Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts

Infobox Secondary school
name = Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts
native_name =

established = 1984
type = Public Alternative High school
category_label =
category =
gender_label =
gender =
affiliations =
affiliation =
president =
chairman_label =
chairman =
principal = Kim Bruno
ap music = Bernice Fleischer
ap drama+tech = Brad Vincent
ap dance = Michelle Mathesius
ap art = Sheila Stember
asst principal =
vice principal =
campus director =
headmaster =
dean =
rector =
founder = Fiorello H. La Guardia
chaplain =
head_label =
head =
faculty = 163 [http://schools.nyc.gov/daa/SchoolReports/05asr/103485.pdf]
teaching_staff =
enrollment =
enrolment =
students = 2,492 [ [http://schools.nyc.gov/SchoolPortals/03/M485/AboutUs/Statistics/register.htm NYC DOE School Portal: Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts (M485): Register, Statistics, About Us ] ]
grades_label =
grades = 9–12
address = 100 Amsterdam Avenue
city = New York
state = New York
province =
country = USA
district = 10
oversight_label =
oversight =
accreditation =
campus = urban
colors = Red and White
colours =
athletics =
mascot =
emblem =
yearbook = DAVID (DanceArtVocalInstrumentalDrama)
newspaper = State of the Arts
free_label_1 = Literary magazine
free_1 = "The Lively Arts"
free_label_2 = Merger of
free_2 = The High School of Music & Art (1934)
free_label_3 = and
free_3 = High School of Performing Arts (1947)
testname =
testaverage =
National_ranking =
website = http://www.laguardiahs.org
footnotes =
picture =
image_caption =
picture2 =
image_caption2 =

Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts, also officially known as "H.S. 485" and informally as "LaGuardia Arts" (or to its students, "LaG" and referred to on its website as "La!"), is a high school specializing in teaching performing arts located near the Juilliard School in the Lincoln Center district of Manhattan, on Amsterdam Avenue between 65th Street and 64th Street. The 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 and instrumental music, and theater production.

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 New York City's eight specialized high schools that receives special funding from the New York State legislature through the Hecht Calandra Act. The other schools are Stuyvesant High School, Bronx High School of Science, Brooklyn Technical High School, Queens High School for the Sciences at York College, High School for Math, Science and Engineering at City College, High School of American Studies at Lehman College, Brooklyn Latin School, and Staten Island Technical High School.

History

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; 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 mayorSteigman, Benjamin: "Accent on Talent — New York's High School of Music & Art" Wayne State University Press, 1984 ISBN 0686879759 ] .

The movie "Fame" 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 [http://www.highschoolofperformingarts.com 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 [http://www.alumniandfriends.org 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

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. Fact|date=June 2007.

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, Science and Physical Education, and two years of a Foreign Language. Students who do not meet their studio requirements at graduation leave without a studio-endorsed diploma. Fact|date=June 2007

LaGuardia has offered an honors track to students entering after 2006, known as the DaVinci Program. DaVinci Scholars take more difficult classes 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. Fact|date=June 2007

Notable alumni

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. A more complete list is available at [http://www.alumniandfriends.org/alumniandfriends/page.vsp?page_id=79f5c2a449f14cfc alumniandfriends.org] ] :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
* Steve Stevens
* Roland Vamos
* Arthur Weisberg
* Pinchas Zukerman

Classical Singers
* Jennifer Chase
* Reri Grist
* Isabel Leonard
* Catherine Malfitano
* Julia Migenes

Jazz Musicians
* 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
* Shorty Rogers
* Jeremy Steig
* Dave Valentin
* Kenny Washington
* Larry Willis

Dancers/Choreographers
* Gregg Burge
* Michael Callen
* Altovise Davis (nee Gore)
* Christopher Chadman
* Lola Falana
* Eliot Feld
* 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
* William Gordon
* Erica Jong
* Michael Kahn
* James Howard Kunstler
* Jonathan Lethem
* Lonny Price
* Esmeralda Santiago
* Charles Van Doren
* Sherman YellenProducers
* Steven Bochco
* Robert Greenwald
* Lynne Littman
* David Simon

Singers, songwriters, rappers, pop artists
* Shelley Ackerman
* Carole Bayer Sager
* Marilyn Bergman
* Eagle Eye Cherry
* Jean Grae
* Janis Ian
* Kelis
* Domino Kirke
* Eartha Kitt
* Shari Lewis
* Melissa Manchester
* Liza Minnelli
* Dana Dane
* Laura Nyro
* Mark Rivera
* MC Serch
* Paul Stanley
* Elly Stone
* Mario Vazquez
* Daphne Rubin-Vega
* Suzanne Vega
* Slick Rick
* Eric Weissberg
* Peter Yarrow

Actors
* Kirk Acevedo
* Jennifer Aniston
* Tichina Arnold
* Ellen Barkin
* Richard Benjamin
* 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
* Dagmara Dominczyk
* Ron Eldard
* Omar Epps
* Rick Gonzalez
* Cliff Gorman
* Adrian Grenier
* Anna Maria Horsford
* Jackee Harry
* Paula Kelly
* Yunjin Kim
* Dawnn Lewis
* Hal Linden
* Priscilla Lopez
* Sonia Manzano
* Janet Margolin
* Graham Patrick Martin
* James Moody
* Keith Nobbs
* Al Pacino
* Corey Parker
* Sarah Paulson
* Elizabeth Peña
* Brock Peters
* Suzanne Pleshette
* Tony Roberts
* Jennifer Salt
* Helen Slater
* Wesley Snipes
* Susan Strasberg
* Glynn Turman
* Martha Veléz
* Ben Vereen
* Jessica Walter
* 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
* Edward Sorel
* Daniel Schwartz
* Aaron Shikler
* Burton Silverman
* Larry Walker
* Fred Wilson

Designers
* Milton Glaser
* Isaac Mizrahi
* Rohn Padmore

Applications

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 from November through December. It is difficult to be accepted into the specialized school, considering the thousands of students who audition, from all 5 boroughs of New York. It is not unusual to hear of a student waking up at 4:30 in the morning to catch the ferry from Staten Island into the city, to arrive on time for his or her 0 period class.

LaGuardia High School has no specific feeder schools, except for Mark Twain I.S. 239 for the Gifted & Talented.

Notes

ee also

*Professional Performing Arts School
*Professional Children's School
*School of American Ballet
*

External links

* [http://schools.nyc.gov/Offices/StudentEnroll/HSAdmissions/HSDirectory/Book/?sid=650 School information]
* [http://www.laguardiahs.org/ Official school website] created and supported by the Parents' Association
* [http://www.alumniandfriends.org/ Website of Alumni & Friends] of LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts
* [http://www.alumniandfriends.org/alumniandfriends/page.vsp?page_id=79f5c2a449f14cfc Notable alumni] of LaGuardia Arts and its two legacy schools: Music & Art and Performing Arts
* [http://lagca.com Laguardia Cycling Association] created and run by current students at the school
* [http://www.highschoolofperformingarts.com/ Website of The School of Performing Arts] (1948-1984) Alumni
* [http://www.janelewisdesign.com/Reunion/Sites.htmll] Web sites of alumni of M&A class of 1969