Category: Visual Arts News

ChiArts Spring Productions Feature Conservatory Collabs & Tributes to Black Culture

by ChiArts Communications
The ChiArts production team is preparing for a tremendous spring season with new conservatory collaborations and tributes to Black culture through diverse artistic lenses. This March, look forward to three premieres from the Creative Writing, Dance, and Music Conservatories. The first-ever Dance and Creative Writing collaborative showcase will lead us into the spring season on March 2-3, where dancers become writers and creative writers grow through movement. On March 15, Music presents Tribute to Black Music. Vocal Educator Charles Taylor shares, “The performance will highlight the contribution African-Americans have made to the American and world music tapestry. This year’s subject is The Evolution of the Spiritual, and will take listeners from the birth of the Spiritual to its usage and form in current times.” To close out March, Creative Writing will kick off National Poetry Month with a reading on March 30. 
 
 
 
 
 

ChiArts Launches Summer Camp Registration

by ChiArts Communications
Over the past seven years, ChiArts’ Annual Summer Camp has welcomed over 450 young artists to explore the artistic disciplines of Band, Creative Writing, Dance, Voice, Theatre, and Visual Arts thanks to generous support from the Caerus Foundation. Led by ChiArts teaching artists and alums, campers receive pre-professional training in the arts throughout July. Camp Coordinator and ChiArts Spanish Educator Chris Cashman shares, “At ChiArts Summer Camp, middle schoolers from Chicago get a taste of what it is like to be a scholar-artist at ChiArts. They end up accumulating almost a semester’s worth of classroom instruction, and the vast majority of students say the camp experience positively impacts their decision to pursue ChiArts as a student.” This year, ChiArts Summer Camp will offer programs for grades 6-8 from July 10-28 onsite at ChiArts.
 
 

The Impact of ChiArts’ Arts Conservatory Heads

by ChiArts Communications
Under the guidance of Executive Director Tina Boyer Brown, ChiArts’ Conservatory Heads and Arts Faculty provide over 2,500 hours of tuition-free, pre-professional arts training to every scholar-artist from freshman year to graduation. Learn more about our Arts Conservatory Heads and the visionary leadership they bring to ChiArts!
 

ChiArts’ 3rd Annual Connections Week Success Stories

by ChiArts Communications
On October 13-19, ChiArts hosted its third annual Connections Week. The five-day event connected scholar-artists to post-secondary opportunities with support from a range of well-loved local colleges, to nationally acclaimed universities, to conservatory training programs. Highlights include: a masterclass with the Music Director of Hamilton on Broadway, audition workshops with local universities such as Northwestern and DePaul, one-on-one portfolio reviews, professional development panels from working artists, and evening performances throughout the week.
 
Dance Conservatory senior Raina Wiley took on the week with an inspiring opportunistic spirit! Raina auditioned for ChiArts as a novice with no formal training, but a great passion for dance. Four years later, Raina is now performing for top training programs at Connections Week and pursuing a career in dance. Inspired by Raina’s tenacity, FOX Chicago interviewed Raina about her journey as a scholar-artist. On the live broadcast, Raina shared “My dance experience transformed (while at ChiArts), but I also transformed into an artist and a dancer!”
 

ChiArts’ Most Diverse & Robust Production Season Yet

by ChiArts Communications

The ChiArts Production Department is excited to announce a full slate of shows for the 2022-23 season. The Creative Writing Conservatory kicked off the year with the release of ChiArts Writes: Volume 7 featuring original works of poetry and prose, and the School’s first Fall Festival featured the works of students across multiple conservatories. Later this season be sure to catch ChiArts’ own spin on the classic ballet The Nutcracker, an interpretation of Tarell Alvin McCraney’s play In the Red and Brown Water, the return of First Year, First Look featuring all conservatory first-year students, student-produced cultural showcases, and so much more!

Download the 2022-23 ChiArts production calendar. 

 

 

Congrats, ChiArts Class of 2022!

by ChiArts Communications
Congratulations to The Chicago High School for the Arts‘ Class of 2022! As ChiArts’ 10th graduating class, graduates have completed over 2,500 hours of pre-professional arts training and will join more than 1,000 alumni who are making their way in the world as artists, performers, educators, entrepreneurs, scientists, engineers, and more.
 
 We are incredibly proud of all 130 graduates. As Artistic Director Tina Boyer Brown shares,“Here’s the hope. You are. You are the hope and the promise– not just of the future but of the present.”
 
 

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 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 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!

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: