Category: Announcements

Curtain Call Begins May 13

by ChiArts Admin

ChiArts’ end-of-year production series CURTAIN CALL launches tomorrow Thursday, May 13. The graduating class of our Creative Writing Conservatory will premiere an original reading-within-a-play! This performance will spotlight both the seniors’ individual accomplishments as writers as well as their strength in collaboration.

PRODUCTION SUMMARY
The year is 2031. ChiArts’ 2021 graduating class of creative writers is celebrating their ten-year reunion by gathering across the globe via Google Meet. They have all seen incredible success in their chosen fields, and they’re meeting to read some of their best works to each other, to share their gifts and reminisce about the olden days. But as the reading begins, things start to go wrong. The writers get strange alerts on their phone that seem to suggest that — can it be?! — the world is ending. What will they do in these dire straits?

CLICK HERE TO WATCH ON CHIARTS’ PRODUCTION WEBSITE STARTING MAY 13

DOWNLOAD ON GUMROAD STARTING MAY 13, CODE: CLASSOF2021

UPCOMING CURTAIN CALL SHOWS  
Curtain Call, Dance: May 27, 2021
Senior Showcase Online Exhibition: May 28, 2021 (Curtain Call, Visual Arts)
Curtain Call, Instrumental: June 2, 2021
Curtain Call, Voice: June 3, 2021
Curtain Call, Musical Theatre: June 11, 2021

COVID-19 Updates

by ChiArts Admin

ChiArts is here to support our scholar-artists, families, and staff as much as possible during our closure due to COVID-19. This page includes resources from CPS and lists the most up-to-date school-wide communications sent to all ChiArts families via email. 

APRIL 20, 2020 UPDATE: Click here for the Remote Learning FAQ

APRIL 17, 2020 UPDATE: Click here for Statement from CPS Office of Communications; click here for Statement from Principal and Assistant Principal

APRIL 6, 2020 UPDATE: Click here for the Remote Learning Plan

APRIL 1, 2020 UPDATE: Click here for the district’s updated meal distribution plan beginning April 6, 2020

MARCH 31, 2020 UPDATE: Click here for announcement regarding prolonged school closure through April 30, 2020; haz clic aquí para español

MARCH 22, 2020 UPDATE: Click here for faculty communication schedules 

MARCH 19, 2020 UPDATE: Click here for announcement regarding school closure until April 21, 2020

MARCH 18, 2020 UPDATE: Click here for ISBE Guidance Regarding Grading

MARCH 16, 2020 UPDATE: Click here for Official School Policy & Procedure

MARCH 6, 2020 UPDATE: Click here for overview of ChiArts/CPS guidelines for COVID-19

JULY 17, 2020 UPDATE:
Click here for CPS Reopening Framework Press Release
Click here for Preliminary Reopening Framework Packet

AUGUST 5, 2020 UPDATE:
ChiArts will now be starting the upcoming school year in a Remote Learning model. CPS CEO Dr. Jackson announced this morning that the RL model will run through the end of fall quarter, November 6 2020, and then transition to a Hybrid model.

SEPTEMBER 8, 2020 UPDATE:
Welcome to the first day of online school!
Click here for ChiArts Remote Learning Guide. 

+ For academic specific questions, please contact your teacher directly or Ms. Cullen, Assistant Principal. 
+ For arts conservatory related questions, please contact your Arts Heads directly or Ms. Boyer Brown, Artistic Director.

CPS FREE MEAL PROGRAM: All students are provided free meals at CPS school locations. Every student in the household will receive a food bag which will contain three days of breakfast and lunch meals. Families can pick up meals at the district school that’s closest to them Monday through Friday, between 9 AM and 1 PM. ChiArts is not a pick-up location for meals, click here to find your nearest school.

For more information from Chicago Public Schools, read this Frequently Asked Questions document.

Visual Artist Honored by YoungArts 2020 Awards

by ChiArts Admin
Visual Arts senior, Nayla Vasquez was recognized by the National YoungArts Foundation as one of the nation’s top leading teenage artists. Nayla received an Honorable Mention in Visual Arts for the YoungArts 2020 Awards. In an interview, she enthusiastically shared “I knew YoungArts was a big deal from the start. But, I never thought I would receive an honorable mention! This is just the beginning of my artistic journey leading to college. I now know I have a strong portfolio to start with, and the credentials to back it up.”
 
Nayla also spoke on her concentration in the visual arts, as she prepares to exhibit at ChiArts’ senior showcase this spring. Nayla shared,“Through my sculptures, I educate people about the political, social, economic effects, and realities of being a Latina woman through a lens outside the white woman hegemony. A lot of popular mainstream feminist artists are white women, which are important to feminism in their own right. However, it’s vital that women of color are recognized and not lost within the world of whitewashed feminism. We should be allies, not competitors.”
 
