School of the Arts is a progressive alternativepublic middle school and high school in Rochester, NY. Administered by the Rochester City School District, SOTA is located on the corner of Prince Street and University Avenue, within walking distance of the Memorial Art Gallery, Eastman Theatre, Writers & Books, Visual Studies Workshop, and other cultural organizations. The School of the Arts was founded in 1980 as an experimental program at Wilson Jr. High School. In 1981, the school transferred to Monroe High School as was known as the School of the Arts at Monroe. Only grades 7-9 were represented that year. The school stayed at Monroe for many years, eventually becoming a full Jr-Sr. High School, while retaining the name "School of the Arts at Monroe". Until it moved into its current space, when it became "The School of the Arts". School of the Arts has many different after-school arts programs, called Tenth Period. Tenth Period is a class that offers the following classes: Dance, Jazz Band, Theater Technology, Photography, Visual Arts, and Creative Writing. However, Tenth Period was canceled during the 2008-2009 school year, much to the dismay of the students. Another reason for the cancellation of Tenth Period was due to a budget problem. Now Tenth Period is used for test prep, and students have to be accompanied with a teacher, if they are staying after-school. School of the Arts students can audition into the school with one of the following majors: visual arts, creative writing, drama, theatre technology, dance, instrumental, vocal, piano, or strings. Students then starting in their freshman year receive two back-to-back 42-minute classes of their major for the rest of high school. Before these major classes students in the 7th and 8th grade take "roll around" art classes such as technology, art and general music to get an experience of all the arts offered at the school no matter what their major is. Through this students are able to learn and expand their knowledge and love for their art. Students are also able to join various programs by audition. Some of those programs include: Dance Concert, Fall and Winter Productions, "Unaccompanied Minors" a cappella group, Black History Program, Playwrights festival, Senior Jazz and Wind Ensembles, and many more.
Academics
As in other schools, School Of The Arts has academic classes and arts classes. SOTA offers Honors and Advanced Placement classes, Special Education, Spanish 1,2,3 and 4-Honors. Students carry a full academic course load as well as a fine arts sequence. SOTA offers a rich diversity of arts courses within seven major fine arts concentrations:
Creative Writing
Dance
Drama
Instrumental
Piano
Strings
Theatre Technology
Visual Arts
Vocal
Film and television
SOTA was featured in the major motion picture Cherry Crush, where they used the lunch room, theatres, hallways and classroom as the "public school" setting for the main characters Jordan Wells played by Jonathan Tucker and Shay Bettencourt played by Nikki Reed.
On June 4, 2009, SOTA received the Signature Schools Enterprise Award. They were one out of six schools that won the award, which comes with a $5,000 grant. During this award ceremony, students held a silent protest while standing in the lobby with their mouths covered with black duct tape.
On June 9, 2009, SOTA students held another protest against the budget plan proposed by former Superintendent Brizard that plans to cut teachers. The students marched from school to RCSD headquarters and back to City Hall, where they performed things including tap dance, poetry reading, Jazz band, and choir outside of the entrance.
Performances
SOTA puts on two musicals and three plays a year, as well as an annual Dance Concert, music recitals, poetry readings/coffee houses, and other various art performances. The school has also begun celebrating Black History Month with a whole day full of performances dedicated to it.
