Summer N E W S L E T T E R

#CAArts SUMMER N E W S L E T T E R

Spring Dance Concert, 2017

Dear Friends and Families, IN THIS ISSUE From our February Showcase (in front of the largest Academy audience ever), to our 35th-Anniversary Gala fundraiser in May, to the 100- plus concerts, recitals, exhibits, plays, musicals, and shows produced throughout the year, this school year has been a testament to the power 2017 Gala - 2 & 3 of The Academy’s educational model to create the conditions necessary for young artists to thrive. Last Minute Applications - 4 At last week’s commencement ceremony, acclaimed author and journalist Summer Program - 4 Howard Reich encouraged our the Class of 2017 to “go for it, under any circumstances” in an inspiring speech about the nature of our dreams, Alumni Profiles - 5 passions, and paths through life. And “go for it” they will! With nearly $9 million in scholarship support from the nation’s leading colleges, Around The Academy - 6 conservatories, and universities, our graduates are now setting forth on a breathtaking variety of paths, including ballet, business, acting, computer science, filmmaking, neuroscience, songwriting, and dozens more. Young Men’s Dance Initiative - 7 Our alums have had a spectacular year as well. From José Ramos’ lead Summer Alumni Party - 7 role in Hamilton, to Lalah Hathaway’s two Grammys, to Justin Tranter’s BMI Songwriter of the Year award and important work with GLAAD, to Tyler All-School Showcase - 8 Schwartz’s entrepreneurial success as the founder and CEO of Chess at 3, to many hundreds of others, our alums continue to make in an impact in Performance Highlights - 9 the arts and well beyond.

Germinate - 12 It is an extraordinary time to be a part of the Academy community, and we thank you for being a part of it.

Class of 2017 - 13 —Jason Patera Head of School Summer Newsletter

35th ANNIVERSARY GALA 35th ANNIVERSARY GALA

Thank you for making last month’s 35th Anniversary Gala an absolutely joyful evening and tremendous fundraising success! Student work performed and on display during the Gala was a stunning celebration of The Academy’s world-class educational programs. And, thanks to the outpouring of generosity from our incredible sponsors and donors, we grossed more than $360,000 in record-breaking support for The Academy’s programs and tuition assistance! Current and alumni families, civic and business leaders, arts patrons, trustees, faculty, and staff came together to help ensure that exceptional young artists continue to have access to this incredible community.

On behalf of the Gala Host Committee, the Board of Trustees, and the entire community of The Chicago Academy for the Arts, we thank you!

Sincerely,

Emily Barr & Scott Kane and Kelly & Michael Finnerty Co-Chairs

If you were unable to attend the 35th Anniversary Gala, please consider making a fully tax-deductible contribution in support of The Academy’s programs and tuition assistance. Right now, your gift may either be directed to department specific needs or to general school priorities. First select your amount, then select your gift designation.

Donate to The Academy!

Click here to watch the “This is The Academy” Video Summer Newsletter

35th ANNIVERSARY GALA Summer Newsletter

Still Accepting Applications!

Summer is here, but it is not too late to submit an application to The Chicago Academy for the Arts for the 2017-2018 school year!

Click below to start your application and schedule your audition, and please contact the Admissions Office with any questions! See below for the 2017-2018 Admissions Season Calendar. Registration will be open for these events in August.

START YOUR APPLICATION Marsha Abramson, 2017

2017-2018 . ADMISSIONS CALENDAR

9/28 – 5:30PM…………………….....…..Academic Night 1/03 – 9AM.....…..…………….……...... …..ISEE 10/11 – 9:30AM…………………….……….Parent Coffee 1/04 – 9AM.....…..…………….……...... …..ISEE 10/26 – 5:30PM………………………….Academic Night 1/06 – 9AM.....………..……….……...... …..ISEE 10/28 – 8:30AM……………….….....…..…..Audition Day 1/12 – 4PM.……………..….……..Application Deadline 11/7 – 9:30AM……………………………….Parent Coffee 1/13 – 8:30AM………...….…….....………..Audition Day 12/09 – 8:30AM……….……….……...... …..Audition Day 1/18 – 5:30PM…………..…..……...…..Academic Night 12/16 – 9AM...Independent School Entrance Exam 3/22 – 3PM…………………..…7th Grade Preview Day 4/28 – 3PM…………………..…7th Grade Preview Day

THE ACADEMY SUMMER PROGRAM BEGINS ON JUNE 26TH!

