It’s Day 316 of “365 Things to do in Cincinnati” and today we took a behind the scenes tour of The School for the Creative and Performing Arts.
The School for the Creative and Performing Arts (SCPA) is located right downtown. This is the first full school year in their new building this year. We were fortunate enough to enjoy a tour of the school today, led by our wonderful tour guide Karen Dorn who serves the Greater Cincinnati Arts and Education Center as administrative manager. The GCAEC is a non-profit organization which was created to raise private sector funds to create the new SCPA space.
The School for the Creative and Performing Arts is called home by about 1400 students and is the only public K-12 art school in the United States. The SCPA is a Cincinnati Public Schools system school. Grades K-3 are admitted by application and grades 4 and up must also audition for admission.
A'niyah getting ready for class
The new building has some spectacular views of the city. And the expanse of windows along the entire school building let in an amazing amount of natural light. And there’s no better place for natural light than an art room….
Above you’ll see one of the art rooms at the school. The room has a wall of windows which overlook 12th Street, Music Hall and Washington Park. What a spectacular view for an art student. The studio is all new, of course, and those students are putting this space to good use. Just look at the incredible piece we got to see in progress…
The school has three large performance venues – The Corbett Theater (seats 750) , The Mayerson Theater (seats 300) and The Black Box Theater (seats 130). We started our tour off in the Corbett Theater which is home for the school’s big productions. It was an absolutely AMAZING space and it’s hard to imagine this is a school’s theater space.
We got to go on stage to see what it’s like to be one of the students and to admire the entire theater. The Corbett Theater stage has very high ceilings which allow for “flying” actors and actresses and the orchestra pit actually sinks down to another level of the building! Off to the side of the stage is a HUGE door that leads to the scenery and prop room.
Students at the SCPA create and build about 95% of the stage. We all agreed this was the cleanest “shop” any of us had ever seen. The students are thankful for this conveniently located stage shop area which allows them to move scenery on and off the stage with ease.
We also got to go into one of the school’s 6 dance studios. This particular dance studio, when fully open, is the same size as the Corbett Theater. Students can rehearse and practice in this studio knowing their show can be replicated, step for step, in the Corbett Theater. You might notice the heavy insulation on the ceiling…
Many of the studios are heavily insulated so that one particularly loud class will not disturb another. I have to admit I really took that pic because I love that light fixture! That’s a big improvement over tacky fluorescent bulbs covered with plexiglass!
The school building is very modern in design with clean lines, industrial elements and bright colors. Massive pieces of student art work hang in the hallways. Everywhere you turn you see an expression of someone’s creativity. But when the kids come out between classes the SCPA looks and sounds just like any school you’d see in any midwestern town.
Special thanks to Karen Dorn for leading our tour today. It was wonderful to see the school and to learn all about the space!
Want to see some of the students perform? The SCPA does a number of productions each school year. The last play for this school year is Sleeping Beauty, a ballet. It starts April 29, 2011 and tickets can be purchased through the Cincinnati Arts Association.
photo courtesy of Lori Knight
The School for the Creative and Performing Arts is located at 108 W. Central Parkway downtown
Great insider views and photos! Think about using video for future tours of places around town for an even greater “insider” feel.