deco , or deco, is an eclectic artistic and design style that began in Paris in the 1920s and flourished internationally throughout the 1930s, into the World War II era. The style influenced all areas of design, including architecture and interior design, industrial design, fashion and...
architecture and interior decoration", noted for its mosaic murals depicting the history of Cincinnati and its rotunda
Rotunda (architecture)
A rotunda is any building with a circular ground plan, sometimes covered by a dome. It can also refer to a round room within a building . The Pantheon in Rome is a famous rotunda. A Band Rotunda is a circular bandstand, usually with a dome...
, 106 feet (32.3 m) high and 110 feet (33.5 m) long, the largest semi-dome
Semi-dome
A semi-dome, also called a "half-dome", is the term in architecture for half a dome , used to cover a semi-circular area. Similar structures occur in nature.-Architecture:...
in the western hemisphere. The facility, vacant since it was abandoned by Amtrak
Amtrak
The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak , is a government-owned corporation that was organized on May 1, 1971, to provide intercity passenger train service in the United States. "Amtrak" is a portmanteau of the words "America" and "track". It is headquartered at Union...
in 1972, was to house the school, a maintenance facility for the Queen City Metro
Southwest Ohio Regional Transit Authority
Southwest Ohio Regional Transit Authority , is the public transport agency serving Cincinnati, Ohio and its suburbs. The agency operates transit bus services under the name Metro...
transit service, and a new rail terminal for Amtrak. The plan was approved in April 1975 and was due for completion for the 1976 school year.
Transition in Roselawn (1975–1976)
Temporary space was needed in the interim, and the school relocated its 550 fourth through ninth grade students to rented space in Roselawn, the epicenter of Cincinnati's Jewish Community. The school was divided between two buildings, the Yavneh Day SchoolYavneh Day School (Cincinnati, Ohio)
Yavneh Day School located in Cincinnati, Ohio is an independent private K-6 Jewish day school that caters to all Jewish denominations and to affiliated as well as unaffiliated Jewish families...
building at 1636 Summit Road and the nearby Jewish Community Center. The Yavneh Day school, founded in 1952 by parents who wanted to combine secular and Jewish education for their children, moved to Roselawn in 1958 but had outgrown that facility. The school had no lockers; students carried their belongings between buildings. Lunches were delivered from another school and served at a nearby church.
Dickinson became principal in 1975, and worked to fully integrate the arts into the academic program. "Academics don't end when art, drama or music classes begin," he said, "but blend, in an interdisciplinary approach to education." Music study included acoustics and the history and architecture of important musical periods; art history was part of the art curriculum and anatomy and physiology were studied in the dance program. The school was recognized with The Cincinnati Post
The Cincinnati Post
The Cincinnati Post is a discontinued afternoon daily newspaper that was published in Cincinnati, Ohio. Distributed in Northern Kentucky as The Kentucky Post, it was owned by the E. W. Scripps Company. Since the 1980s, its editorial stance was usually conservative. The Post published its final...
's Corbett Award in 1976 as "the arts organization making an outstanding contribution to the community".
The Union Terminal project was derailed when the three prospective tenants failed to agree on how to share the space. Having outgrown its temporary facilities, SCPA was again forced to find a new home for the following year. After examining options including the historic Rockdale Temple
Rockdale Temple
The Rockdale Temple, K.K. Bene Israel, is the oldest Jewish congregation west of the Allegheny Mountains, the oldest congregation in Ohio, the second oldest Ashkenazi congregation in the United States and one of the oldest synagogues in the United States...
and two schools slated to be closed in the city's West End, the school board once again settled on the Old Woodward building, over the objections of the community.
Old Woodward and national attention (1976–1990)
SCPA's new home was in the heart of Pendleton district in Over-the-Rhine. One of the largest German-American neighborhoods in the United States in the 19th century and a famed entertainment district at that time, Over-the-Rhine had declined into an impoverished and crime-ridden enclave for migrant AppalachiaAppalachia
Appalachia is a term used to describe a cultural region in the eastern United States that stretches from the Southern Tier of New York state to northern Alabama, Mississippi, and Georgia. While the Appalachian Mountains stretch from Belle Isle in Canada to Cheaha Mountain in the U.S...
ns in the 20th century. By 1970, a combination of white flight
White flight
White flight has been a term that originated in the United States, starting in the mid-20th century, and applied to the large-scale migration of whites of various European ancestries from racially mixed urban regions to more racially homogeneous suburban or exurban regions. It was first seen as...
and the destruction of surrounding slums had transformed the area into Cincinnati's most infamous ghetto. It is one of the largest, most intact urban historic districts in the United States and the most dangerous neighborhood in Cincinnati. The school, with its 650 students, moved into this historic but blighted neighborhood, and its Old Woodward School building at 1310 Sycamore Street.
Woodward was one of the oldest public schools in the country, founded as the Woodward Free Grammar School in 1831; it was named for William Woodward, a local tanner who donated the land to provide, in his words, "facilities to educate the children of persons who could not afford the expense of private schooling". The building was replaced once in 1855, and again in 1907 when President William Howard Taft
William Howard Taft
William Howard Taft was the 27th President of the United States and later the tenth Chief Justice of the United States...