REGISTRATION IS STILL OPEN FOR DANCE, MEDIA ARTS, MUSIC, MUSICAL THEATRE & THEATRE, AND VISUAL ARTS.

DETAILS June 26 – 30, 9am – 3pm Each day will include a lunch break and structured time with students from each department. Each arts program will present work at the Academy Summer Program Showcase on Friday, June 30 at 3pm.

GRADE LEVELS The program is designed for students entering the 7th, 8th, and 9th grades.

Caroline Kenworthy (Media Arts CAROLINE KENWORTHY ‘ 11) graduated from The Academy with a Dean’s Scholarship to Sarah Lawrence College where she studied writing. During her senior year she took a course in web design, and after graduating, she participated in a short- term web developer intensive. She now works for the creative agency Someoddpilot, focusing on front-end development. Recently she has worked on designing interactive experiences for Wolverine Worldwide (Saucony, Sperry, Sebago) and Nike. Caroline recently stopped by to talk to computer science students at The Academy!

Caroline’s Story

TYLER SCHWARTZ Tyler Schwartz played saxophone in the Academy Music Department and graduated in 2003. He later went to The New School in New York to study Jazz Performance, and began playing chess as a hobby with his saxophone teacher. Later while working at a chess shop in Greenwich Village and playing competitive chess at nights, he got a call from someone who asked if he could teach the game to 3-5 year olds at her preschool. Tyler is now the founder and CEO of Chess at Three, a leading company in early childhood chess education!

Tyler’s Story Summer Newsletter

AROUND THE ACADEMY

I WISH I HAD KNOWN A SCHOOL LIKE THE CHICAGO ACADEMY FOR THE ARTS Tim Butler, Director of Marketing and Communications

“Each morning when I walk into The Chicago Academy for the Arts, I join an extraordinary place where innovation and creation feel tangible and alive. I am part of a one-of-a-kind community of artists and thinkers, students and faculty, that impress me more with each passing week. It truly feels like a place like no other, and one I wish I could have experienced earlier in my life.”

THE IMPORTANCE OF TEACHING LITERARY ANALYSIS Nadyja Von Ebers, English Department

“At The Chicago Academy for the Arts, our English department is centered heavily around literature and literary analysis, which is to say: reading, interpreting, and discussing literature of many forms and genres in order to make cogent written and verbal arguments about it. As we are propelled forward into the changing landscape of the digital age, we as educators frequently assess what types of courses and objectives should be included in our English department.”

READ MORE Summer Newsletter YOUNG MEN’S DANCE INITIATIVE

The Chicago Academy for the Arts is seeking three elite-level male dancers for our 2017-18 freshman class. Selected dancers will receive financial aid and scholarships (up to the entire cost of tuition) funded by theRusty and Jeffrey Sanfilippo Young Men’s Dance Initiative. Led by world-renowned choreographer Randy Duncan, The Academy’s Dance Department is one of the leading preparatory institutions for top colleges and dance companies in the country.

Please contact Kitsana Salyphone, Director of Enrollment Management for more information and to schedule an audition! More Information

SUMMER ALUMNI PARTY 6PM - Thursday, August 10th, 2017

Dear Alums, The second-annual Patera Era Chicago alumni party will be on Thursday, August 10! There will be live music, food, and plenty of embarrassing photos from the archives. We want to send off the Class of 2017 in style, as well as welcome as many alums as we can from the 80s, 90s, 00s, and 10s. And, we’ll announce the winner(s) of the soon-to-be-announced 2017 Alumni Grant Program. (More on this soon!) You’re going to be there, right? RSVP below. NYC/Boston alums—get in touch with me and we’ll get to work planning an East Coast party! Happy summer, everyone, Jason

RSVP HERE! Summer Newsletter

PERFORMANCE HIGHLIGHTS

SHOWCASE This year’s Showcase was an extraordinary event! We are thrilled that so many of you could be a part of the largest audience in The Academy’s history to celebrate the Academy community and honor a legendary educator in Tim Tynan. If you would still like to donate to the Faculty Legacy Award Fund, please click below.

Thank you again to our incredible students, parents, faculty and staff, trustees, donors and supporters, alumni, and friends who made the 2017 Academy All-School Showcase such a special night.

Stay tuned for details regarding the 2018 Academy All-School Showcase taking place in February.

