February 14, 2012

Hubbard Street Dance Chicago coming to Grand Center Arts Academy, Feb. 15-19th!

We are thrilled to host the Hubbard Street Dance Chicago members at Grand Center Arts Academy this week. They will be performing four shows with the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra. To buy tickets click here!
The company will use our ballet suite for daily company rehearsals from Wednesday through Sunday, giving them easy access to Powell Hall, directly across the street from our building. Our dance students will be able to observe these rehearsals on Wednesday and Thursday of this week, offering a rare and exclusive opportunity to see an internationally recognized and honored dance group close up.

From 10:00-11:30 A.M., this Saturday, February 18th, There will be an exclusive workshop for GCAA’s advanced and intermediate dancers in our 6th floor ballet suite.
We request that all participating dancers be accompanied by a parent or guardian. Doors will open at 9:30 A.M.
(Dancers have been selected by our dance instructors)

Categories Events, Announcements, Featured

Posted By Dan Rubright

February 11, 2012

Dancers as Athletes! Watch this Video!

http://video.nytimes.com/video/2012/02/08/sports/100000001322750/dancer-as-athlete.html?ref=sports

Categories Featured

Posted By Dan Rubright

February 7, 2012

Students in the Spotlight: Leo Ramsey currently appearing in “The Way to Heaven”…

GCAA student, Leo Ramsey, is currently appearing in “The Way to Heaven” at the New Jewish Theater through Feb12. This is a new play by Spanish playwright, Juan Mayorga, and is inspired by the true story of the elaborate deception that took place at the Theresienstadt concentration camp during World War II. For More information please visit: http://www.newjewishtheatre.org/productions/category/2011-2012_productions

Categories GCAA: In the Spotlight!, Uncategorized

Posted By Dan Rubright

January 30, 2012

GCAA After School Filmmaking Course to start Thursday, Feb., 2, 2012!

The Grand Center Arts Academy will offer a new after school filmmaking course, taught by Neil Brown, a local filmmaker. The following is an outline of the course and basic information about sign-up and what to expect.

GCAA After School Filmmaking Course

• Teacher: Neil Brown (Parent of Trenton Brown, Filmmaker)
• Day of course: Every Thursday from 3:35 to 5:30 p.m.
• Starts Thursday, February 2, 2012 (ends the final week of school)
• Location: South Café, GCAA
• Seeking a few parent or other volunteers to assist the class. Need to be passionate about film! No formal training needed.
6:1 teacher/student ratio.
• Equipment will be provided. (Editing may require additional time)
• No cameras needed for the first week. Lack of camera not a factor.
• We want kids who are jazzed about film and will fully commit.
• The first 30 people to signup will be included. Full applications will be handed out after the first session. Signed up students
can come the first week before committing to the entire course.
• To reserve your child’s space, CONTACT Dan Rubright at drubrightataqsdotorg or leave a voice mail at 533-1791 x30116

Course Outline:

Week 1: Beginning, Middle, and End – How to Tell a Story with a Movie – students will learn and participate in the concepts of narrative, script writing, motifs and story boarding

Week 2: Mise-en-scene: The Visual Art of a Movie – students will learn and participate in the concepts of framing shots, props and sets, basics of the video camera

Week 3: Mind Games: How to Control What the Audience Feels – students will learn and participate in the subtle tricks of camera angles, sound, and lights

Week 4: The Actor: The Most Important Tool of the Movie – students will learn and participate in auditions, casting, table reads, acting-for-the-camera, and waiting

Week 5: Make-up and Wardrobe – students will learn and participate in the use of simple make-up work and costume design

Week 6: Directing – students will learn and participate in the jobs of a director and other key positions during production (sound man, grip, gaffer, a.d.’s, p.a.’s, script supervisor, etc.)

Weeks 7 through the end of the Semester: The Real Thing – students will now use their new skills in the creation of an online six-episode web series, starring local actors and produced on-location at GCAA. Post-production, including editing and foley (sound effects), will be discussed during this time.

Throughout production, students will be encouraged to work on their own individual projects each week, using leaders and fellow students as resources.

