Education Department Announces 2015 New York State Summer School of the Arts

Applications are currently being accepted for the 2015 New York State Summer School of the Arts (NYSSSA). Auditions begin in January and will be held throughout New York State. A complete schedule of audition sites, application materials and program information is available on the NYSSSA website at www.oce.nysed.gov/nysssa.

"The Summer School of the Arts provides over four hundred of New York State's most talented high school students the opportunity to study with professionals in the visual and performing arts," said State Education Commissioner John B. King, Jr. "The Board of Regents and I encourage students to apply to this great summer program."

Founded in 1970, NYSSSA is a program of the State Education Department. The program provides talented high school students the opportunity to study with some of the world’s foremost artists in the visual and performing arts. Four weeks of intensive work and interaction with internationally acclaimed artists and performing arts companies, such as the New York City Ballet and the Philadelphia Orchestra, give students a unique opportunity to experience the rigors of their chosen arts field. Click here for a video featuring students from the 2014 School of Dance.

THE SCHOOL OF BALLET will be held June 28 – July 25 at Skidmore College and the National Museum of Dance in Saratoga Springs. The program is directed by New York City Ballet Principal Dancer Daniel Ulbricht and provides a professional experience for 60 of New York State’s most gifted young dancers. Through tickets provided by the Saratoga Performing Arts Center (SPAC), students attend all of the New York City Ballet performances and other guest company performances at SPAC and receive daily instruction from internationally acclaimed guest artists. http://www.oce.nysed.gov/nysssa/SOB/

THE SCHOOL OF CHORAL STUDIES will be held July 5 – August 1 at SUNY Fredonia. The program offers students the opportunity for concentrated study in individual voice instruction, diction, theory, ear training, music history, and musical theatre. Students also participate in the NYSSSA Choir, under the direction of Dr. Hugh Ferguson Floyd, a nationally acclaimed choral director and performer. The program, co-sponsored by the New York State School Music Association (NYSSMA) includes a daily choral rehearsal, private voice instruction, and intensive classes in musicianship, musical theatre and opera scenes, as well as public performance opportunities at the college and at the famed Chautauqua Institution.  http://www.oce.nysed.gov/nysssa/SCS/

THE SCHOOL OF DANCE will be held July 26 – August 21 at Skidmore College and the National Museum of Dance in Saratoga Springs. Under the direction of Carolyn Adams, former Paul Taylor Principal Dancer, students study with a diverse faculty of nationally acclaimed dancers and choreographers. Students take daily classes in Limon, Graham, Horton, Cunningham and Taylor technique, as well composition work, repertory, and performance. Students also work with well-known companies and choreographers-in-residence such as Robert Battle and Danny Grossman. http://www.oce.nysed.gov/nysssa/SOD/ 

THE SCHOOL OF MEDIA ARTS will be held July 4 – July 31 at SUNY Oswego. Under the direction of Robert Harris, a nationally known media educator and videographer, the program consists of a review of media fundamentals, instruction in new techniques and processes, instruction in aesthetics, surveys of contemporary work, trends and ideas.  Co-sponsored by the New York State Art Teachers Association (NYSATA) and the New York State Media Arts Teachers Association (NYSMATA), students are immersed in production work in the areas of 16 mm film, digital, video, electronic sound art and computer animation and intermedia. http://www.oce.nysed.gov/nysssa/SMA/ 

THE SCHOOL OF ORCHESTRAL STUDIES will be held July 26 – August 22 at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs. The program is co-sponsored by the New York State School Music Association (NYSSMA).  The School of Orchestral Studies has a unique partnership with the Philadelphia Orchestra and SPAC, providing students with an opportunity to study with the world-class musicians of the Philadelphia Orchestra and attend performances at SPAC, while living and working in a professional environment as members of a symphony orchestra. http://www.oce.nysed.gov/nysssa/SOS/ 

THE SCHOOL OF THEATRE will be held in July 12 – August 8 at SUNY Delhi. The program provides students with intensive instruction in acting, movement, improvisation and voice, working side by side with nationally recognized faculty.  Under the artistic direction of Peg Denithorne, daily classes include acting, improvisation, scene study, voice, and movement, along with guest artist workshops in stage combat, mask work, Shakespeare, playwriting, tango, directing, and acting technique.  http://www.oce.nysed.gov/nysssa/SOT/

THE SCHOOL OF VISUAL ARTS will be held July 4 – July 31 at SUNY Fredonia. Directed by acclaimed artist and Metropolitan Museum of Art educator, Randy Williams, and co-sponsored by the New York State Art Teacher’s Association (NYSATA), students work in sculpture studies, mixed media, figure studies, printmaking, drawing and painting, landscape drawing and painting and figure sculpture under the direction of noted exhibiting artists and educators. The program includes drawing and painting from live models, 3- dimensional installations, modeling life-size objects in clay, practice with printmaking techniques and field trips. http://www.oce.nysed.gov/nysssa/SVA/ 

Students are accepted into the schools through a competitive audition process conducted by the artistic staff. Tuition rates are maintained at a modest level and tuition assistance is available, enabling every student who qualifies the opportunity to participate in this life-changing program.

NYSSSA serves an important need to foster and enhance the artistic abilities of the state’s most gifted young artists regardless of race, religion or economic status. Follow-up studies on the program have identified former students who now hold positions within top professional companies around the world.

For more information, please contact:

The New York State Summer School of the Arts

State Education Department

Office of Cultural Education

Cultural Education Center, Room 10D79

Albany, NY 12230

(518) 474-8773

nysssa@nysed.gov

or visit our website at www.oce.nysed.gov/nysssa/

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