By BRIGID KIMERY VANCE World Staff Writer
Central High School soon will have the chance to live up to its title of Academy of Fine Arts, thanks to some federal funding. Central, 3101 W. Edison St., is one of four Tulsa high schools to receive a U.S. Department of Education Magnet Schools Assistance grant. The Tulsa World previously reported that $11,627,064 was awarded to establish magnet programs at Hale, Webster, McLain and Central high schools. Of that, $3.5 million will go to Central, Principal Suzette Huggins said.
When Huggins came to Central as a guidance counselor 10 years ago, she was excited to be part of a new fine-arts magnet in Tulsa. Lack of funding, however, caused the program to fall by the wayside. A decade later, Huggins' return to Central -- this time as principal -- coincides with a second, fully funded attempt at an arts academy in Tulsa Public Schools. The money will contribute to a complete overhaul of the arts department. "It's not like anything Tulsa's ever seen," Huggins said of the new program. Starting in the fall, Central will boast a glassworks studio, metalwork lab and ceramics studio, as well as a black-box theater, recording studio and ballet dance floor. Students will choose a strand, or track, to follow from visual arts, theater, arts management or dance, Huggins said. She added that the arts management strand is unique among Oklahoma high schools. The funding also will allow the administration to bring specialists to instruct exceptional students in particular areas, such as singing opera or playing the organ. "I'm amazed at what we can do -- what we'll be able to do with the grant," Huggins said. Denise Davis, director of fine arts, agreed.
"I think the best part of all this is, all the years we've been trying to accomplish this, we finally have the funding ... to get the ball rolling," she said. The new recording studio also will be open for the community to use. In the glassworks studio, students will make everything from tiles to beads, said Jill Hammer, visual arts coordinator. Current ninth- and tenth-graders will audition for the 2008-09 school year, and current juniors can choose to enroll at another magnet school in town. "Our goal is to make sure the kids are going where they want to be," she said. Auditions will take place throughout February.
Central staff returned from a trip to New York to visit Brooklyn High School of the Arts and LaGuardia High School, both arts magnets, shortly before December's ice storm. There they found inspiration in Brooklyn's program. "Brooklyn is what we want to be," Hammer said, emphasizing the engagement and warmth of the student body. "(LaGuardia) was an institution. ... It was cold. It was sterile." Throughout the process, thinking back to the school's earlier attempt at an integrated arts program fills Huggins with resolve to make it work this time. "I will not let these kids down," she said.
Minutes of last meeting:
We met on October 23, 2006. Those minutes are posted on the website http://www.chs60.com/news3.php.