Donate to the Faculty Legacy Award Fund

Dance Department, Time After Time She Kills Monsters

Tim Tynan Receives 2017 Academy Faculty Legacy Award Academy Jazz Quintet ft. Meghan Krueger Summer Newsletter

SECOND SEMESTER PERFORMANCES

Merchant of Venice

Dance Department Class of 2017

Caitlin Morley in The Tempest

Johnny Rabe and Ella Spencer Senior Choreographed Dance Concert in Cymbeline Summer Newsletter

Spring Dance Concert Spring Dance Concert

She Kills Monsters Summer Newsletter

Winter Jazz Concert Visual Arts Spring Exhibition at Jazz Showcase

Visual Arts Spring Exhibition

Winter Jazz Concert at Jazz Showcase

Seussical

2017 Opera Team Jason in the Circus Showcase Summer Newsletter

Wake Up Mom An Animation by Jackie Tang

Sisters A Film by Reade Wildman

The next edition of Germinate will be published in November! The Academy Media Arts department will begin reviewing submissions in August. Interested young artists are invited to submit their work for consideration! Submissions are accepted year-round.

Germinate is an online journal that features a curated collection of poetry, fiction, animation, and film from Academy students, Academy alumni, and amateurs and professionals within and outside the Academy community.

Latest Edition!

Jason in the Circus Showcase Summer Newsletter

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE CLASS OF 2017!

JONATHAN ZIEBARTH PAUL HARTNER ISABEL BALL MEDIA ARTS VISUAL ARTS DANCE The Academy offers exposure to different kinds of art, but also to different kinds of people. You truly get all walks of life here, and it opens your mind.”

-Isabel Ball

MARSHA ABRAMSON MADISON OLSZEWSKI EVAN BOERSMA VISUAL ARTS MUSICAL THEATRE DANCE We’re confident her experience being part of the Academy community has helped create the foundation necessary for a happy and healthy life. I’m certain she feels the same. It doesn’t stop within those red doors.”

-Michele Abramson, Mother of Marsha

ERIKA BAUTISTA PRESTON PEREZ CLEO JUNKER INDIA HOBBS THEATRE MUSIC VISUAL ARTS DANCE Summer Newsletter

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE CLASS OF 2017!

JULIA BORRELLI BRITTANY BARLIN FIONA RENTERIA WOODY WU MUSIC MUSICAL THEATRE MUSICAL THEATRE MUSIC

KAREN SZCZECH ALLY AHERN SAMANTHA GLASSE MUSICAL THEATRE MUSICAL THEATRE I have my foundation. I’ve gained knowledge and experience, and I’ve gone through the bad times, perhaps maybe not being prepared for rehearsal, and learning from that. And now I’m ready to move on and take this next step on this path that I’ve wanted since I was little.””

--Karen Szczech

LUKE SUNDERLAND CLARA GRAYSON FRANCESCA IORI ELLA SPENCER MUSIC VISUAL ARTS DANCE MUSICAL THEATRE Summer Newsletter

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE CLASS OF 2017!

JAMIE WEISS HANNAH DICKERSON ISABELLA RICKE SIMON SCHUH MEDIA ARTS MUSICAL THEATRE DANCE DANCE

VICTORIA WHEELER NOLAN MARCHI IZZY CHERN MUSICAL THEATRE MUSIC THEATRE

The more I took risks, the more I learned something. I can only go forward at that point. I think that has made me the actor that I am.”

-Izzy Chern

READE WILDMAN KORGAN ROBB MALLORY PARGULSKI MEDIA ARTS MUSIC MUSIC I’m obsessed with it. Art drives me and fuels me, and it never feels like a chore. I think that separates great artists from good ones.”

-Reade Wildman Summer Newsletter

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE CLASS OF 2017!

NICOLE DEGRASSE-MITCHELL GABRIELLA BARONE JA’NA BAYLOR

MEDIA ARTS THEATRE THEATRE As a parent, this has been one of the most rewarding investments yet. My child has grown, and become empowered as she heads into adulthood because of her experiences at The Academy.”

-Michelle Baylor, Mother of Ja’na

ISABELLE GILLMAN GISELLE DIAZ KASSI BATES The Academy is MUSIC DANCE DANCE wonderful, small, nurturing environment. She has excelled both academically and musically. It is so special that on a daily basis my daughter is surrounded by other emerging artists her age and they all feed off each other.

-Sharon Gillman Mother of Isabelle

ÁNGELA VALDIVIESO COURTNEY DUNCAN DANCE DANCE

All photos by Thomas Mohr Photography.

NOT PICTURED: MARK FINNERTY - MUSICAL THEATRE QUAY KINDLE - MUSIC JACKIE TANG - MEDIA ARTS