, who graduated from Woodward in 1874, laid the cornerstone of the current building; it opened in 1910. The site is linked to the Underground Railroad
Underground Railroad
The Underground Railroad was an informal network of secret routes and safe houses used by 19th-century black slaves in the United States to escape to free states and Canada with the aid of abolitionists and allies who were sympathetic to their cause. The term is also applied to the abolitionists,...
, an informal network of secret routes and safe houses used by 19th-century black slaves in the United States; Levi Coffin
Levi Coffin
Levi Coffin was an American Quaker, abolitionist, and businessman. Coffin was deeply involved in the Underground Railroad in Indiana and Ohio and his home is often called "Grand Central Station of the Underground Railroad"...
(known as "The President of the Underground Railroad") had a home there from 1856 to 1863. The five-story brick, stone, and terra cotta
Terra cotta
Terracotta, Terra cotta or Terra-cotta is a clay-based unglazed ceramic, although the term can also be applied to glazed ceramics where the fired body is porous and red in color...
building is 225000 sq ft (20,903.2 m²) and was designed by Gustav Brach, was considered "an architectural gem" in its time, with some of the most modern facilities of its day, including flush toilets, central heating, and two swimming pools. It is graced with 12 rare Rookwood Pottery
Rookwood Pottery Company
Rookwood Pottery is an American ceramics company now located in the Mount Adams neighborhood in Cincinnati, Ohio. Founded in 1880, and successful until the Great Depression, production has been intermittent and at a low level since 1967, though there was a change of ownership in 2006, and expansion...
drinking fountains from the early 1900s, gifts of the Art League, founded in 1895, which raised dues from students who would then vote on works of art to buy for the school. The building is part of the Over-the-Rhine National Register Historic District
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
, which encompasses 362.5 acre of the original German community and adjoins the Sycamore – 13th Street Historic District, which reflects the significant architecture associated with middle and late 19th century Greek Revival, Queen Anne
Queen Anne Style architecture (United States)
In America, the Queen Anne style of architecture, furniture and decorative arts was popular in the United States from 1880 to 1910. In American usage "Queen Anne" is loosely used of a wide range of picturesque buildings with "free Renaissance" details rather than of a specific formulaic style in...
, and Italianate styles.
Woodward High School moved to a new facility in Bond Hill in 1953, and the building became Abigail Cutter Junior High School (also known as Cutter), named for William Woodward's wife. SCPA occupied the fourth floor in 1976, and the entire building in 1977, displacing the Cutter students to other public schools. It graduated its first class in 1979, becoming the first elementary through grade twelve arts program in the country. The first so-called "survivors", who began in fourth grade, graduated in 1982.
SCPA continued to attract national attention, and as a local TV special reported, "educators from all over the country flock[ed] to Cincinnati to see how, and why, it works." In 1981, SCPA was invited to perform The Wiz
The Wiz
The Wiz: The Super Soul Musical "Wonderful Wizard of Oz" is a musical with music and lyrics by Charlie Smalls and book by William F. Brown. It is a retelling of L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz in the context of African American culture. It opened on October 21, 1974 at the Morris A...
at the National Theatre
National Theatre (Washington, D.C.)
The National Theatre is located in Washington, D.C., and is a venue for a variety of live stage productions with seating for 1,676.Despite its name, it is not a governmentally funded national theatre, but operated by a private, non-profit organization....
in Washington, DC, the "Theatre of the Presidents" and oldest major touring house in the country, becoming the first non-professional group to perform there since it opened in 1835. SCPA student Roscoe (Rocky) Carroll
Rocky Carroll
Roscoe "Rocky" Carroll is an American actor. He is known for his roles as Joey Emerson on the FOX comedy-drama Roc, as Dr. Keith Wilkes on the medical drama Chicago Hope, and as Leon Vance on the CBS drama NCIS and its spinoff NCIS: Los Angeles.-Early life:Carroll was born Roscoe Fulton Carroll...
won the 1981 National Endowment for the Arts
National Endowment for the Arts
The National Endowment for the Arts is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created by an act of the U.S. Congress in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal government. Its current...
Talent Search in drama and became a Presidential Scholar
Presidential Scholars Program
The United States Presidential Scholars Program is the highest possible honor for graduating high school seniors in the United States of America....
in the Arts. The school received the Blue Ribbon School
Blue Ribbon Schools Program
The Blue Ribbon Schools Program is a United States government program created in 1981 to honor schools which have achieved high levels of performance or significant improvements with emphasis on schools serving disadvantaged students. The program centers around a self-assessment conducted by the...
of the United States Department of Education
United States Department of Education
The United States Department of Education, also referred to as ED or the ED for Education Department, is a Cabinet-level department of the United States government...
in 1984 and the National Secondary School Merit Award in 1985. By 1985, it had been credited as the model for arts schools in 100 cities in the US, Europe, and Asia, and had been cited in textbooks as a model of excellence in school integration.
