| Las Vegas Academy of International Studies, Performing, and Visual Arts | |
|---|---|
| Las Vegas Academy, Est. 1992
Originally built as Las Vegas High School, 1931 |
|
| Location | |
| 315 S. 7th St. Las Vegas, NV, 89101 |
|
| Information | |
| School type | Magnet High School |
| Established | 1992 |
| School district | Clark County School District |
| Dean | Jennifer Shuler Tom Torres |
| Principal | Scott Walker |
| Vice principal | Linda Shillingstad |
| Grades | 9-12 |
| Enrollment | 1900 |
| School Colour(s) | Teal and Silver |
| Publication | Accolades |
| Website | http://schools.ccsd.net/lva/ |
The Las Vegas Academy of International Studies, Performing and Visual Arts is a magnet high school located in Downtown Las Vegas, Nevada. Students are accepted through an audition process and claim a "major" pertaining to performing arts, visual arts, or foreign languages.
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The Las Vegas Academy's campus is located on the site of the first high school in Las Vegas. The school uses two of the buildings which were constructed in 1930 and opened in the fall of 1931. Las Vegas High School was the first high school in Las Vegas but caused controversy at the time for its location being too far from where people lived (which has changed as the city grew around the school). The school originally had three buildings: the tri-level Main building on the corner of 7th St. and Bridger Ave., the Gymnasium, and a third building that was torn down in 1950. The two remaining buildings are listed as the Las Vegas High School Academic Building and Gymnasium on the National Register of Historic Places, representing the best of the art-deco architecture of the 1930s. The school's outer appearance has been maintained but the interior has been changed since its original construction.
In 1992, plans for a magnet school for the arts were announced, and on August 23, 1993, Las Vegas High School was re-opened as the Las Vegas Academy for International Studies and Performing Arts (Visual Arts was added the following year) by founding principal Bob Gerye. Starting with only 735 students, the student body has since grown to an excess of 1600 students attending the school pursuing majors in the performing and visual arts, and international studies.
The Las Vegas Academy lists a selection of majors for which students audition and then focus on throughout their four years of high school alongside standard academic coursework. Students go through an audition process in order to be admitted to the Academy. Along with a successful audition, in order to receive admittance into the Academy, an applicant must have a grade point average to a 2.0 or higher.[2]
Students are introduced to a wide range of dance experiences and activities that will enhance basic movement technique and creativity. Instruction is given in modern dance, ballet, jazz, and ethnic dance, as well as choreography, creative movement, dance history, and improvisation.[3]
Students are provided with an instructional program of study that includes foreign language, geopolitical understanding, multicultural appreciation, and knowledge of world regions. The language programs (French, Japanese, and Spanish) incorporate total immersion in the student's target language with cultural aspects of those linguistic regions.
Students participate in comprehensive activities that include instruction in brass, guitar, percussion, piano, strings, vocal, woodwinds, basic musicianship, history, music technology, theory, and world music. Students have the opportunity to participate in bands, guitar ensembles, madrigals, Mariachi ensembles, mixed choirs, orchestras, jazz ensembles, piano ensembles, wind ensembles and small ensembles in both rehearsal and performance settings. The department offers concentrations in:
There are several band programs at the Academy: jazz band, chamber band, and symphonic band. Students have the opportunity to join several school trips throughout the year. The bands are divided up into three placement sections: Varsity I, Varsity II, and Varsity III. During the 2007-2008 school year, the Varsity II and Varsity III band majors attended a music festival in Santa Fe, New Mexico.[4] In March of the 2010-2011 school year, the Varsity III Band participated in Music For All National Festival for the third time and has remained the only group in the western United States to be invited to the event.
The choir program is a program consisting of 270 vocal students. There are four choirs for which students can audition: Women's Chorus (Les Chantreuses), Advanced/Mixed Ensemble (Cantare), Men's Choir (Laudate), Advanced Women's Ensemble (Bella Voz), and the Las Vegas Academy Singers.[5]
The guitar program was started in the 2002-2003 school year with current guitar instructor and of the head of the Las Vegas Academy Music Department, Bill Swick. As with the band program, the guitar program also contains Varsity I, Varsity II, and Varsity III levels.
Students from the Las Vegas Academy participate in the Clark County School District's mariachi program, which includes students from 14 schools.[6]
The orchestra program at the Las Vegas Academy consists four levels of orchestras. Students play a wide array of musical literature, including string orchestra, chamber music, full orchestra repertoire in collaboration with the Band and Choir department. In 2008, the Las Vegas Academy Philharmonic was lauded as the top full orchestra in the country by the American String Teacher's Association. In 2009 the top orchestra traveled to New York to perform at the world famous Lincoln Center. Also in 2009, The top orchestra and select chamber groups participated in the 2009 session of the Midwest Clinic.[7]
The piano program at the Las Vegas Academy has three levels of piano classes for each individual student at the Academy.
The world jazz studies program works in syncopation with the band program as students undergo an audition process in order to be admitted to the Academy. In recent years, the jazz program has placed as one of the top 3 jazz bands in the west coast. Along with big band, the Academy's combo won the Downbeat Award in 2008. There are three levels of jazz bands: Jazz I, Jazz II, and Jazz III. The department has worked with Anita Brown, Chris Potter, Ndugu Chancler, Randy Brecker, and others.[8]
In 2010 the school received its its 9th Grammy Signature School Gold Award.[6]
The theater department contains two components: Acting and Technical Theatre. Academy Theatre has produced several productions throughout its 16-year history, including five productions staged at the International Thespian Festival.[9]
The acting program provides an overview of theatre and theatre history. Basic acting skills are developed through improvisat ion, movement, and exercises for the actors. Acting students learn a broad cross-section of theatre theory, and work toward placement in college theatre programs throughout the country. Recent productions at the Academy include West Side Story, Jekyll & Hyde, Antigone,[10] Sweeney Todd, Cats, Thoroughly Modern Millie, Miss Saigon, Les Misérables, The Laramie Project, The Elephant Man, Execution of Justice, The Wiz, and Hairspray. All of the main stage musicals at the Academy are performed with the Orchestra and Band departments providing live music.
The technical theatre program provides students with training in lighting, sets, sound, and design for productions held in both large and small venues. Using various forms of technology and class work that centers on proper terminology, safety, and backstage procedures, technical theatre majors develop and build computer skills necessary for the entertainment business.
The visual arts program provides instruction in drawing, painting, printmaking, photography, computer graphics, textiles, sculpture, ceramics, aesthetics, art history, and videography.[3]