| Tacoma School of the Arts | |
|---|---|
| Location | |
| Tacoma, Washington, USA | |
| Information | |
| Type | Visual and Performing Arts School |
| Established | 2001 |
| School district | Tacoma Public Schools |
| Principal | Jon Ketler Paul Kelly |
| Enrollment | Roughly 60% of applicants |
| Number of students | 450 max (20% out of district) |
| Website | tsota.org |
The Tacoma School of the Arts (SOTA or TSOTA) is the only arts school in the greater Tacoma, Washington area. SOTA historically only housed grades 10 through 12, but beginning in the 2012 school year will begin to accept students for their 9th grade year. SOTA's student capacity is around 500 students.[1] SOTA was established in the fall of 2001, with help from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.[2] Classes are housed in multiple venues across downtown Tacoma, in buildings that have historically served many purposes—including a department store, a music store, and a dance studio.[3] SOTA is known for its rigorous arts and academic programs, and students are welcome to take classes at Tacoma's Science and Math Institute at Point Defiance part. SOTA and SAMi also offer University of Washington Credits through multiple classes.[4] Interdisciplinary study between the arts and academics are a strong focus at SOTA. Students are presented with multiple opportunities to travel, including service and study tours, as well as internships and volunteer opportunities. The school runs seamlessly in the community taking classes in multiple venues.
SOTA was one of three Washington state school winners of the inaugural state Schools of Excellence in Arts Education Award, part of the national program of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Schools of Distinction in Arts Education Awards.[5] Shortly after, SOTA was one of only four schools in the inaugural year to win at the national level.
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SOTA tries to allow students to foster responsibility. To this goal, many SOTA projects are student-run, including some aspects of the school's administration.
| SOTA Theatre | |
|---|---|
| Address | 1118 Commerce Street[6] |
| City | Tacoma |
| Country | USA |
| Architect | McGranahan Architects |
| Owned by | Tacoma School of the Arts |
| Capacity | 450 |
| Type | Urban |
| Opened | 2001 |
Many Performing Arts projects are left up to students. Students have directed theatrical productions including The Glass Menagerie (dir. Kathryn Robinson, 2007) and The Last of the Darling Brent Girls, the latter also written by a student (dir. Kaylie Rainer, written by Roland C. Carette-Meyers, 2007).[7] All productions, most directed by teachers, star only SOTA students—exceptions are rare, such as The Trojan Women casting a very young non-student in the silent role of the toddler Astyanax (performed in autumn 2007).
While students are expected to take a wide variety of classes, they are also expected to specialize in one department, or "major". Departments offered include those of the Visual Arts (photography, sculpture, graphic design, film, drawing, and painting) and those of the Performing Arts (songwriting and audio recording, instrumental music conservatory, vocal music, dance, and technical theater). Some students may announce a "renaissance" major where they take classes from all the disciplines. There is an Actor's Studio class at SOTA taught by an adjunct artist, and students perform in all of these theatrical productions as well as many of the film productions.
Students apply during their freshman year of high school. The School accepts 115 in-district students and 35 out-of-district students. Students first attend an information night during the fall or early winter. At the information night they schedule an appointment for a "community interview." At the interview students are interviewed by a SOTA student, a community member and a parent of a student. They must provide their portfolio and all of its contents at the interview.
Beginning the 2012-2013 school year, a Freshman class will enter the School.
In addition to the regular staff, local artists are also hired by the school to teach their art forms. Included in this innovative "Artist in Residence" program are the Audio Recording and Jazz Combo classes. Many of these adjunct artists teach only part-time, though some teach full-time.
J-term is a period in January between 1st and 2nd semester. During this time, instead of going to regular classes, students can attend a month-long class or various internships arranged by the school. Some students plan to go on service trips instead of internships. Previous service trips have included China, Mexico, Cambodia, Laos, and India. Sophomores must take a class during J-term.
Internship sites have included talk radio stations, City of Tacoma, Hospitals, among around 100 other hosts in the Puget Sound Area.
The school day is arranged to have four periods a day, in block periods over the week. Mondays and Wednesdays at SOTA students attend periods 1-4, and on Tuesdays and Thursdays students attend periods 5-8. There are 15 minute passing periods, as classes are held in over 10 different buildings and businesses. Three of these buildings are owned by Tacoma Public Schools and they are all within one square mile. Students use these 20 minutes to take buses and the Tacoma Link light rail to their next class. Some classes are housed in the University of Washington Tacoma, Tacoma Art Museum and the Broadway Center for the Performing Arts. On Fridays, students arrive at 10:30 am for grade-specific activities; sophomores focus on math and science, juniors have writing classes, and seniors have advisory on their culminating projects. Showcases are also held on Fridays, where students perform and present their art in front of their peers.
Annual events include mentor day in the park, the Maquerade Ball, and Camp SOTA.
The Humanities classes are taught on a 3 year revolving curriculum, so sophomores, juniors and seniors are all placed in the same classes together. SOTA offers all math and science classes that a typical comprehensive high school would offer, except for Advanced Placement classes. Students are welcome to take higher level science classes or science classes for UW credit at the Tacoma Science and Math Institute. Classes are held in the 3 buildings owned and leased by the Tacoma Public Schools, as well as the UW Tacoma campus, Urban Grace Church, and other local partners/venues.
Like the arts, the academics are rigorous and arts are commonly integrated into curriculum. SOTA has one of the highest number of students pursue a post-secondary education in the area. SOTA has implemented Standards-Based Instruction and Assessment. Classes for college credit are offered.
SOTA has an extremely low average class size, thanks to adjunct artists and more class periods.
MPGs, or Mentor Project Groups, are groups to which students are assigned in their sophomore year. About 20 students are in each group, along with a "mentor" or staff member. The groups meet on Fridays from 1 to 4, and use the time to work on projects that benefit the school and greater Tacoma community.
In 2008, SOTA created its own FRC team with the help of Team 360 from Bellarmine Preparatory School. They were Team 2557, SOTA Bots, with the robot they created known fondly as the SOTA Bot. The SOTA Bot came in second and won Rookie of the Year in the FIRST Microsoft Seattle Regional[8] and went on to get 22nd place in their division in the Atlanta International Competition.[9]
| Name | Position | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Jared Pappas-Kelley | Video & Screenwriting Instructor | Co-creator of Toby Room magazine and curator of ArtRod |
| Luke Sieczek | Filmmaker (IMDb page) and current instructor | |
| Brent Hartinger | Creative Writing Instructor | Author of the award-winning banned-book Geography Club |
| Garth Stein | Author of The Art of Racing in the Rain | |
| Mary Boone | Author and current instructor |
Several SOTA buildings were used in the film 10 Things I Hate About You; the guitar store in the film is now part of the SOTA music department, as well as Club SOTA,[10] an all-ages club hosted by the school.[11]
The Tacoma Science and Math Institute, or SAMI, is a school due to open for the 2009-2010 school year. It is the district's other magnet school, with a schedule and concept similar to SOTA.[12]