Baltimore School for the Arts

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Baltimore School for the Arts
BSA logo
"Where the Arts Change Kids' Lives"
Address
712 Cathedral Street at West Madison Street
Baltimore, Maryland 21201
Information
School type Public, Magnet, Art
Founded 1979 (1979)
School district Baltimore City Public Schools
Superintendent Dr. Gregory Thornton [CEO]
School number 415
Director Dr. Chris Ford
Grades 9–12
Enrollment 389[1] (2014)
Area Urban
Website www.bsfa.org
180px

The Baltimore School for the Arts (BSA) is a public arts high school located in Baltimore, Maryland, and is part of its public school system. BSA offers art concentrations in vocal music, instrumental music, theater acting, theater production, dance, and visual arts. The school has produced numerous "Presidential Scholars"[2] in the Arts and its students have gone on to attend major conservatories and Ivy League Schools.

In 2012, BSA was named a Silver Medal School by the U.S. News and World Report, and was ranked 1,561st nationally and 45th in the state of Maryland (fourth overall in Baltimore City).[3]

History

In 1979, the President of the Board of School Commissioners authored a Charter creating the Baltimore School for the Arts (BSA). In the form of a resolution of the School Board, this Charter followed many years of effort to create an arts high school, including a 1978 recommendation of a special Task Force appointed and given strong support by then Mayor William Donald Schaefer, (1921-2011), [served 1971-1986]; [later Governor of Maryland, 1987-1995, Comptroller of Maryland, 1999-2007]. The BSA was created as part of the Baltimore City Public Schools system, however the charter provided the BSA with the structure and the authority to design and implement policies and programs necessary to be successful in its mission as a pre-professional arts high school. The charter stated "that it differ from other Baltimore city high schools by training students with potential for careers in the performing and visual arts."

Mission

The Baltimore School for the Arts is a school that intends to prepare its students for careers in the arts. The school provides qualified students with training in one of four arts disciplines: music (vocal/instrumental), visual arts, theatre (acting/theater production), or dance in combination with a comprehensive, college preparatory academic program. The theater and music majors are split into two groups each: for the theater department, there is both acting and theater production, and the music department is split into vocalists and instrumentalists.

A further mission of the school is to serve as an arts resource for the Baltimore community by offering performances, educational workshops and extensive after-school training in the arts to Baltimore children.

Today, BSA graduates go on to study at a number of colleges, universities and conservatories. BSA alumni also have careers in business, human services and education.

Academics

The Baltimore School for the Arts is a four-year public high school that provides young people with intensive, pre-professional training in the arts within the context of a comprehensive, college preparatory academic curriculum. Working with a distinguished faculty, students pursue any one of four disciplines—the visual arts, music (vocal or instrumental), theater (acting or theater production), or dance—in an environment that emphasizes professionalism and scholarship. About 320 students attend the school, coming from public and private schools in and around Baltimore. Students are accepted by a separate audition or portfolio review, though they only allow this for starting, 8th and 9th grades.

In Media

  • The school in the film 2006 film Step Up was a fictionalized version of BSA, called The Maryland School for the Arts. There are some significant differences between the institution portrayed in the film and the real school, and some parts of the movie were filmed in the school.
  • The Maryland School for the Arts also provided the setting for the 2008 film sequel to Step Up, Step Up 2 The Streets although again, most of the actual filming of the movie did not take place inside BSA.

Notable alumni

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[4]

References

  1. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ http://www.bsfa.org/alumni/member

External links

Media related to Baltimore School for the Arts at Wikimedia Commons

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