Since ChiArts was founded, YoungArts has honored a total of 24 scholar-artists for their high caliber of artistic achievement. 

ChiArts Working to Correct Data with ISBE and CPS

by ChiArts Admin

It has recently come to our attention that the 2018-2019 Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) report card wrongly lists ChiArts as one of the lowest performing schools in the state.  Specifically, the report incorrectly states that ChiArts has a 2.2% graduation rate, which is grossly inaccurate. We know that 98.5% (132 out of 134 students) of our 2019 senior class graduated by the end of this summer. ISBE reports from the past five years consistently note much higher stats for our school and a commendable designation, and CPS ranks ChiArts as one of the top high schools in the city.  

We are actively and urgently working with ISBE and CPS to uncover the data problem and to ensure that it is corrected. Once we get corrected information, we will contact the Sun-Times to update their story with the accurate rankings and data and further update this website.

As always, we thank you for your interest in ChiArts, our students and staff.

ChiArts Seniors Sarah Bonds & Victor Garcia Featured in The Chicago Sun-Times

by ChiArts Admin
Sarah Bonds (Theatre Conservatory) and Victor Garcia (Visual Arts Conservatory) are two rising senior artists, multifaceted leaders, and both wise beyond their years. This fall, Sarah and Victor were accepted into Chicago’s 2019 Rising Star Honor Roll and featured in The Chicago Sun-Times. We’re so proud of all they’ve accomplished and the knowledge they continue to share in our communities. Click the links or images below to learn more about their work and watch video features! 
 
 
 
These profiles are part of a series made possible by Allstate as part of its commitment to support young artists in Chicago and to empower the next generation of rising stars.

ChiArts Theatre Alumni Making Major Moves

by ChiArts Communications
Theatre alumni Taylor Blackman will be originating the role of “Emmett Till” in the new Musical adaption of his life titled “Till” at the New York Musical Festival! Taylor shares in a Facebook post,“I am so eager to tell the truth this story holds and implement the importance and tragic loss of this young black child in America. I always had the hope that my art would allow me to tell stories that matter specifically to me and my brown body while also help push the narrative and storyline of humanity itself.” For ChiArts friends in NYC, the show will run from July 23rd-28th at the The Pershing Square Signature Center, click here for tickets.
 
On June 30, theatre alumna Kyrie Courter finished her final performance as Natalie Goodman in Next to Normal at the acclaimed Writers Theatre. And the understudy for Natalie Goodman throughout the show’s run? None other than fellow Theatre alumna Ariana Burks! Ariana also has a featured role in the new Netflix film BEATS, along with ChiArts alumni Evan J Simpson and stars previous scholar-artist Khalil Everage!

ChiArts Visual Artists Selected to Attend Summer Residencies in Colorado & Michigan

by ChiArts Communications

Visual Arts juniors Ari Antos, Monee Bridge, DeAndrea Carr, and Sadie Soria were selected to attend the annual week-long summer residency at the Anderson Ranch Art Center in Snowmass, Colorado. These scholar-artists experienced 40 hours of intensive studio training while in the beautiful Colorado Rockies from June 23 through June 29. In addition to Anderson Ranch Arts Center, juniors Aidan Bell, Cecilia Budzyn, Victor Garcia, and Jenna Lozano were selected to attend an one-week residency at The School of the Art Institute’s Ox-Bow in Saugatuck, Michigan from June 30 through July 6. They took an advance drawing class with Claire Arctander, Chicago artist and Campus Director of Ox-Bow!

Levitate, ChiArts’ Literary & Art Magazine is Featured in Local Book Stores

by ChiArts Communications

Creative Writing has been incredibly busy this past semester! ChiArts Literary and Art Magazine, Levitate Issue No. 3 is now available in five Chicago bookstores: Women & Children First, The Book Cellar, Roscoe Books, Volumes Bookcafé and Quimby’s. We hope you have a chance to visit and pick up a copy! As the scholar-artist editors share on their website, “The purpose of Levitate is to give voice to artists of various backgrounds, especially those who are aspiring, or new to the world of art and writing. We want to share experiences that will bring people together, celebrate the underrated, the overlooked, and artists who are excited and passionate about their work.”

Congrats ChiArts Class of 2019! What’s next?!

by ChiArts Communications
The Chicago High School for the Arts’ 7th class of graduates are off on their next adventure. We’re honored to have been a stepping stone for these future leaders of our world. Did you know that the ChiArts class of 2019 spans universities in 20 states, three countries, and 66 of our scholar-artists are attending local universities in-state?! Get to know more about our recent graduates below: