Frank Sinatra School of the Arts

Last updated
Frank Sinatra School of the Arts
Frank Sinatra Sch of the Arts 35-12 35th Ave jeh.jpg
Address
Frank Sinatra School of the Arts
35-12 35th Avenue

,
11106

United States
Information
FoundedSeptember, 2001
Founder Tony Bennett
PrincipalGideon Frankel
Number of students853
Color(s)Blue and Orange
Website http://franksinatraschoolofthearts.org/

The Frank Sinatra School of the Arts (FSSA) is an arts high school in Astoria, Queens, and it is affiliated with the New York City Department of Education. The school, founded by Tony Bennett, is a major arts high school in New York City offering high school diplomas in six arts majors including fine art, dance, vocal and instrumental music, drama, and film. Each studio has its own dedicated teachers, classrooms, ensembles, and performances/exhibitions where students may showcase their work to the public. All students must audition for admission. Students in every Studio/Major are also allowed to audition for the Musical Theatre elective class, which in the past has put on performances such as The King and I , Anything Goes , The Secret Garden , Carousel , Footloose the musical, Little Shop of Horrors , Jonathan Larson's RENT , Aida , The Music Man , Ragtime , The Phantom of the Opera and Hairspray. Students can also apply for the Stage Craft class that teaches the students to work as a crew for theatre productions and technical theatre.

Contents

The school has an enrollment of approximately 853 students; the student to teacher ratio is 18:1. In comparison to New York City public high schools, this school holds one of the highest graduation rates in the district. In 2009, 96% of the senior class graduated with 97% enrolled for college. The class of 2009 additionally completed 17,000 hours of community service while at FSSA. The class of 2013 completed 20,000 hours of community service and its members, as a whole, were granted approximately $120,000 worth of scholarship money. The school had two students win the Posse Foundation scholarship in the class of 2013.[ citation needed ]

History

The Frank Sinatra School of the Arts, also known as FSSA, was founded in 2001 by singer and painter Tony Bennett along with his wife Susan Benedetto, and is named after the American musician and actor Frank Sinatra. [1] The school was funded through a non-profit organization called Exploring the Arts (ETA). [2] FSSA started out in the DeVry building over at LaGuardia Community College then moved to the C building. It is now located in its own state of the art building near Kaufman Astoria Studios and Museum of the Moving Image. [3] [4]

Related Research Articles

Astoria may refer to:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School</span> Specialized high school in New York City

Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts, often referred to simply as LaGuardia or "LaG", is a public high school specializing in teaching visual arts and performing arts, located near Lincoln Center in the Lincoln Square neighborhood of the Upper West Side in Manhattan, New York City. Located at 100 Amsterdam Avenue between West 64th and 65th Streets, the school is operated by the New York City Department of Education, and resulted from the merger of the High School of Music & Art and the School of Performing Arts. The school has a dual mission of arts and academics, preparing students for a career in the arts or conservatory study as well as a pursuit of higher education. The school has a long history of producing many of the country's most talented artists and is considered to be one of the most prestigious performing-arts high schools in the nation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Astoria, Queens</span> Neighborhood of Queens in New York City

Astoria is a neighborhood in the western portion of the New York City borough of Queens. Astoria is bounded by the East River and is adjacent to four other Queens neighborhoods: Long Island City to the southwest, Sunnyside to the southeast, and Woodside and East Elmhurst to the east. As of 2019, Astoria has an estimated population of 95,446.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cardinal Carter Academy for the Arts</span> Catholic high school in Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Cardinal Carter Academy for the Arts is a Catholic arts high school located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Admission to the school is granted through an audition process. Serving students from grade 7 to 12, it is one of three schools in the Toronto Catholic District School Board that is an elementary and secondary hybrid. The school has been consistently ranked as one of the top educational institutions in Ontario.

The San Diego School of Creative and Performing Arts, known as SDSCPA, is an audition-only public arts magnet school in southeastern San Diego, California, US. The San Diego SCPA is a non-tuition, public, dedicated magnet school in the San Diego Unified School District serving families throughout San Diego County. The San Diego SCPA provides pre-professional training in the arts alongside a college preparatory curriculum. All students audition and complete a required series of specialized arts training in Theater, Music, Dance, Visual and Cinematic Arts, or Creative Writing. Upon graduation, most SDSCPA students continue to universities or conservatories for further study in the arts and academics. Recent acceptances include the Juilliard School, Cornish, Art Institute of Chicago, Curtis, New England Conservatory, Oberlin Conservatory, Manhattan School of Music, Boston Conservatory, Peabody Institute, and CalArts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">High School of Performing Arts</span> Public alternative high school in New York City

The High School of Performing Arts was a public alternative high school established in 1947 and located at 120 West 46th Street in the borough of Manhattan, New York City, from 1948 to 1984.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Etobicoke School of the Arts</span> Public arts high school in Toronto, Canada

The Etobicoke School of the Arts (ESA) is a specialized public arts-academic high school in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Located in Etobicoke, it has been housed in the former Royal York Collegiate Institute facility since 1983. Founded on September 8, 1981, the Etobicoke School of the Arts has the distinction of being the oldest, free standing, arts-focused high school in Canada.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scotch'n'Soda Theatre</span>

Scotch'n'Soda is a student-run theatre organization that resides on the campus of Carnegie Mellon University. Its initial dedication was the creation and production of original musicals, but has now taken to performing both professionally published and student-written materials. Students are welcome to write, compose, design, direct, perform in, and otherwise become involved with every aspect of each production. The organization is open to all Carnegie Mellon students from all backgrounds who are interested, and all performances are public with varying ticket prices.

Howard W. Blake High School is a public magnet high school, with an emphasis on the arts, in Tampa, Florida, United States. It is operated by the School District of Hillsborough County. Originally opened in 1956 as a school for African-Americans, it was integrated as a junior high school after the end of segregation. The current building opened in 1997, when Blake again became a high school.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kaufman Astoria Studios</span> Film studio in Queens, New York

The Kaufman Astoria Studios is a film studio located in the Astoria neighborhood of Queens in New York City. The studio was constructed for Famous Players–Lasky in 1920, since it was close to Manhattan's Theater District. The property was taken over by real estate developer George S. Kaufman in 1982 and renamed Kaufman Astoria Studios.

"The Lady Is a Tramp" is a show tune from the 1937 Rodgers and Hart musical Babes in Arms, in which it was introduced by former child star Mitzi Green. This song is a spoof of New York high society and its strict etiquette and phony social pretensions. It has become a popular music standard.

The Lois Cowles Harrison Center for the Visual and Performing Arts is a high school in Lakeland, Florida, United States. The school was founded in 1989 and named after community member and art patron Lois Cowles Harrison. It is a magnet school that draws its student population from communities throughout Polk County. Students may specialize in dance, classical guitar, orchestra, piano, choir, jazz, theatre, technical theatre, musical theatre, film, visual arts, or creative writing. Students take general education classes at Lakeland High School, located adjacent to Harrison School for the Arts. The school received an expansion in 2008, with renovations and the addition of 95,000 square feet to the building.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Celia Cruz Bronx High School of Music</span> Public school in Bronx, New York, United States

Celia Cruz Bronx High School of Music (CCBXHSM) is the first comprehensive high school of music in the Bronx, New York, United States. The current principal is Jerrod Mabry, who became principal in March 2013 after having taught English and acted as Assistant Principal since the school opened in 2003. Mabry replaced the founding principal, Dr. William Rodriguez, upon his retirement.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Broadway Dance Center</span> Dance school in the United States

Broadway Dance Center is a dance school located at 322 West 45th Street west of Times Square in New York City. It was founded in 1984 as one of the first "drop-in" dance training schools in the world, offering classes in jazz, tap, ballet, contemporary, hip hop and theater.

The Theatre Museum (TTM) is located at 30 Worth Street in Manhattan, New York City. Its mission is to preserve, protect and perpetuate the legacy of theatre, including Broadway theatre. The Theatre Museum continues the legacy of The Broadway Theatre Institute begun in 1995 by presenting Awards for Excellence in Theatre History Preservation and Theatre Arts Education. It currently functions as a museum-at-large and is not open to the public.

Barbara Ingram School for the Arts is a magnet high school that opened its doors for gifted art students in August 2009. Currently there are ten different majors: Theatre, Musical Theatre, Technical Theatre, Vocal Music, Instrumental Music, Dance, Creative Writing, Visual Arts, Computer Game Design and Animation, and Digital Communications. The Literary Arts program was added at the start of the 2011-2012 school year. The CGDA and Digital Communications were moved over from Washington County Technical High in the 2020-2021 year as they were no longer able to support the classes to the student class size needed. The school building is located adjacent to the Maryland Theatre in the arts and entertainment district of downtown Hagerstown, Washington County, Maryland, United States. Despite being a public school, applications and auditions are part of a process needed in order to be accepted and then enrolled. Barbara Ingram School is also unique in that it will accept students not only from all of Washington County but also from proximate Maryland counties and areas in nearby Pennsylvania and West Virginia. Rob Hovermale is the current principal. There are no sports teams originating from the school.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Special Music School</span> Public music school in Manhattan, New York

Special Music School is a K-12 public school that teaches music as a core subject on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, New York City. The school is run as a public/private partnership between the New York City Department of Education and Kaufman Music Center, a not-for-profit, multi-arts organization. The Department of Education funds the academic portion of the students' education, while the music program is funded by private donations through Kaufman Music Center.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kaufman Music Center</span>

Kaufman Music Center is a performing arts complex in New York City that houses Lucy Moses School, Special Music School, and Merkin Hall and the "Face the Music" program. Originally known as the Hebrew Arts School, it was founded in 1952 and is currently located on West 67th Street between Broadway and Amsterdam Avenue. More than 75,000 people use the Center annually.

Kaufman Music Center's Lucy Moses School is a community arts school located on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City. Founded in 1952 as The Hebrew Arts School for Music and Dance, it is now part of Kaufman Music Center, a performing arts complex that houses the Special Music School and Merkin Concert Hall. It is the largest community arts school in the city, and offers lessons to 3,000 children and adults annually.

Toby Barbara Orenstein is an American theatrical director, producer, and educator. She has two honorable mentions for the Tony Honors for Excellence in Theatre. Orenstein was inducted into the Maryland Women's Hall of Fame in 2008. Selected by Eleanor Roosevelt for her federal education project in the Harlem, Orenstein taught Dramaturgy to students in a local public school in the late 1950s. In 1972, at the request of pioneering businessman and philanthropist James Rouse, Orenstein founded the non-profit Columbia Center for Theatrical Arts through which, the nationally acclaimed theatre troupe the Young Columbians was created for the United States Bicentennial. Later, Orenstein established the award-winning Toby's Dinner Theatre in 1975.

References

  1. Finnegan, Michael (1999-04-10). "Tony Bennett plans arts school". Daily News. p. 86.
  2. "Frank Sinatra School of the Arts to pay tribute to late Astoria native Tony Bennett". Astoria Post. 30 November 2023.
  3. Trapasso, Clare (2009-03-10). "Sinatra Kids get new digs: School among 8 getting new buildings" . Daily News. p. 4 via Newspapers.com.
  4. "Frank Sinatra School of the Arts — Story". pentagram.com. 2010. Retrieved 4 February 2024. school is adjacent to the Kaufman Astoria Studios and the Museum of the Moving Image at the intersection of 35th Avenue and 36th Street

40°45′22″N73°55′31″W / 40.75611°N 73.92528°W / 40.75611; -73.92528