The school relied heavily on donations, which made up over ten percent of the total budget. The Friends of SCPA (commonly known as The Friends), a nonprofit organization led by parents and members of the business and arts communities, had been a vital source of funding since the school's inception. In 1984, The Friends raised over $400,000 to pay the salaries of the artistic director, technical director, costume designer, and dance, strings, and production teachers. In later years, The Friends raised up to $1 million each year through special events, corporate gifts and sponsorships, advertising sales, and other programs to support the artistic needs of the school including staff salaries, production expenses, scholarships for private lessons, and artists in residence.
Controversy and comeback (1991–2009)
Scandal erupted when founding principal Dickinson resigned in 1991, citing health reasons, while under investigation for alleged improper contact with students off school grounds; no charges were ever filed. He was succeeded by Dr. Rosalyn England, former principal of Central VPA High School in St. Louis. Controversy continued and between 1992 and 1995, two teachers confessed to having or attempting to have sex with students and two more were investigated for allegations of sexual misconduct. In 1992, open conflict with England led to the departure of original Artistic Director Jack Louiso, whom Dickinson had called "the 'life-blood' of the school's artistic endeavors". The artistic program would remain in upheaval; four more artistic directors would come and go under England. The controversies took a toll; applications suffered, teachers departed, financial support dwindled and the quality of the productions declined. By 1996, enrollment had fallen from nearly 1,200 to 956.In April 1996, an arson fire destroyed the school's auditorium, causing over $1 million of damage; it was a turning point for a school then dangerously close to closure. The culprit was never identified. Erich Kunzel
Erich Kunzel
Erich Kunzel, Jr. was an American orchestra conductor. Called the "Prince of Pops" by the Chicago Tribune, he performed with a number of leading pops and symphony orchestras, especially the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra , which he led for over 44 years.-Early life and career:Kunzel was born to...
, long time Maestro
Maestro
Maestro is a title of extreme respect given to a master musician. The term is most commonly used in the context of Western classical music and opera. This is associated with the ubiquitous use of Italian vocabulary for classical music terms...
of the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra
Cincinnati Pops Orchestra
The Cincinnati Pops Orchestra is a pops orchestra based in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States, founded in 1977 out of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. Its members are also the members of the Cincinnati Symphony, and the Pops is managed by the same administration...
and nationally renowned as "the Prince of Pops
Pops orchestra
A pops orchestra is an orchestra that plays popular music and show tunes as well as well-known classical works. Pops orchestras are generally organised in large cities and are distinct from the more "highbrow" symphony or philharmonic orchestras which also may exist in the same city...
", announced his vision for a new SCPA campus near Cincinnati Music Hall, which would be part of an arts and education complex that would help revitalize Over-the-Rhine. A campaign was launched that, over the following 13 years, raised funds and made plans for the new facility.
England abruptly retired in 1997 and was replaced by Jeff Brokamp, who had been principal of the Crest Hills Year-Round School, which had won awards for its all-year curriculum. Brokamp, with no previous arts experience, began to turn the school around. A new emphasis on academics, more Advanced Placement courses and more stringent audition standards that admitted only the most dedicated students led to better test scores and a higher level of artistic talent; Brokamp pushed to expand the school's vocational training programs in photography, stage management, and costume design by 50 percent. Applications to audition more than tripled by 2001 and fund-raising rebounded.
Brokamp resigned and was replaced by Clarence Crum in 2004, who was followed by John Carlisle in 2006. Carlisle went on extended leave in October 2007, pending an investigation into the alleged rape of a former student off school grounds. Carlisle denied the accusation and no criminal charges were filed. He resigned in March 2008. According to Cincinnati Magazine, the "scandal launched rumors and confusion" and "the revolving door of school administrators" took a toll on faculty and student morale. Carlisle was replaced by Dr. Jonathan Futch, formerly Assistant Principal at Withrow High School.
Taking the Stage (2009–2010)
Taking the Stage
Taking the Stage is a musical reality show set at the School for Creative and Performing Arts in Cincinnati, Ohio. It is produced by Nick Lachey, a SCPA alumnnus, for MTV. The first season chronicled the lives of five high school students and their friends as they train for careers in the arts...
, a "musical reality" TV series set at SCPA, premiered on MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
in March 2009. The series, co-created and co-produced by SCPA graduate Nick Lachey
Nick Lachey
Nicholas Scott "Nick" Lachey is an American singer, songwriter, actor, producer and television personality. Lachey rose to fame as a member of the boy band 98 Degrees. He later starred in the reality television series Newlyweds: Nick and Jessica with his then-wife, Jessica Simpson. He has released...
, was a dramatized depiction of life at the school. The show chronicled the lives of five real SCPA high school students and their friends in their careers at SCPA. Each episode featured original music and choreography by the students themselves, performed at the school and other locations in Over-the-Rhine.