Categories Events, Announcements, Featured

Posted By Dan Rubright

January 24, 2012

GCAA About to Complete the Ensemble Espanol Three-Week Dance Residency

Professional dancer and teaching artist, Julia Hinojosa with Ensemble Espanol, is currently leading a 3-week dance workshop for students at GCAA.  Last Spring GCAA presented an Alvin Ailey Dance Theater workshop for our dance students and in October of 2011 GCAA presented a three-week ballet residency with Elizabeth Auclair, a teaching artist with the Martha Graham Company.   These partnerships have been made possible by Dance St. Louis.   We are most appreciative of their continued support of GCAA’s dance department. (For information about tickets to see Ensemble Espanol live visit: www.dancestlouis.org)

Categories Uncategorized

Posted By Dan Rubright

January 12, 2012

GCAA’s FIRST NIGHT EVENT A HUGE SUCCESS!!

GCAA turned it’s street level cafeteria space into a rousing Coffee and Bake House for this year’s First Night Celebration.  The Grand Center Arts District overflowed with more than 20,000 people. We converted or south side cafe, literally at the corner of Grand and Grandel Sq.  into a cool “night club” style stage, and the result was “electric.” “Unstoppable,” our show choir  started things off with a high energy performance. Next up were the Fox Talent Showcase winners, followed by a short set by some of our string players.  The last set featured GCAA’s vocal and instrumental talent show winners. All performers did a great job and the audience was very vocal in its support all evening.  The 80′s decorative theme , the mood lighting and the overall vibe truly created a creatively conducive setting. Mr. Cowell, our vocal teacher at GCAA, and Mr. Martin, our instrumental music teacher did a tremendous job  getting all their students ready to perform. The coffee and Bake house proceeds helped us raise over 1,100 dollars.  Our parent volunteer leaders did an extraordinary job: Rhonda Holt (donated coffee and beverages and served all night). Lisa and Caitlyn Blassie did and amazing job with the decorations.  Jennifer Kaempfe took the lead in baking and helped in other ways as well. Dave Heagle anchored the production team (donating his time, his sound and lighting equipment). Kathleen Spillers, was a huge help in various ways including  bringing in the bright orange sofas and chairs …genius…Many thanks to Mindy Carney, Robbie Engel and Bill Engel, a terrific musician and sound engineer.  He ran sound for the evening. AND EXTRA SPECIAL THANKS TO ALL OUR PARENTS WHO BAKED FOR US,  SERVED FOOD AND BEVERAGES, WORKED AS GREETERS, HELPED WITH OVERSIGHT AND SAFETY.  THANKS TO ALL OUR STUDENTS WHO PERFORMED SO WELL AND TO ALL OUR TEACHERS WHO WENT BEYOND THE CALL OF DUTY TO HELP MAKE THIS HAPPEN!

Here are some pics of the event from our Facebook page. Enjoy..

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=317748621599251&set=a.317748504932596.74022.112307465476702&type=1&theater

Here is a link to a First Night performance by two of our string students, Xuan, Xuan Casaregola, violin (left) and Joerdan Carney, violin, (right).  Mr. Martin, on cello anchors the trio.


 

Categories Events, Announcements

Posted By Dan Rubright

January 5, 2012

GCAA 2011 Summary Statement Released

Summary Statement 2011

Grand Center Arts Academy LEA recently received an unqualified opinion on an audit of the district’s Financial Statements for the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2011.  The areas covered under the audits, were accounting of financial statements, compliance with state law and compliance with laws governing federal programs.  An unqualified opinion is the best opinion any organization can receive. RubinBrown, LLP performed the audit.

The report states, in part “in our opinion, the financial statements referred to above present fairly, in all material respects, the respective financial position of the governmental activities and each major fund of the Academy as of June 30, 2011, and the respective changes in financial position for the year then ended, in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America.”

Grand Center Arts Academy LEA uses two major funds to account for its financial activity — the general fund and teachers’ fund.  Among both funds, the report states that Grand Center Arts Academy LEA had total revenue of $2,104,006 for the 2011 fiscal year. 2011 revenues by fund were $1,091,235 for the general fund and $1,012,771 for the teachers’ fund.

The report shows that general revenues accounted for $1,548,831 in revenue or 74% of all revenues.  Program specific revenues in the form of operating grants and contributions accounted for $555,175 or 26% of total revenues.  The Academy had $4,671,678 of expenditures in fiscal 2011.

The auditors report showed in total, net assets of $(2,567,672) at fiscal year end 2011.  The report shows balances for the general and teachers’ funds totaled $1,147,523 at fiscal year end 2011.

