- Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts, is a high school specializing in teaching visual arts and performing arts, located near Martin Luther King, Jr. High School and the Juilliard School in the Lincoln Center district of Manhattan, on Amsterdam Avenue school is operated by the New York City Department of Education.
- Although it also offers academic diplomas, the school prepares public high school students for professional careers and/or conservatory study in dance, drama, the visual arts, vocal, instrumental music, and technical theatre.
- Informally known as LaGuardia Arts, or LaGuardia High School, Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts is the only school among the nine specialized high schools in New York City that receives special funding from the New York State legislature through the Hecht Calandra Act.
- The school currently has 2,519 students and 163 staff members, with a teacher-student ratio of 1:15.
- History
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Adjacent to New York's Lincoln Center for Performing Arts, the building that is now home to LaGuardia Arts was opened in 1984 to bring together two "sister" arts high schools of the day, The High School of Music & Art (started by Mayor Fiorello H. La Guardia in 1936) and the High School of Performing Arts, established in 1947. Prior to the building's completion in 1984, Music & Art (a/k/a "The Castle on the Hill") was located on Convent Avenue and 135th Street in what has since become part of City College (CCNY)'s South Campus; the building is home to A. Philip Randolph High School, which continues Music & Art's legacy of greatness in the arts. Performing Arts was located in midtown on 46th Street, both in Manhattan. Mayor La Guardia regarded Music & Art as the "most hopeful accomplishment" of his long administration as mayor.
- The film Fame (originally released in 1980, and remade in 2009) and the TV Series Fame both dramatized student life at the School of Performing Arts prior to its merger into LaGuardia High School, and an Off-Broadway show of Fame was produced in 2003–2004.
- Alumni from LaGuardia and its two legacy schools, Music & Art and Performing Arts, are active in supporting the students and the school through scholarships and support for special programs, school events, and reunions held at the school and throughout the world. The school's alumni organization has a full-time executive director and offices at the school. It functions as an independent charitable organization organized under the laws of New York.
- Curriculum
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Students at LaGuardia take a full academic course load while participating in conservatory-style arts concentration. Each student majors in one studio, choosing from among Dance, Drama, Art, Vocal Music, Instrumental Music, and Technical Theatre.
- Many graduates from LaGuardia continue their studies in universities or conservatories after graduation. .
- LaGuardia follows up to a 12 period day, including one lab per week, yet most students have a 9 or 10 period schedule. Periods are 40 minutes long with a 4 minute break between each period. Each student spends a minimum of three periods in studio classes (four for Dance and Drama majors, whose studios fulfill physical education requirements), and usually five to six periods in English, Math, Science, History, Language, and/or Physical Education, with one period for lunch. By state law, students are required to complete four years of English and History classes, three years of math and science, two years of foreign language, and four years of gym. Students who do not meet their studio requirements at graduation leave without a studio-endorsed diploma.
- LaGuardia has offered an honors track to students entering after 2006, known as the DaVinci Program. DaVinci Scholars take more difficult classes in math and science and participate in a supplementary after-school enrichment program. Students not in the program may still take individual honors classes. LaGuardia also offers Advanced Placement courses in English Language and Composition, English Literature and Composition, Spanish, French, Japanese, and Italian languages, United States History, Calculus AB, Calculus BC, Statistics, Chemistry, Biology, Environmental Science, Art History and Music Theory.
- Notable alumni
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The following people are alumni of LaGuardia High School and its two legacy schools, The High School of Music & Art, and the School of Performing Arts High School.:Composers
- Martin Bresnick
- Cy Coleman
- Morton Feldman
- Charles Fox
- Gerald Fried
- Joel Hirschhorn
- Michael Kamen
- Edward Kleban
- Meyer Kupferman
- Ezra Laderman
- Paul Lansky
- Mitch Leigh
- Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson
- Stu Phillips
- Jonathan Tunick
- Conductors
- Leon Botstein
- James Conlon
- Eve Queler
- Gerard Schwarz
- David Zinman
- Classical Musicians
- Ik-Hwan Bae
- David Braid
- Stanley Drucker
- Bernard Garfield
- David Krakauer
- Steven Lubin
- Murray Perahia
- Joshua Rifkin
- David Rubinstein
- Steve Stevens
- Roland Vamos
- Arthur Weisberg
- Pinchas Zukerman
- David Krakauer
- Classical Singers
- Reri Grist
- Isabel Leonard
- Catherine Malfitano
- Julia Migenes
- Jazz Musicians
- Terry Burrus
- Sterling Campbell
- Bill Charlap
- Ray Chew
- Billy Cobham
- Eddie Daniels
- Kenny Drew
- Sharon Freeman
- Eddie Gomez
- Omar Hakim
- Chuck Israels
- Steve Jordan
- Marcus Miller
- Charnett Moffett
- Noel Pointer
- Shorty Rogers
- Jeremy Steig
- Dave Valentin
- Kenny Washington
- Larry Willis
- Dancers/Choreographers
- Gregg Burge
- Michael Callen
- Altovise Davis (née Gore)
- Christopher Chadman
- Lola Falana
- Eliot Feld
- Annabelle Gamson
- Arthur Mitchell
- Michael Peters
- Desmond Richardson
- Edward Villella
- Media
- David Ehrenstein
- Max Frankel
- Peter Frishauf
- George Lois
- Bess Myerson
- Susan Stamberg
- Directors/Writers
- Lou Berger
- Maurice Berger
- Robert Brustein
- James Burrows
- Charles Busch
- Reggie Rock Bythewood
- Martin Charnin
- Graham Diamond
- Herb Gardner
- Diana Gould
- Peter Hyams
- Erica Jong
- Michael Kahn
- Jonathan Ned Katz
- James Howard Kunstler
- Jonathan Lethem
- Lynn Nottage
- Lonny Price
- Esmeralda Santiago
- Barry Sonnenfeld
- Ray Tintori
- Charles Van Doren
- Sherman Yellen
- Producers / Entertainment Executives
- Steven Bochco
- Robert Greenwald
- Lynne Littman
- David Simon
- Singers, songwriters, rappers, pop artists
- Shelley Ackerman
- Nat Adderley, Jr.