The first season, which premiered on March 19, 2009, was the number one primetime cable telecast among females 12–24 years old and one of the top four among all viewers 12–34 years old. The second season began filming at the school in 2009, and first aired on January 16, 2010. The show was cut from one hour to 30 minutes and focused on new transfer students instead of current SCPA students, leading some students and parents to complain that the admission process had been compromised. The school denied the claim.
It ran for 16 episodes, through April 15, 2010. In May 2010, MTV announced there would be no third season.
The school was paid $10,000 for each of the nine episodes in season one and twelve in season two. The show attracted international attention for the school and interest from prospective students around the world; applications for admission increased by 60 percent in 2009.
Washington Park (2010– )
In the aftermath of the 1996 fire, a group of local benefactors led by Kunzel formed the Greater Cincinnati Arts and Education Center (GCAEC) to, in Kunzel's words, "transform the area around Washington Park into a unique arts community that would include a new School for the Creative and Performing Arts." The GCAEC committed $31 million, the Cincinnati Public Schools $34 million, and the State of Ohio $7 million, to combine SCPA with the Schiel Primary School for Arts Enrichment in one building to create the first public kindergarten through twelfth grade arts school in what the GCAEC called the "nationally unprecedented public school system – private sector partnership".Schiel, built in 1911 as an elementary school for the Corryville neighborhood, was converted to a Spanish-language magnet school in 1974 and again to an arts enrichment school in 1985. Schiel students have been admitted by open enrollment on a first-come-first-served basis. With 420 kindergarten through third grade students in 2008 (around ages five through nine), 83 percent of them black, 72 percent economically disadvantaged, it has been the primary feeder school for SCPA, for which Schiel students have been required to audition. Schiel was one of two CPS schools recognized as a Blue Ribbon School in 2010.
The construction plans faced opposition from those in the community who feared the project would displace the Drop Inn Center
Drop Inn Center
The Drop Inn Center is a non-profit agency serving homeless individuals in Cincinnati, Ohio. Their stated mission is to be a "community of residents, staff and volunteers working together to provide basic human services for men & women experiencing homelessness with a primary commitment to...
, the region's largest homeless shelter, and the design was revised to build around it. By 2007, after more than a decade of fund-raising and negotiations, 90 percent of the final $72 million budget had been secured and ground was broken for a new building across from Washington Park in September of that year. The 5.75 acre park, reclaimed from old burial grounds between 1858 and 1863, is lined with trees and benches and features statues of Friedrich Hecker and Robert Latimer McCook
Robert Latimer McCook
Robert Latimer McCook was a general in the Union Army during the American Civil War who was killed by Confederate partisans in Alabama.-Birth and early years:...
, German-American heroes of the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
. As Over-the-Rhine has declined, a significant homeless population has overtaken the area.
The park faces Cincinnati Music Hall, home to the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra
Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra
As the fifth oldest orchestra in the United States, the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra has a legacy of fine music making as reflected in its performances in historic Music Hall, recordings, and international tours...
, Cincinnati Opera
Cincinnati Opera
Cincinnati Opera is an American opera company based in Cincinnati, Ohio and the second oldest opera company in the United States .-History:...
, Cincinnati May Festival
Cincinnati May Festival
The Cincinnati May Festival is a two-week annual choral festival, held during the last two weekends in May in Cincinnati, Ohio, USA. The festival's roots go back to the 1840s, when Saengerfests were held in that city, bringing singers from all over the United States and abroad to perform large...
, and the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra
Cincinnati Pops Orchestra
The Cincinnati Pops Orchestra is a pops orchestra based in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States, founded in 1977 out of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. Its members are also the members of the Cincinnati Symphony, and the Pops is managed by the same administration...
. Designed by Samuel Hannaford
Samuel Hannaford
Samuel Hannaford was an American architect based in Cincinnati, Ohio. Some of the best known landmarks in the city, such as Music Hall and City Hall, were of his design...
, one of Cincinnati's most important architects, and built with private funds in 1878, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
in 1971, noting its "stunning composition in the High Victorian Gothic
Gothic Revival architecture
The Gothic Revival is an architectural movement that began in the 1740s in England...
mode". It was listed as a National Historic Landmark in 1974. Memorial Hall
Hamilton County Memorial Building
The Hamilton County Memorial Building , more commonly called Memorial Hall, is located at Elm & Grant Streets, in Cincinnati, Ohio. The building is next to Cincinnati's...
, a Beaux Arts theater built by Hannaford in 1908, is immediately south of Music Hall, and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1978. Since 2005 the area has also been home to the Art Academy of Cincinnati, founded in 1869. Formerly aligned with the Cincinnati Art Museum
Cincinnati Art Museum
The Cincinnati Art Museum is one of the oldest art museums in the United States. Founded in 1881, it was the first purpose-built art museum west of the Alleghenies. Its collection of over 60,000 works make it one of the most comprehensive collections in the Midwest.Museum founders debated locating...
, it became an independent college of design in 1998. The Ensemble Theater of Cincinnati and Know Theater are also part of the rich cultural community that has developed around the park and Music Hall.
