Brooklyn High School of the Arts
School Description
"Brooklyn High School of the Arts offers a full curriculum aligned to the new standards of education. Learning is interdisciplinary with knowledge gained in one subject area connected to learning across all subject areas. Appropriate use of technology supporting research and independent study is provided and its use encouraged. The mission of Brooklyn High School of the Arts is to have the participation of the entire educational community. To provide and support a comprehensive, rigorous, arts-oriented curriculum that meets New York State and New York City standards. At the same time, this curriculum will encourage and nurture our youth to use their works and expressions, their rhythms and sounds, their impressions and designs, their movements and actions for fulfilling their potential, their dreams and aspirations."
Contact Information
Website: www.brooklynhsarts.org
Principal: Daniel Vecchiano- dvecchi@schools.nyc.gov;
Primary ETA Contact: Jill Coon, theatre teacher- jcoon@schools.nyc.gov
Four-Year Plan Goals
Goal One: To heighten the professionalism of BHSA’s productions through improvements and upgrades of performance and rehearsal resources.
Goal Two: To establish a musical theater class that informs recruitment for the BHSA student population, produces a yearly spring musical theater performance and allows for collaborations between BHSA teachers.
Approach
Goal One: Heightening the professionalism of performance and rehearsal spaces at BHSA involves using most of the material purchase allowance of $7500 per year to upgrade the performance and rehearsal spaces- like purchasing sound and lighting equipment for the auditorium, building out the dressing rooms and a black box theater and acquiring new rehearsal resources for all performing arts departments.
Goal Two: In order to build out the musical theater class, the school builds its internal capacity to produce the musical through professional development sessions in various aspects of musical theater productions as well as student workshops that also serve as professional development for the theatre teachers. The effort incorporates staff across multiple performing arts disciplines (as well as some academic teachers with artistic talent) to make the musical the primary production for the school year. Additional staff receives professional development and per session for extra time spent collaborating with the theatre department during production time. ETA support is also used for planning and curriculum mapping workshops for the theatre teacher.
Arts Partnerships
Goal Two: Eric Mark Olsen from Arts Connection works closely with BHSA theatre teacher, Jill Coon on several aspects of the production of each musical including professional development sessions and student workshops.
Outcome
Goal One: BHSA performance productions will be able to better meet professional standards as a result of a new fully functioning dance studio, improved sound, lighting and projection capabilities in the auditorium and a new black box theater classroom set up for more effective rehearsals and instruction when the auditorium is unavailable.
Goal Two: The BHSA theatre department will have an established musical theatre class in which students and teachers successfully mount a full-scale musical production each year.
"The four-year partnership with ETA supported and advanced the BHSA community's theater and dance department's rehearsal spaces by updating resources and providing new resources to professionalize what is offered to our students. We have learned a collaborative process to support professional production meetings for our public performances.
"BHSA now looks forward to the spring musical every year. There is a "buzz" about what we'll do each year. And "how will we top" the musical we just completed. The teachers and administrators support the students' as young artists and attend their performances."
Four-Year Plan 2012-2016.