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Bring Out Your Student's Inner Artist
Independent schools excel at arts education. The schools offer fine arts, music, media arts, dance and performance theater.
The Chicago Academy for the Arts offers a unique program that combines rigorous academic classes and professional-level arts training. Students can specialize in dance, media arts, music, musical theater and visual arts.
By Jane Adler
Ask Jason Patera why an arts education is important, and his voice gets stronger and more passionate. “The arts teach two things that are absolutely essential for modern life: imagination and empathy,” stresses Patera, head of school at The Chicago Academy for the Arts, a high school in Chicago. He explains that the arts teach students how to use their imagination to conceive of something that does not exist yet and make it happen. That’s not only important for the arts but for all aspects of life. “They learn how to execute on their vision,” Patera says.
The arts also teach empathy. Actors, for example, are trained to imagine what it actually feels like to be someone else. “Look around in our world today,” Patera says. “Is there anything we need more than imagination and empathy? The world is desperate for them.” The school has introduced two new programs over the last several years. Well-known songwriter and singer Justin Tranter, who has written hit songs for artists such as Gwen Stefani and Linkin Park and is an alum of the school, donated a professional recording studio for the school’s recording and music program.
Students enjoy a high-level hands-on experience to study music production, song writing, music recording and commercial composition. Tranter even taught some of the songwriting classes last year. “The students Last fall’s play was an immersive interpretation of Alice in Wonderland. Because of COVID restrictions, the students used a campus garden as the performance venue. The audience assumed the role of Alice and moved through different stations in the garden. “We didn’t want to do something inside, so we found another option,” Koenig says.
-JasonPatera, head of school at The Chicago Academy for the Arts
had a class with an actual rock star,” Patera says.
The new photography program includes a photo lab with computer stations, cameras and lenses, 3-D printing, and a high-end studio.
Though the pandemic curtailed some live performances, independent schools are back on stage.
At Lake Forest Academy, a high school in Lake Forest, students produce a play and musical each year. “We are a busy arts department,” says Jason Koenig, chair of the fine and performing arts department at Lake Forest Academy.
For theatrical productions, students engage in character building, designing sets and operating the equipment. “We put the students in the center of this process,” Koenig says. The arts are key to student growth and expression at the Sonia Shankman Orthogenic School, known as the O-School. Designed for students with emotional and learning challenges, the O-School is located in Chicago.
For example, students at the O-School produce an award-winning literary magazine. They also participate in a poetry slam competition and a program at the Chicago Shakespeare Theater. Diana Kon, executive director at the O-School, says: “These kinds of experiences bring the students out of themselves.”
