Pinellas County Center for the Arts

File:Pccalogo.jpg

PCCA Logo'

Pinellas County Center for the Arts (PCCA)

Program Administrator	Ralph M. Nurmela M.S.
School type	Public / Magnet School
Religious affiliation	None
Founded	1984
Location	St. Petersburg, FL, USA
Enrollment	500
Faculty	39
Campus surroundings	Urban
Mascot	(None)
School colors	Silver and Black

The Pinellas County Center for the Arts is a center for excellence in the visual and performing arts. It provides a comprehensive educational program of artistic, academic, and creative development, and preparation through pre-professional arts training toward advanced study at the collegiate level.

Program at a Glance

• Four periods are academic core classes; three are classes in arts concentration
• Faculty are practicing professional artists who have a passion for sharing their expertise with students
• Brand new, state-of-the art facility- the largest building project in Pinellas County School history
• State-of-the art professional blackbox theatre
• Special master classes with visiting artists
• Full production season
• Frequent performance opportunities
• Involvement in the arts community of the greater Tampa Bay area
• Daily learning from professionals in the arts
• Audition/resume/portfolio preparation
• Scholarship opportunities

History

In 1979, John Blank, an administrator in the Pinellas County Schools, felt a need for an emphasis in the arts within the school system. Through his leadership and guidance, a preliminary survey of the County's students, facilities, and communities was taken and Mr. Stan Lee Boss was sent to Dallas, Texas for an on-site visit of their visual and performing arts schools.

A need for an artistically talented program was recognized and several teachers, supervisors and county administrators undertook the task of applying for a federal research grant. With the approval of the school board, a full time director was provided to work with three Gibbs High School arts instructors, three supervisors and an administrator to prepare a model project for the artistically talented students for the State of Florida. After some thirty on-site visits to well-established secondary schools and programs, a model was written for the State of Florida, published and distributed to all sixty-seven county school superintendents and known arts supervisors.

Dr. Scott Rose, with the approval of the School Board, chose as one of his five year objectives the development and implementation of both the Artistically Talented Program (now known as PCCA) and an Academically Talented Program (now known as the International Baccalaureate Program at St. Petersburg High School).

After several years of hard work and dedication by those originally involved in implementing PCCA, this school of the arts officially began in late August of 1984. There were approximately 200 9th and 10th graders starting school; it was hoped that eventually the student population would reach 400. As of today, the number of students attending PCCA is about 500, fairly equally divided among the four major disciplines, Dance, Theatre, Music, and Visual Art.

The Program

The PCCA curriculum is centered on individualized instruction and concentrating on the student's selected artistic major. Through blocking courses with two to three hour segments of time, the student has the opportunity to develop a work in depth while the teacher is afforded time to work individually with the students as well as provide guest artists and field trips without impinging on the student's daily four academic classes.

Artistic Disciplines

Dance is divided into Modern Dance and Ballet. Music has Vocal, Instrumental, and Keyboard. The Theatre program is segmented into Performance Theatre, Technical Theatre, and Musical Theatre. Visual Arts, the most populated discipline, has many phases including painting, sculpture, photography, printmaking, and ceramics. All instructors are practicing artists who also serve as mentors to their students. Local, regional, and nationally acclaimed professional artists conduct master classes as well as perform at the school. A high percentage of students earn scholarship money to further their education.

Admissions

Admittance to PCCA is through application, audition, and acceptance. Auditions are held in the middle part of each school year so that the accepted student has time to be properly scheduled for 9th grade.

Prominent alumni

Theater

• Juli Crockett - Playwright, Theater director, retired (undefeated) professional boxer and amateur champion, and lead singer of the alternative country band The Evangenitals(tm). (Class of 1995)
• John Cecil - Screenwriter and director, “Hell’s Gate”
• *Michelle Dowdy - Broadway Actress, Currently in Hairspray playing Tracy Turnblad
• Kathleen Monteleone - Actor, Played Irene in the film Tax Day, Competitor on television series "Grease: You're the one I want"
• Jonathan Sullivan - Gospel music, Backup vocalist for Clay Aiken, Broadway Theatre Project

Visual Art

• Simon Boses - Professional Artist, Sculptor
• Joshua Field - Professional Artist, joshuafield.com
• Erik Jones - Illustrator of "God is in the Refrigerator"
• Colette Taber - Professional Artist colettetaber.com

Dance

• Carmela Gallace - Principal dancer with the Moiseyev Dance Company in Moscow, Russia and “Riverdance”.
• Henry Jackson - David Parsons Dance Company.
• Kelly King - Radio City Rockette dance captain, Resident dance instructor for Broadway Theatre Project.
• Michelle Kuusela - Tampa/Colorado Ballet, the New England Ballet and St. Petersburg Concert Ballet. Faculty member at the Academy of Ballet Arts Inc.
• Ephraim Sykes - Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater
• Tammi Ward - The Atlanta Ballet, Miami City Ballet, and Florida West Ballet.
• Jeff Wolfe - BalletMet, has worked with renowned choreographers including Stanton Welch and Randy Duncan.

Music

• Joe Brotherton - Jazz Trumpet, Freelance and with the band Central Heat
• Thomas F. Chelf, Jr. - Orchestral Percussionist, Has performed with Florida Symphony Orchestra, Valley Symphony Orchestra in South Texas, for President Bill Clinton and her Royal Majesty, Elizabeth II of Great Britain.
• Toly Chichov - bass player for This Transmission.
• Justin Clay Perry - Keyboardist/Arranger on albums by the likes of Beyonce, Christina Aguilera and Michael Bolton (Class of '92)
• Kevin Rivard - French Horn for the Florida Orchestra, Winner of the National Foundation for the Advancement of the Arts Competition
• Dylan Glatthorn - Composor of the musical "Manifesto"