Participants in artsPOWER try out an improvisation exercise.
A group works on their musical skills.
Sculptor Paul DiPasquale talks to students about is work.
Students work on movement.
Students create "blackout" poems in the day's first exercise.
The day begins with a creative writing assignment.
The artsPOWER group gathers after their daylong experience.

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Collegiate Hosts Daylong Arts Collaboration for Area High Schools

3/31/2017

A brief power outage served as the perfect introduction as Collegiate School welcomed students involved in the arts from six area high schools today to artsPOWER, an event the School has participated in for 10 years.

The daylong event, themed The Adjacent Possible, served as an opportunity for 56 students from St. Christopher’s School, Trinity Episcopal School, St. Catherine’s School, Henrico High School, Appomattox Regional Governor’s School, Saint Gertrude High School and Collegiate to collaborate with like-minded individuals who enjoy the process of creating art in any form, be it music, visual arts, writing, dance or theater. Participating students gathered in the Hershey Center for the Arts and Sharp Academic Commons throughout the day.

Mike Boyd, Collegiate’s Director of Performing Arts, who helped organize today’s event, welcomed the students by saying that the lack of electrical power would not deter them because “we’re artists and we go with the flow.”

During the day, students broke into teams and took part in four workshops involving the various art categories. The workshops were facilitated by Collegiate faculty members Allen Chamberlain (creative writing), Bryan Hooten (music), Steve Perigard (theater) and Kara Priddy (dance), as well as Richmond-based professionals including actor/director Susan Sanford, musician and composer Kevin Estes, choreographer Vicki Fink, theater director Brendan Kennedy, sculptor Paul DiPasquale and dancer, actor and artist Katherine Dipasquale.

Gray Mewborn, a senior from Henrico High School, wanted to participate in artsPOWER because the event format offered a variety of opportunities.

“I want to be involved in the arts in some way in the future,” she said, “and I wanted to experience things I have never tried before.”

Cameron Lovings, a sophomore at St. Christopher’s School, attended artsPOWER last year and enjoyed working in all the different areas.

“It’s a time to explore mediums of art that I’m not as familiar with,” he said.

In the first session, Ms. Chamberlain led students to create a “blackout” poem, which played off nicely with the day’s initial lack of electricity. In the exercise, students pulled out certain words from newspaper articles creating unexpectedly powerful short poems.

“Many of these sessions will pull students out of their comfort zones and force them to think differently, but ultimately, allow them to see how all the artistic disciplines are connected,” Mr. Boyd said.

The groups then collaborated to create original pieces that they shared with fellow participants later in the afternoon.

“One of the added benefits to the day is that the students work together rather than compete on an athletic field or academic event,” Mr. Boyd said. “The day is all about building community and strengthening partnerships with people who share the common bond of being an artist.”

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