MEDIA, MUSIC, AND MATINEES

Media, Music, Matinees

How the Arts Department and students have navigated performances and college applications.

by Nadia Burt and Christine Leung

Designed and Photos by Jamie Pecilunas

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It’s only July, but Samara Jacquez, senior, is already preparing her applications for college. Her art supplies and camera are strewn around her room as she makes sure that each of her illustrations and paintings is photographed perfectly. Although much of her application is the same as a typical student, there is one key di erence. Jacquez has to compile her portfolio of 15 to 25 art pieces as she applies to college, a task she says is daunting. Each college has incredibly speci c requirements as to what needs to be included. Seniors have been submitting their college applications for the past few months and several of them have heard back from early decisions. However, for a select group of students, their application process looked di erent, especially in the midst of a global pandemic. Students planning to go to college for performing arts, and other similar majors have di erent applications that o en involve portfolios and auditions. Central o ers more than 26 art classes, and 15 music courses, as well as a variety of theater options. Due to the pandemic, the way ne arts students at Central have performed and demonstrated their work has o en had to move to digital formats. “It’s a little bit di erent because we weren’t able to do as many live performances, and a lot of times in theater you’ll do a scene or some sort of improv and you’ll perform it live,” said Chris Kostro, English and Acting teacher. “Whereas this year it’s been a lot of doing a scene, lming it, and then uploading it to ipgrid.” Kostro was very involved in theater while he attended Lyons Township High School before he received his Bachelors in Fine Arts from the University of Illinois UrbanaChampaign. Before he decided to return to school to get a Masters in education, Kostro performed in industrial lms and on stage. Serge Penksik is another teacher involved in the arts at Central. Penksik has been an Orchestra teacher for 14 years, ve of which have been at Central. He is also a coach for several extracurricular activities, like girls badminton and boys golf. Penksik attended DePaul University, where he received his degree in music education and performance. Orchestra is a largely collaborative class, that involves many varied sections of instruments such as violins, cellos, and violas. In the past, students would meet at school every day to practice. ey would also have multiple events during the school year to showcase their accomplishments.

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“We have regular concerts which we do for four concerts a year. We do a full concert, then we do a holiday concert, which is a whole department concert, then we do a spring concert and then we do the graduation… at the end of the year,” Penskik said. However, due to COVID-19, these events had to be modi ed in order to be carried out meeting safety requirements. “ is year, the only performance we did was a virtual holiday streamed concert

for the entire department,” Penksik said. “ e kids... record[ed] the parts and then I would basically become a sound engineer and put them together.” Streamed performances are now commonplace in the online world of performance arts. e theater program at Central has been able to produce one show so far this school year, the It’s a Wonderful Life radio play on December 12, 2020. Kostro said there are plans for a freshman play, as well as a spring musical. “We are... doing the freshman play and it’s going to go up sometime in like February or March, so it’s rehearsing right now but the stream date is TBA right now,” Kostro said. “And then there’s the spring musical, which… is in the process right now of holding auditions, basically, students are submitting tapes of singing short excerpts of songs and a little dance and monologue.”

ese changes due to the pandemic are impacting both teachers, as well as students. Many students use in-person learning as time to get verbal feedback, but remote learning meant that feedback was hard to nd in an online environment. “It was hard to nd the idea and work under the stressful circumstances of the pandemic….we didn’t Zoom a lot… and we had to use the limited resources we had at home as opposed at school,” Jacquez said.

A lack of physical resources makes it harder for art students as Jacquez said previously. For many music students, however, it provides an opportunity to place more emphasis on their skills. “Normally when we’re in person... you’re able to hear what everyone else is doing,” said Josh Budziak, senior. “Online, you may only be able to hear a couple other players at a time which makes you focus on... how to improve your own playing skills.” Budziak is heavily involved with the music program at Central. He plays the tuba in Band and is also part of the Chamber Choir. According to Budziak, music has been a part of his life from when he was young, which inspired him to pursue a career in music. “My mom teaches music at a couple di erent colleges. So, when I was growing up, music was always around me anytime we were in the car going somewhere,”

Senior Samara Jacquez poses with three of her paintings on February 18, 2021.

Budziak said. “When I got the chance to start music in middle school, I was like... that seems like fun. And it just kept going.” Many students are planning to apply to college for music performance, among other majors such as art and performance theatre. e standard undergraduate degree for someone in the arts is a BFA, or a Bachelors in Fine Arts, which is for anyone that completed their education in visual, ne, or performing arts. e more subjective nature of ne arts schools and BFA means that a di erent type

of application is needed. Jacquez talked about the di culty and stress of assembling a portfolio for the application process. “It’s a little di erent than regular applications because most schools require you to do a portfolio so it takes... a few years prior to... fully build up your portfolio,” Jacquez said. “ e portfolio part, it kind of feels like a big audition in some way. And it can be a little bit nerve wracking if you don’t know what...each school is looking for.” e Central Arts Department website has several resources on the requirements various colleges have for art student applicants. e usual number of art pieces that universities require is 10-15, though a few, like Carnegie Mellon, 1520 pieces are required. Some schools, like the Rhode Island School of Design, ask for certain pieces unique to the school. “Rhode Island School of Design makes you actually do challenges. So, apart from your portfolio, you have to do like one piece that’s speci c to the school,” Jacquez said. Budziak also talked about how

di erent the application process is to enter into colleges for music education. “ ere are a few things, the audition is the big one. You also need to include a resume headshots, which, as far as I know aren’t typically included in college auditions. But you do need to also usually apply for speci c music schools so I only applied to ve schools because I needed to then do an extra audition for each one,” Budziak said. In terms of the programs and colleges, there is a large variety nationwide and even internationally. ese programs vary in their di culty, selectiveness, and also in the manner teaching is conducted. ” ere are BFA programs that are pretty intense. And some programs you even have to re-audition to stay in it, like at the University of Illinois, where I had to re-audition my sophomore year and then they cut people so we went down from 27 students to 18 between my sophomore to junior year,” Kostro said. For those planning to go in a more musically inclined major, the number of options is still extensive. Buziak talked of the more prominent colleges in the music world. “For music, some of the big ones for music are University of Michigan and Indiana University. It’s a very highly rated just school in general but the music program is extremely good there. A er the BFA programs, there are multitudes of pathways a student could take,” Budziak said. BFA programs open up many options for ne art students. Fine Arts can refer to a number of jobs: animation, theatre, photography, interior design, industrial design to name a few. Bachelor of Arts programs have a stronger focus on base knowledge like communications and mathematics, with ⅔ of the course based upon liberal arts and ⅓ based upon visual arts. e BFA program is typically meant for students who want to gain as much skill in their talent as possible whereas a BA is less extensive. “You can major in things like stage management, or you could major in, building tech and directing or sound lights on the tech side. And you could concentrate on playwriting or something called dramaturgy which is people who do research on plays,” Kostro said. For students planning to major in more artistic type majors beyond college, the job opportunities can be di cult. According to Penksik, this is the case especially for Music Education majors. “Coming right out of college, it’s not an easy profession, especially if you choose orchestra, because the jobs are scarce. And that’s even in a big area like Chicago land. But I found that ...getting out of college you almost have to take whatever you can get,” Penksik said. Despite this, students like Budziak said they are looking forward to a career in music education.

paintings by class of 1992 Hinsdale Central Art Program

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