Arts Schools Network

We’d like to express our appreciation for our fabulous Assistant Director, Ms. Nicole Michel. Ms. Michel has been in her role for five years, serving the FAC community with poise and professionalism. She is a strategic thinker, an attentive listener, and a problem solver; a mentor to students and a trusted leader to the faculty and staff.

Ms. Michel will be moving on at the end of the school year into a full time role as Managing Director of the - she will lead the organization that represents schools like the Fine Arts Center across the country. We are so grateful for her service and the significant impact she made during her time with us. Lucky for us, we get to continue to work with her through our engagement with ASN.

Thank you, Ms. Michel. Best wishes to you as you continue leading, influencing, and inspiring.

Arts Schools Network proudly congratulates Freddie Hendricks of Utopian Academy for the Arts in Ellenwood, Georgia on receiving the 2026 Excellence in Theatre Education Award from the Tony Awards and Carnegie Mellon University!

At its best arts education does more than teach performance skills; it helps young people discover their voices, understand their stories, and recognize the power they have to shape the world around them. Through more than 30 years of teaching, Freddie Hendricks has embodied that mission with extraordinary care, creativity, and purpose.

His work reminds us that great arts educators leave lasting marks on stages and productions as well as on the lives of their students. We celebrate this well-deserved honor and the enduring legacy Freddie continues to build through theatre education.

Read the full story here: https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/new-york/articles/2026-05-11/tony-award-for-educators-won-by-a-georgia-teacher-who-stresses-self-empowerment-and-storytelling

Gratitude!

As Arts Schools Network celebrates 45 years of excellence, we’re proud to spotlight a powerhouse founding member: the world-renowned School for Creative and Performing Arts (SCPA) in Cincinnati. 🎨🎭🎺

A true pioneer in public education, SCPA made history in 1973 as the nation’s first magnet school to offer a comprehensive K–12 arts curriculum. Its visionary “corridor of excellence” has since become a global model for how the arts can drive academic achievement, foster diversity, and transform communities.

Located in a stunning, state-of-the-art campus in downtown Cincinnati, SCPA offers a rigorous conservatory environment where students don’t just study the arts, they live them. From kindergartners discovering their voice to seniors taking their final bow, SCPA nurtures the whole artist through a powerful blend of technical training and academic rigor.

SCPA alumni have shaped the global cultural landscape for decades earning Emmy, Grammy, and Tony awards, leading major orchestras, and performing with world-renowned dance companies. They continue to influence the arts as performers, innovators, and culturally engaged leaders. 🌟

For more than 50 years, SCPA has shown that when young people are empowered through the arts, they don’t just succeed, they soar.

Join us in celebrating SCPA’s founding legacy and its enduring commitment to the next generation of artists. 🎶🩰🖌️

45 years ago, William Lawrence of English High School of Visual and Performing Arts in Boston, Massachusetts helped found what would become the Arts Schools Network, shaping a national movement for arts education.

That legacy lives on through Boston Arts Academy, Boston’s only public high school for the visual and performing arts and a powerful example of what access and excellence can look like in public education.

Boston Arts Academy is an audition-based school where students with artistic potential grow as artists, scholars, and leaders. Drawing students from across the city, it reflects the richness, diversity, and creative spirit of Boston itself.

With its commitment to equity, rigorous arts training, and strong academic foundation, Boston Arts Academy continues to inspire the next generation and carry forward the vision that helped launch a national network 45 years ago.

Here’s to a remarkable founding legacy and to the artists who continue to shape the future. 🎶🎨🩰

✨ As the Arts Schools Network celebrates 45 years of impact, we are honored to spotlight one of our founding schools, the legendary Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts.

Known to many as the “Fame” school, LaGuardia’s story begins with a bold vision that artistically gifted students deserve both world class arts training and an exceptional academic education. Founded in 1936 by New York Mayor Fiorello H. LaGuardia as the High School of Music and Art, and later joined by the School of Performing Arts, LaGuardia became the nation’s first publicly funded high school dedicated to the arts. In doing so, it set a model that would inspire arts schools across the country and around the world.

At its core, LaGuardia’s mission remains as powerful today as it was at its founding. The school provides conservatory level arts training alongside rigorous academics, empowering students to grow as artists, scholars, and engaged citizens.

What makes LaGuardia truly extraordinary is its dual commitment to discipline and imagination, to craft and curiosity. Students pursue intensive training in their chosen art form while engaging in a challenging academic curriculum, demonstrating that excellence in the arts and academics does not compete, it elevates.

And the results speak for themselves.

LaGuardia’s alumni have shaped the cultural landscape for generations on Broadway stages, in concert halls, on film screens, and far beyond. From icons like Al Pacino and Jennifer Aniston to groundbreaking contemporary artists like Timothée Chalamet and Nicki Minaj, LaGuardia graduates continue to influence the creative industries and the world.

But perhaps its greatest legacy is not fame; it is possibility.

For nearly a century, LaGuardia has demonstrated what happens when public education fully embraces the arts. Students emerge as confident collaborators, innovative thinkers, and culturally engaged leaders prepared to shape the future in any field they choose.

As we celebrate 45 years of ASN, we honor LaGuardia not only for its history, but for the path it continues to light for arts schools everywhere. 🎭🎶🎨

We’re thrilled to celebrate the incredible young writers from Arts Schools Network member schools whose work has been selected for publication in “Let Me See What You See,” the writing selections from the 102nd Scholastic Awards!

“The Scholastic Art & Writing Awards recognize creative excellence—and just as important, they provide a space where talented teens can find each other and build community.” This year’s publication represents the remarkable voices of the 102nd class of award recipients, showcasing originality, insight, and the power of storytelling.

👏 Please join us in congratulating the following students from ASN member schools:

🥇 Anna Castro Spratt, South Carolina Governor’s School of the Arts and Humanities - Gold Medal Portfolio
🥇 Lillian Hughes, Charleston County School of the Arts - Gold Medal Portfolio
🥈 Seal Kirtley, Interlochen Arts Academy
Lila Hayes, Charleston County School of the Arts - Silver Medal Portfolio
🥇 Nadia Olian Vust, Perpich Center for Arts Education - Gold Medal Flash Fiction

Your words inspire, connect, and remind us why the arts matter. We are so proud of your achievements and can’t wait to see where your creative journeys lead next!

“Poetry is a life-changing force… something as necessary as bread in the pockets of the hungry.” -Mary Oliver

April is National Poetry Month, and at the Arts Schools Network we celebrate the students, teachers, and poets who dare to put truth into words, who find rhythm in everyday moments, and who remind us that language has the power to transform.

Your words matter, your voices are heard, and your art changes lives. ✨📖

🎷✨ Celebrating Excellence in Jazz Education! ✨🎷

We’re proud to recognize the Arts Schools Network member schools selected as finalists in Jazz at Lincoln Center’s prestigious Essentially Ellington High School Jazz Band Competition & Festival!

👏 Congratulations to:
• Alexander W. Dreyfoos School of the Arts (FL)
• Orange County School of the Arts (CA)

Being selected for Essentially Ellington is an extraordinary honor highlighting musical excellence and a deep commitment to the legacy of Duke Ellington and the future of jazz.

These outstanding student musicians and educators represent the very best of arts education, and we celebrate their artistry, dedication, and achievement on a national stage.

🎶 We can’t wait to see (and hear!) what they bring to New York City this spring!