The combined school retains the name School for the Creative and Performing Arts. Private donors will have a significant and ongoing voice in how the school is operated. According to the Cincinnati Enquirer, the school board approved a plan in 2003 to allow the GCAEC to choose five of the twelve members of the Local School Decision-Making Committee (LSDMC), an independent body that provides oversight for the school, as a condition for continued fund-raising. This private sector oversight has been criticized by union leaders as excluding faculty and staff. The GCAEC began fundraising for an endowment in 2010, and as of 2010, had pledged to contribute at least $150,000 per year to the school.
No plans were announced for the Old Woodward building, but it will likely remain vacant for years. An Ohio School Facilities Assessment in 2002 reported that it is "very attractive architecturally and merits any means required to preserve it", and that residential units would be the best use. State laws could restrict options for selling it, and a major redevelopment project, while attractive to private developers, would be prohibitively expensive.
Admission
The school has been criticized as "elitist" for its selective admission policies. Prospective students are evaluated on their artistic sensitivity and potential. Students entering grades four through six are required to audition in every arts major; older students may audition in only the areas they choose. Each applicant performs in front of up to seven teachers in different areas in the day-long process, which is designed to ensure that no student is admitted to a program in which they do not belong. Admission is granted to students scoring 8 out of 10 points in at least one area. On average, 1,700 students apply each year, 1,000 are invited to audition, and 250 are accepted. Attendance is free for Cincinnati Public School students. Ten percent of students come from outside the district—some from outside the state—and pay tuition to attend. Tuition for the 2006–2007 year was $6,309 for out-of-district students and $9,654 for out-of-state students.As a magnet school founded to promote school integration, racial and economic diversity have been important factors in admissions decisions. The student body was 52.1 percent black, 41.7 percent low income, and 7.7 percent disabled in 2009–10. In 2007, in response to a US Supreme Court decision prohibiting racial criteria for assigning students to public schools, CPS eliminated race and gender as determining factors in magnet school admissions. School officials insist this will have little impact, despite parent concerns that the decision will erode diversity.
Arts
The curriculum is designed to prepare students for professional careers in the arts. Each student concentrates in at least one major area: creative writing, dance, drama, music, stagecraft, and visual art. Younger students often concentrate in two or more. High school students are required to specialize and major only in the areas in which they have potential to do professional work. Advanced students study up to two hours each day in their major. Forty percent of the students stay at least two hours after school for rehearsals, private lessons, and productions.The program stresses discipline and performance. There are no appreciation courses; the curriculum emphasizes that arts appreciation grows from practicing an art. The interrelation of the arts is also stressed. All students take at least one course in each major area. A dancer, for example, will be required to study visual art, drama, and music.
The visual arts program includes drawing, painting, photography, sculpting, digital art, and art history. The program is highly structured, emphasizing technique and control over free expression, which has attracted criticism from the local art community. Art students receive individualized instruction, participate in art exhibits and competitions, undertake commissioned work, and work at in-house galleries and off-site exhibits. Most art majors take Advanced Placement art courses by the end of their sophomore year, and many attend pre-college programs at major universities between their high school years.
The drama program stresses technique and performance; students must perform in public at least twice a year. There are three major dramatic productions each season, and high school students are required to compete in the English Speaking Union Shakespeare Contest. Advanced students audition for the Acting Ensemble Company, which provides a full season of performances in venues outside the school. The creative writing program focuses on writing as an art in journalism, script writing, poetry, and creative non-fiction. Students participate in writing competitions, internships, and develop portfolios to showcase their work.
The dance program was founded on the training principles of the "most famous dance schools of Europe", which emphasize body training. All dancers are required to study ballet, but may also learn modern dance, jazz, tap, and other forms of dance. There are nine levels of ballet, and students begin intensive training in fourth grade. Dance classes meet for at least two 45-minute periods every day; advanced students may train for three or more. Dance Ensemble, selected by audition, stages public performances throughout the year.
The instrumental music program offers specializations in orchestra, band, piano, jazz, percussion, and harp. Students major in an instrument and specialized training begins in grade four. Advanced students take private lessons, arranged by the school, and have master classes with guest instructors from the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. Vocal music students audition to perform in one of 13 vocal performance groups. High school students may audition for the most selective of these, "13th & Broadway", which performs throughout the region.
The technical theater program offers college-level training in stage management
Stage management
Stage management is the practice of organizing and coordinating a theatrical production. It encompasses a variety of activities, including organizing the production and coordinating communications between various personnel...
, lighting
Lighting designer
The role of the lighting designer within theatre is to work with the director, choreographer, set designer, costume designer, and sound designer to create an overall 'look' for the show in response to the text, while keeping in mind issues of visibility, safety and cost...
, sound
Sound design
Sound design is the process of specifying, acquiring, manipulating or generating audio elements. It is employed in a variety of disciplines including filmmaking, television production, theatre, sound recording and reproduction, live performance, sound art, post-production and video game software...
, and set
Scenic design
Scenic design is the creation of theatrical, as well as film or television scenery. Scenic designers have traditionally come from a variety of artistic backgrounds, but nowadays, generally speaking, they are trained professionals, often with M.F.A...
and costume design
Costume design
Costume design is the fabrication of apparel for the overall appearance of a character or performer. This usually involves researching, designing and building the actual items from conception. Costumes may be for a theater or cinema performance but may not be limited to such...
. Each specialty has a lab for students to develop concepts and practice technique, and students work side-by-side with professional trades people in their chosen field.
Student present to the faculty of their major department twice a year in a "proficiency review" to assess their progress. It is a learning experience for younger students, but students in grades 7–12 who fail to attain a passing rating are placed on probation and must pass their subsequent review to be allowed to continue in that major. Students must audition if they wish to change majors for the following year.
The highlight of the performance season is a major musical production which is an important source of revenue for the school. There are two ballets each year: The Nutcracker
The Nutcracker
The Nutcracker is a two-act ballet, originally choreographed by Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov with a score by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. The libretto is adapted from E.T.A. Hoffmann's story "The Nutcracker and the Mouse King". It was given its première at the Mariinsky Theatre in St...
in the winter and a piece from repertoire in the spring. The technical and production aspects of performances are handled entirely by students, a level of responsibility the school claims is unusual even among arts schools. Strict racial balance is maintained in all school performances through "non-traditional casting", in which the race of each lead role alternates in each production.
SCPA students and faculty have performed with professional companies and in major venues including Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States, located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park....
and the Kennedy Center. Students are selected to perform with every major local arts company, including the Cincinnati Opera, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park
Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park
The was founded in 1959 by college student Gerald Covell and was one of the first regional theatres in the United States. Located in Eden Park, the first play that premiered at the Playhouse on October 10, 1960, was Meyer Levin's Compulsion...
, and the Cincinnati Ballet
Cincinnati Ballet
The Cincinnati Ballet is a professional ballet company founded in 1958 in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States. The current artistic director is Victoria Morgan.-Founding:...
, and appear in local television programs and commercials. SCPA students have performed on PBS
Public Broadcasting Service
The Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....
with the Cincinnati Pops and toured with Broadway productions including 42nd Street
42nd Street (musical)
42nd Street is a musical with a book by Michael Stewart and Mark Bramble, lyrics by Al Dubin, and music by Harry Warren. The 1980 Broadway production, directed by an ailing Gower Champion and orchestrated by Philip J. Lang, won the Tony Award for Best Musical and became a long-running hit...
and The King and I
The King and I
The King and I is a stage musical, the fifth by the team of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II. The work is based on the 1944 novel Anna and the King of Siam by Margaret Landon and derives from the memoirs of Anna Leonowens, who became governess to the children of King Mongkut of Siam in...
. Students on tour continue their studies at "set school" and rejoin their classmates when they return.
SCPA students are encouraged to compete in arts competitions at all levels, including international contests like the World Piano Competition and the American High School Theater Festival in Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
. Honors since 2008 have included first place in the Ohioana Robert Fox Award for Young Writers, a bronze medal at the Cincinnati World Piano Competition, top honors at the Days of International Choir Music Competition, and the 2008 Cincinnati Arts Association Overture Award in Visual Art.
Academics
Students are required to complete a standard CPS academic curriculum alongside their arts studies and the school day is 45 minutes longer than other Cincinnati public schools. SCPA ranks first in the district on standardized test scores at the elementary school level. At the high school level, only Walnut Hills High School, Cincinnati's selective public college preparatory magnet, ranks higher. In 2009, the graduation rate was 95.5 percent and the mean score on the ACT, a standardized college admissions test, was 23 (at the 69th percentilePercentile
In statistics, a percentile is the value of a variable below which a certain percent of observations fall. For example, the 20th percentile is the value below which 20 percent of the observations may be found...
). On the Ohio Department of Education 2009–2010 School Year Report card, SCPA was designated "Effective" and Schiel was designated "Excellent." Ninety percent of graduating seniors continue on to college, and those students receive one of the highest levels of scholarship funding in the city. In 2007, the 98 graduating seniors received a combined $7.1 million in scholarships and SCPA averaged $72,449 per student, the third most of any public or private school in Cincinnati.
Extracurricular activities
SCPA offers a limited range of sports and other activities compared to other CPS schools, as students are expected to commit significant after-school time to practice and performance. Volunteer community service opportunities are organized by the Positive School Culture committee and made available to students in every grade. Student Council is elected from each grade and raises funds for student activities. National Honor SocietyNational Honor Society
The National Honor Society is a recognition program for high school students in grades 10-12 in the United States and in several other countries...
(for grades ten to twelve) and National Junior Honor Society (for grades seven through nine) are by invitation only to students who demonstrate outstanding achievement, service, leadership, and citizenship.
German, French, and Spanish clubs are open to all students and plan language-related activities. The Astronomy Club for Girls for fourth through sixth graders takes advantage of the nearby Cincinnati Observatory
Cincinnati Observatory
The Cincinnati Observatory, located in Cincinnati, Ohio on top of Mt. Lookout. It consists of two observatory buildings housing an 11 inch and 16 inch aperture refracting telescope. It is the oldest professional observatory in the United States...
to explore astronomy. The Brain Bowl team, also for fourth through sixth graders, participates in academic competitions. Students Involved in Fostering Tolerance (SIFT) works to promote tolerance and diversity through awareness field trips and fundraisers.
Student publications include the yearbook
Yearbook
A yearbook, also known as an annual, is a book to record, highlight, and commemorate the past year of a school or a book published annually. Virtually all American, Australian and Canadian high schools, most colleges and many elementary and middle schools publish yearbooks...
, 1310 Address of the Arts, a monthly newspaper published by the Creative Writing department, but open to contributions by all students, and Pandora's Backpages, a full-color magazine featuring creative writing, visual art and musical compositions by students, faculty, and alumni.
The school competes athletically in Cincinnati's Independent conference in boys' and girls' basketball, boys' baseball, and girls' softball. Intramural sports are open to all high school students.
Campus
The new building, called the Erich Kunzel Center for Arts and Education, opened for 1,350 students in August, 2010. The $72 million facility, bordered by Elm, Race, and 12th streets and facing Central Parkway, was designed by Moody–Nolan, a large minority-owned architectural firm known for its numerous design awards, and is the largest development project in Over-the-Rhine since Music Hall. Civic leaders have called construction of the school "key to renovation of Over-the-Rhine" and development plans for the area include the renovation of Music Hall, a new parking garage and public plaza nearby, and a major expansion of Washington Park.A reflective stainless steel panel with a diapering
Diapering
Diaper is any of a wide range of decorative patterns used in a variety of works of art, such as stained glass, heraldic shields, architecture, silverwork etc. Its chief use is in the enlivening of plain surfaces.-Etymology:...
pattern curves around the L-shaped building and an "urban curve" of zinc wraps the main theater at the front of the building, contrasting with the brick walls of the school, the design and materials of which reflect those used in the building's neighborhood. The box office is a red, smokestack-shaped structure that projects a beam of light up into the sky. The four-story, disabled accessible
Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990
The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 is a law that was enacted by the U.S. Congress in 1990. It was signed into law on July 26, 1990, by President George H. W. Bush, and later amended with changes effective January 1, 2009....
building of 250000 sq ft (23,225.8 m²) combines arts and academic spaces on each floor, arranged by grade, with the youngest students on the lowest floor. The main entrance features student sculptures selected by contest. An "Avenue of the Arts", with gallery space for more student artwork, links the 750-seat main Corbett Theater, the 350-seat Mayerson Theater, and a 120-seat black box theater
Black box theater
The black box theater is a relatively recent innovation, consisting of a simple, somewhat unadorned performance space, usually a large square room with black walls and a flat floor.-History:...
. The Corbett Theater has an 80 feet (24.4 m) stage, a hydraulically operated orchestra pit
Orchestra pit
An orchestra pit is the area in a theater in which musicians perform. Orchestral pits are utilized in forms of theatre that require music or in cases when incidental music is required...
, and is acoustically isolated from the rest of the building. An outdoor amphitheater is also planned.
The music facilities include rooms for band, orchestra, jazz ensemble, and vocal music, along with a music library, a grand piano studio, and twelve soundproof practice rooms. Other arts-specific spaces include specialized drama rooms, four rooms for painting and sculpture, and a photography studio with adjoining darkroom. The technical theater
Stagecraft
Stagecraft is a generic term referring to the technical aspects of theatrical, film, and video production. It includes, but is not limited to, constructing and rigging scenery, hanging and focusing of lighting, design and procurement of costumes, makeup, procurement of props, stage management, and...
facilities include labs for lighting and sound engineering, as well as costume, scenery, and stage prop shops. The main 5500 sq ft (511 m²) gymnasium is augmented by a fitness center and six multipurpose spaces for gym and dance. Academic facilities include four project labs, two chemistry rooms, two biology rooms, and a 4300 sq ft (399.5 m²) library, with 45 academic classrooms designed around flexible "extended learning areas" where students from different classes can study in groups.
People
SCPA has produced notable graduates in a wide range of artistic fields. Alumni include Cyrus Vorhis, producer of Bulletproof MonkBulletproof Monk
Bulletproof Monk is a 2003 action film starring Chow Yun-fat, Seann William Scott and Jaime King. The film was directed by Paul Hunter. It is loosely based on the comic book by Michael Avon Oeming....
, Kung Fu Panda
Kung Fu Panda
Kung Fu Panda is a 2008 American computer-animated action comedy film produced by DreamWorks Animation and distributed by Paramount Pictures...
, Robin Hood
Robin Hood (2010 film)
Robin Hood is a 2010 British/American adventure film based on the Robin Hood legend, directed by Ridley Scott and starring Russell Crowe and Cate Blanchett...
and the Emmy-nominated miniseries Sleeper Cell and Todd Louiso
Todd Louiso
Todd Louiso is an American film actor and film director best known for his role as timid record store clerk Dick in High Fidelity, opposite Jack Black and John Cusack. Other supporting roles include School For Scoundrels. Louiso directed his first film in 2002, the acclaimed Love Liza with Philip...
, director of Love Liza
Love Liza
Love Liza is a 2002 tragicomedy film directed by Todd Louiso and starring Philip Seymour Hoffman, Kathy Bates, Jack Kehler, Wayne Duvall, Sarah Koskoff and Stephen Tobolowsky. The film inspired the song "Benzin" by Rammstein.-Plot summary:...
and actor in Apollo 13
Apollo 13 (film)
Apollo 13 is a 1995 American drama film directed by Ron Howard. The film stars Tom Hanks, Kevin Bacon, Bill Paxton, Gary Sinise, Kathleen Quinlan and Ed Harris. The screenplay by William Broyles, Jr...
, High Fidelity
High Fidelity (film)
High Fidelity is a 2000 American comedy-drama film directed by Stephen Frears and starring John Cusack and the Danish actress Iben Hjejle. The film is based on the 1995 British novel of the same name by Nick Hornby, with the setting moved from London to Chicago and the name of the lead character...
and other films.
Emmy- and Golden Globe-winning Sex and the City
Sex and the City
Sex and the City is an American television comedy-drama series created by Darren Star and produced by HBO. Broadcast from 1998 until 2004, the original run of the show had a total of ninety-four episodes...
star Sarah Jessica Parker
Sarah Jessica Parker
Sarah Jessica Parker is an American film, television, and theater actress and producer.She is best known for her leading role as Carrie Bradshaw on the HBO television series Sex and the City , for which she won four Golden Globe Awards, three Screen Actors Guild Awards, and two Emmy Awards...
attended SCPA, as did four-time Emmy nominee Rebecca Budig
Rebecca Budig
Rebecca Jo Budig is an American actress and television presenter, best known for her role as Greenlee Smythe Lavery on the ABC soap opera All My Children.-Early life:...
of soap opera Guiding Light
Guiding Light
Guiding Light is an American daytime television drama that is credited by the Guinness Book of World Records as the longest running drama in television and radio history, running from 1937 until 2009...
, Emmy-nominated Chicago Hope
Chicago Hope
Chicago Hope is an American medical drama series created by David E. Kelley that ran from September 18, 1994, to May 5, 2000. It takes place in a fictional private charity hospital.-Premise:The show stars Mandy Patinkin as Dr...
and NCIS
NCIS (TV series)
NCIS, formerly known as NCIS: Naval Criminal Investigative Service, is an American police procedural drama television series revolving around a fictional team of special agents from the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, which conducts criminal investigations involving the U.S...
star Rocky Carroll
Rocky Carroll
Roscoe "Rocky" Carroll is an American actor. He is known for his roles as Joey Emerson on the FOX comedy-drama Roc, as Dr. Keith Wilkes on the medical drama Chicago Hope, and as Leon Vance on the CBS drama NCIS and its spinoff NCIS: Los Angeles.-Early life:Carroll was born Roscoe Fulton Carroll...
, film and TV actor Jeff Sams
Jeffrey D. Sams
Jeffrey D. Sams is an American actor known primarily for his television work.A native of Ohio, Sams has been a main cast member of several television series, few of which have made it past their first season...
, and Baywatch
Baywatch
Baywatch is an American action drama series about the Los Angeles County Lifeguards who patrol the beaches of Los Angeles County, California, starring David Hasselhoff. The show ran in its original title and format from 1989 to 1999, sans the 1990-1991 season, of which it was not in production...
actress Carmen Electra
Carmen Electra
Tara Leigh Patrick , professionally known as Carmen Electra, is an American glamour model, actress, television personality, singer, and dancer...
.
Nick Lachey
Nick Lachey
Nicholas Scott "Nick" Lachey is an American singer, songwriter, actor, producer and television personality. Lachey rose to fame as a member of the boy band 98 Degrees. He later starred in the reality television series Newlyweds: Nick and Jessica with his then-wife, Jessica Simpson. He has released...
, Drew Lachey
Drew Lachey
Andrew John "Drew" Lachey is an American singer and actor, known as a member of 98 Degrees, the winner of the second season of Dancing with the Stars, and the younger brother of Nick Lachey.-Early years:...
, and Justin Jeffre of the multi-platinum album group 98 Degrees
98 Degrees
98 Degrees is an American adult contemporary boy band consisting of four vocalists: brothers Nick and Drew Lachey, Justin Jeffre, and Jeff Timmons. The group was formed by Timmons in Los Angeles, California....
graduated from SCPA, as did Canadian Jazz Vocalist of the Year nominee George Evans, Broadway star Ron Bommer, and nationally known Obama impersonator Iman Crosson
Iman Crosson
Iman Crosson is an American actor, impressionist, dancer and singer known on various Internet websites under the pseudonym "Alphacat" and is known for his impersonations of U.S...
.