SPRING 2015 N E W S L E T T E R
CONGRATULATIONS, CLASS OF 2015!
SENIORS EARN $7.2 MILLION IN SCHOLARSHIP FUNDING OVER THE NEXT FOUR YEARS On May 21st, students, families, teachers and friends celebrated the accomplishments of our gifted class of 2015. Beyond their overwhelming success in the classroom, their determination and creative spirit will be part of the impressive legacy they leave. This year, we were honored to have Academy Alumnus Jessica Disu as our commencement speaker. Jessica, or more popularly known as FM Supreme is a rap artist and social activist— recently named Youth Peace Leader of Chicago by Mayor Rahm Emanuel. In her address to the Class of 2015, Jessica reminded them to never give up. “Today is the start of the rest of
your life,” she said, “Everything you’ve accomplished up until now was yesterday. In ten years you may ask yourself, What have I done?, How did I get here?, and Who did I help along the way? Don’t ever give up.” The 42 graduates were rewarded for their impressive resumes by receiving offers totally over $7.2 million dollars in scholarships for college. Graduates, we can’t wait to see what you accomplish next. Congratulations Class of 2015!
IN THIS ISSUE 2014-15: A Year in Review
Alumni Updates
Upcoming Events
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WHERE ARE THEY HEADED NEXT YEAR? The Ailey School Berklee College of Music Central St. Martins College of Art and Design (UK) Champlain College Columbia College of Chicago The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art DePaul University Dominican University (CA) College of DuPage Eugene Lang College, The New School for Liberal Arts Evergreen State University Fordham University Harry S. Truman Community College of Chicago University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign Illinois State University Illinois Wesleyan University The Juilliard School Knox College University of Louisiana, Lafayette Loyola Marymount University University of Minnesota New England Conservatory of Music New York University Oberlin College, The Conservatory of Music Oklahoma City University Point Park University Roehampton University (UK) School of the Art Institute of Chicago University of Southern California University of South Florida
N E WS L ETTER
SPR ING 2015 2014–2015—WHAT A YEAR
Alum Justin Tranter came back to The Academy for the 2014 AIDS Benefit
There’s been a lot going on at The Academy this year. Let’s take a look back at some highlights of another year of school-wide success! If you are viewing this electronically, be sure to click each bubble for more information and photos.
Academy Winter Jazz Concert at Jazz Showcase HOMIES: Academy Visual Arts Senior Exhibition
Musical Theatre’s The Robber Bridegroom
Faculty Choreographed Dance Show Musical Theatre Seniors, Damion Rosa and Elise O’Connell were selected as finalists for Illinois High School Musical Theater Awards.
Monsters: Media Arts Fall Show
Riley Carlson
Frances Garcia
India Murphy
Andres Salamanca
Senior Choreographed Dance Show
Mathematics Moody Challenge
The Opera—Written By Jim Wersching, Rania Adamczyk, Julia Borrelli, Karen Szczech, Lucy Thomas & Elenna Sindler
Theatre Department’s first show of the year: Bald Soprano Sabrina Wen
SEPTEMBER
OCTOBER
NOVEMBER
Visual Arts Department Participated in the West Town Art Walk as part of Chicago Artists’ Month
Visual Arts & Musical Theatre kick off the year with a Figure Drawing Exhibition & Noël Coward Review
GRADUATION
Congrats, Academy Class of 2015!
DECEMBER
Theatre Showcase, Devised Theater
Musical Theatre Presents: Ragtime
JANUARY
FEBRUARY
Sophia Zhang
MARCH
As part of the Prodigy Institute, a select group of Academy jazz musicians traveled to San Francisco to perform at the Brubeck Institute, where they opened for Stefon Harris, world-renowned jazz vibraphonist. For five days, these musicians visited and learned from Jazz experts at Pacific University’s Brubeck Institute. Webb Dieter, Luke Sangerman, Elenna Sindler & Reade Wildman made the trip with Department Chair Dan Bruce & jazz voice instructor Rose Collela.
Theatre Department’s Learned Ladies
APRIL
The Luminarts Speech Contest posed the quesIllinois High tion: Why is there a future School Art in the arts? Students Exhibition submitted written 3-5 where minute speeches supportwork from ing argument that there Academy is, in fact, a future in the Visual and arts. Narrowed down from Media Artists 40 submissions, our 9 received finalists presented their numerous speeches live for a panel of awards & judges at the Union League honors: Visual downtown. Molly Bremer, Artists, Mitch a freshmen in the MusiAbramson, cal Theatre Department Clara Grayson was named the winner. & Olivia Congratulations to all of Mulholland our finalists: Micah Collier, were named Quinn Bailey, Bryce early college Mary Deissler & Jazz Lunsky, Grace Melon, program Musicians, Webb Thea Nedvins, Isabel Ball, scholarship Dieter, Luke SangerNIck Payne and Rania winners. man & Reade Wildman Adamczyk. performed live on Windy City Live.
MAY
A Taste for the Arts Performance at The Harris Theater for Music and Dance
Final Performances of the year: Music Department Showcase at Curtiss Hall and the Repertory Dance Company at the Harris Theater for Eat to the Beat.
S P R IN G 2 01 5
THANK YOU! ANOTHER SUCCESSFUL TASTE FOR THE ARTS— BECAUSE OF YOU With your help, we raised over $425,000 in support of scholarship and programming. We couldn’t have done it without the countless volunteers and overwhelming generosity of our community. Thank you!
Musical Theatre students together for the Taste Performance finale.
PHOTO BY THOMAS MOHR, CLICK HERE FOR MORE PHOTOS
Lauren Thompson, Anthony Marconi, Jacques Agbobly, Damion Rosa, Meghan Krueger, Dan Hellwarth and Isabel Ball with Principal Jason Patera at the Gala. CLICK HERE FOR MORE EVENT PHOTOS
ALUMNI UPDATES
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Cecily Strong, hosted this year’s White House Corespondents Dinner CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE
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Media Arts alumni, Jack Dunphy (‘11) and Alex Girav (‘13), had their new movie completely funded via Kickstarter in just one day! CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE
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Olivia Renteria (‘14) has been cast in the pre-Broadway production of Beaches at Drury Lane Theater
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Jessica ‘FM Supreme’ Disu (‘06) has been appointed Youth Peace Leader of Chicago by Mayor Rahm Emanuel. This summer she will lead youth peace movements around Chicago. CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE
Have an alumni update? We want to hear from you! Email updates to academynews@chicagoartsacademy.org
PRODIGY INSTITUTE UPDATE In its second year, the Prodigy Institute sponsored even more impressive guest artists, partnerships, and experiential learning opportunities for Academy students. Notably: •
Robyn Mineko-Williams and Hubbard Street Dance Chicago’s choreographic residency in the Dance Department
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Author in Residence Snezana Zabic taught a series of master classes in creative non-fiction to Media Artists
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Ben Dicke, Musical Director in Residence and Nicholas Davio, Choreographer in Residence worked with Musical Theatre and their performance of The Robber Bridegroom
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Quince Contemporary Vocal Ensemble supported Academy Musicians in developing their original opera
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The Theatre Department hosted Chicago’s iO Theater (formerly known as the ImprovOlympic Theater) for a master class series
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