The audit report can be viewed online by visiting www.grandcenterartsacademy.org and clicking on the Finance link.

Categories Featured

Posted By Dan Rubright

December 13, 2011

GCAA Opens The “Muse” Coffee House and Talent Showcase on New Year’s Eve!!

First Night St. Louis, an annual New Year’s Eve Arts Festival in the Grand Center District will add a new kid on the block: The Grand Center Arts Academy!!  Please make plans to join us for this truly special event!!  We’ll be celebrating more than the New Year…

GCAA will turn into a very cool coffee house showcasing many of our talented students as well as outside guests.  Volunteers will be providing great coffee options, hot chocolate, as well as wonderful baked items.  All sales from food and beverages will help support GCAA and the P.A. Our  south side cafeteria will be transformed into a funky, comfy, coffee house, with ambient lamps and cabaret tables, full of holiday scents… and best of all some sizzling performances you will not want to miss! The place will be rockin’.  It should be a great night to gather as families, friends along with guests from the community.

For more information about First Night please visit: http://www.grandcenter.org/directory/festivals-events/first-night/

Here is the “Muse” Cafe’s lineup for December 31, 2011:

7:15-7:45     Unstoppable: GCAA’s Show Choir (Pure Energy)

8:00-8:45   Fox Theatre’s annual local talent show winners

9:00 Fireworks

9:15-9:30    GCAA’s String Players

9:30-10:50 GCAA’s Talent Showcase Winners (Winners will be announced Fri., Dec. 16th.) Stay tuned…

We still need volunteers for the night: We will be e-mailing and posting specific areas where we’ll need some help. You can also e-mail Mindy Carney at mc2Writerataoldotcom to add your name to the volunteer list.

First Night® is a community celebration of the coming of the New Year expressed through the arts. First Night’s® mission is to broaden and deepen the public’s appreciation of the arts through an innovative, diverse and high quality program which offers the community a shared cultural experience that is accessible and affordable to all. In order to maximize the participation of people of all ages, First Night® is a non-alcoholic event.

Categories Events, Announcements, Featured, Uncategorized

Posted By Dan Rubright

November 30, 2011

Student Handbook

GCAA Student Handbook2011-2012

Categories Uncategorized

Posted By Lynne Glickert

August 25, 2011

GCAA: Library Fund Drive-How You Can Help Today!

Dear GCAA families:

As you know, your children have entered GCAA’s WONDERFUL new facilities for their middle and high school years. One of the beautiful rooms in our new school is the library, though as you may have noticed it doesn’t yet look much like a library! There is no 2011/2012 budget for shelving or other resources, however there is a fantastic and immediate opportunity to acquire library shelving at rock bottom prices.

The recent closing of Borders means that high quality (good condition) shelving for books can be purchased at about 1/10th the price of new. After deeply considering this, we decided we needed to act quickly while the stocks were still available. One of our parents, Diane Gray took the lead role in financing the purchase of a large quantity of excellent wall and free-standing shelves to outfit our library. Now it’s our turn to show our commitment to our kids and rally behind this effort and Diane’s leadership.

So please consider what you can give, as we have a very short window in which to turn this around.

I am asking you to consider making a tax-deductible gift to the GCAA library fund. We are grateful for donations of any amount of course, but for those who can give $100 or more, this would help us greatly. There will also be a wine/cheese reception for donors only after installation.

We need additional commitments over coming days totaling $5000. Please consider asking friends or family (grandparents, aunts, uncles, neighbors, etc.) for a donation in support of your child’s library. I think you’ll be surprised by how others will jump in and want to make a difference in this way.

Please make your check out to: GCAA Library Fund and deliver it to Dan Rubright through the school’s main office or send a check to: Grand Center Arts Academy,
Att: Library Project, 711 N. Grand Blvd. St. Louis, Missouri 63103

THANK YOU!
Dan Rubright, Director of Arts and Community Partnerships,
Grand Center Arts Academy drubrightataqsdotorg

We believe a school’s library is a vital part of our student’s educational life: a place to find tranquility, study, explore, find wonder and inspiration and fall in love with books…Great libraries, like cool bookstores, have a warm inviting culture all their own. Having student book clubs, hosting guest authors, storytellers and various speakers all come to mind. In essence we are community building through the literary arts. Thanks for joining our effort!

Categories Uncategorized

Posted By Dan Rubright