- Carole Bayer Sager
- Marilyn Bergman
- Eagle Eye Cherry
- Inaya Day
- Jean Grae
- Janis Ian
- Kelis
- Domino Kirke
- Eartha Kitt
- Shari Lewis
- Melissa Manchester
- Men Of Vizion
- Liza Minnelli
- Dana Dane
- Laura Nyro
- Mark Rivera
- MC Serch
- Nicki Minaj
- Paul Stanley
- Elly Stone
- Mario Vazquez
- Daphne Rubin-Vega
- Suzanne Vega
- Slick Rick
- Eric Weissberg
- Heather Leigh West
- Peter Yarrow
- Actors
- Kirk Acevedo
- Jennifer Aniston
- Geoffrey Arend
- Tichina Arnold
- Ellen Barkin
- Richard Benjamin
- N'Bushe Wright
- Chastity Bono
- Julie Bovasso
- Adrien Brody
- Cara Buono
- Charles Busch
- Northern Calloway
- Diahann Carroll
- Thom Christopher
- Keith David
- Michael DeLorenzo
- Dom DeLuise
- Robert De Niro
- Alex Désert
- Dagmara Dominczyk
- Ron Eldard
- Omar Epps
- Carla Gallo
- Sarah Michelle Gellar
- Rick Gonzalez
- Cliff Gorman
- Adrian Grenier
- Anna Maria Horsford
- Jackee Harry
- Ben Harney
- Paula Kelly
- Yunjin Kim
- Dawnn Lewis
- Hal Linden
- Priscilla Lopez
- Sonia Manzano
- Janet Margolin
- Graham Patrick Martin
- Paul McGill
- James Moody
- Keith Nobbs
- Ana Ortiz
- Al Pacino
- Corey Parker
- Sarah Paulson
- Carl Anthony Payne II
- Elizabeth Peña
- Brock Peters
- Suzanne Pleshette
- Tony Roberts
- Jennifer Salt
- Helen Slater
- Wesley Snipes
- Susan Strasberg
- Glynn Turman
- Martha Veléz
- Ben Vereen
- Jessica Walter
- Merritt Wever
- Lesley Ann Warren
- Marlon Wayans
- Steven Weber
- Billy Dee Williams
- Vanessa A. Williams
- Architects
- Charles Gwathmey
- Robert Siegel
- Artists & Illustrators
- Justin Bua
- James Bama
- Will Elder
- Audrey Flack
- Mary Frank
- Laurence Gartel
- Milton Glaser
- Michael Grimaldi
- Dean Haspiel
- Al Jaffee
- Wolf Kahn
- Cora Cohen
- Allan Kaprow
- Harvey Kurtzman
- Josh Neufeld
- Reginald Pollack
- Robert Riger
- Edward Sorel
- Daniel Schwartz
- Aaron Shikler
- Burton Silverman
- Larry Walker
- Fred Wilson
- Marian Zazeela
- Designers
- Milton Glaser
- Isaac Mizrahi
- Applications
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Students are accepted based on auditions (Dance, Drama, Instrumental Music and Vocal Music) and portfolios (Art and Technical Theater). Their academic and attendance records are also scrutinized with most incoming students scoring at least a "3" - meeting standards - on their seventh grade standardized exams. Auditions are held in November and December.
- It is difficult to be accepted into one of the specialized schools, considering the thousands of students who audition, from all 5 boroughs of New York. Those auditioning for LaGuardia must realize that chances of securing a spot depend upon the ratio between the number of spots and number of applicants within that specific department; in other words, some departments are harder to get into than others. In the instrumental department, auditions are separated even further; the child would be competing only against children who auditioned on the same instrument, and therefore it is harder to get in using very common instrument then on a less common one.
- Sports
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LaGuardia offers 21 different sports on the Varsity level. It is one of 8 schools in New York City which still runs the Gymnastics Program. During the 2007–2008 season, there were notable achievements including the Boys Volleyball Team winning their division undefeated for the first time since the program started. Seniors Nick Millner, Danny Su, Ivan Ng, and David Estioco led the team to a 12-0 record while defeating their main rival Stuyvesant High School two times.
- LaGuardia High School has no specific feeder schools. Mark Twain I.S. 239 for the Gifted & Talented has been known to be a feeder school, but is not officially one.
- Notes
- See also
- Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts alumni
- Professional Children's School
- Professional Performing Arts School
- School of American Ballet
- External links
- Official school website created and supported by the Parents' Association
- Laguardia Cycling Association created and run by current students at the school
- Notable alumni of LaGuardia Arts and its two legacy schools: Music & Art and Performing Arts
- School information
- Website of The School of Performing Arts (1948–1984) Alumni
- Manhattan VIII 2008–2009 Standings
- Source: Wikipedia; it is used under the GNU Free Documentation License. You may redistribute it, verbatim or modified, providing that you comply with the terms of the GFDL.
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