Download - Idyllwild Arts Academy Viewbook
IdyllwildA R T S ACA D E M Y
You dream about the life you want. You know you can make it happen someday.
Now imagine a school where you can live that life, a place where you can reach
the heights you’re dreaming about–now. If this is your dream, then Idyllwild
Arts Academy is your dream come true. • Imagine living, working and study-
ing in a community of people like yourself–a community powered by talent,
driven by dreams, a community of students and teachers who are passionate
about the arts. That is the Idyllwild Arts Academy, the only arts-based board-
ing school on the West Coast, and one of only three independent boarding
high schools (grades 9-12) for the arts in the United States. • At Idyllwild, the
arts infuse and inform all aspects of your life and learning, whether you are
deep in rehearsals, immersed in a project, learning French in preparation for
a trip to France or exploring advanced concepts in math. We look at the world
as you do, through the eyes of an artist. That is what we mean by an “arts-
based” education. • We are dreamers here, but serious ones. The work is hard.
We offer you a rigorous college-preparatory education as well as world-class
training and opportunities in the fine and performing arts–the possibilities
are boundless.
We are dreamers here, but serious ones.
Throughout the day, we challenge you to think critically and search deeply for connections.
We are here to educate the whole you. In fact, although we divide the school day between
academic courses (which begin at 8:00 and run until 1:00) and specific arts training (which
varies by discipline and occupies the afternoon and, often, the evening), we make no
distinction in our approach to education between you as an academic student and you as
an arts major.
At Idyllwild, you are simply yourself, and you will find the artist’s perspective as pervasive
in your academic courses as in your arts training. In the words of one of our academic
department heads, “We see artists as the prime movers of our culture, and we work hard to
impart that belief to our students.”
Throughout the day, we challenge you to think critically and search deeply for connections.
The intellectual environment is similar to college—we encourage you to work hard and to
be responsible for your choices. You’ll find your teachers supportive and eager to help you
work independently. Because our academic curriculum includes the traditional sequence
of English, history, math, science, foreign language and physical education courses, you will
graduate ready to enter top colleges and universities in the United States and abroad. If you
are an international student, our English as a Second Language (ESL) program will prepare
you for higher education in the United States.
A R T S & A C A D E M I C S
You will also be prepared to compete for admission to world-class conservatories, art schools and professional companies.
Our arts program provides demanding pre-professional training in dance, music, visual art, theatre, moving pictures,
and creative writing. You can major in any of these disciplines or combine your interests as an Interdisciplinary Arts major.
While the curriculum varies according to discipline, the work required by each department reflects our commitment to
training the whole artist. Your teachers at Idyllwild are professionals who will work closely with you to help you develop
the skill, discipline and knowledge to mature as an artist. As one arts teacher remarked, “Students reach plateaus at
Idyllwild, but we don’t let them stay there.”
Whatever your passion, we will challenge you to work to your highest level of achievement and share with you pride in
your accomplishments.
Think of yourself here as an apprentice in the writer’s craft,
striving to master the intricacies of giving voice, style and
form to imagination and emotion. It is difficult, painstaking
and exhilarating work. You will learn to read closely, think
critically and practice disciplined revision.
WRITINGCreative
WRITING
In workshops you will develop the writing and
language skills to explore a variety of literary
genres and the vocabulary to offer intelligent,
supportive feedback to your fellow writers.
We will encourage your creative powers and
prepare you for the demands of competitive
college writing programs.
C R E AT I V E W R I T I N G
Faculty members are professional writers and teachers who will work closely
with you as you hone your craft and experience the process of literary creation.
Together, you can design independent study projects focused on your particular
interests. Specialized literature courses, focusing on analytical skills and the
study of technique, complement the writing workshops because we want you
to understand the relationship between meaning and an author’s choice of
narrative style, point of view, structure and characterization. Masterclasses
by guest artists such as international bestselling author Brady Udall and
Colorado Prize for Poets winner G.C. Waldrep provide insight into the “writing”
life, while workshops with faculty and writers-in-residence allow you to study
a wide variety of genres in depth, from poetry and fiction to playwriting and
screenwriting. Students studying playwriting collaborate with the Theatre
Department for a staged reading of their work.
All students regularly give public readings, submit work to important writing
contests for high school students as well as print and online journals, and apply
for summer program scholarships. Other professional experiences, such as off
campus events and funding opportunities, are pursued.
...from poetry and fiction to playwriting and screenwriting.
As a young dancer, you’ve been
dreaming about your future. When
you arrive at Idyllwild, you will find
your vision enlarging to embrace new
opportunities. Our job is not simply
to train you as a dancer, but to help
you discover your natural role in the
world of professional dance. Free to
focus on and experiment with dance,
many of our dance majors reshape
their childhood dreams.
DANCE
Rigorously trained ballet students may blossom in
jazz or modern dance. Students once intent on lives as
performers sometimes discover that they were born
to choreograph. Whatever direction your dream takes
you, as an Idyllwild dancer, you will have the technical
and artistic versatility to succeed. Our curriculum
concentrates on both technical expertise and artistic
expression. At the core is ballet, which provides an
appreciation of beauty, the joy of movement and
an awareness of the human body as a finely tuned
instrument. You will prepare for the stage by working
daily on the artistic aspects of theatrical dancing: style
and projection, phrasing and musicality. By applying
the laws of physics to the principles of classical ballet,
we help you acquire healthy and efficient movement
habits. You will then apply these skills to the other
dance techniques you will study every week, such as
modern and jazz. Through the classwork in modern
dance, you will learn to use weight, gravity, space and
D A N C E
Whatever direction your dream takes you... you will have the technical and artistic versatility to succeed.
momentum—all natural sources for movement—as
the basis for technical ability and choreographic
creativity. With its emphasis on the articulation of the
torso and pelvis, modern dance training will help you
develop the strong and supple body necessary for a
long career.
Our schedule also includes classes in dance composi-
tion, anatomy, body conditioning, tap, dance history,
music for dancers and dance appreciation. As part of
our injury prevention program, you will be evaluated
individually once a year by a kinesiology consultant,
and you will learn the best ways to accelerate your
progress in terms of strength and flexibility.
All of our dance majors participate in the master
classes offered throughout the school year by visiting
guest teachers. Our proximity to Los Angeles and San
Diego gives us easy access to performances by the
world’s most renowned dance organizations.
ARTSInterdisciplinary
As an Interdisciplinary Arts major at Idyllwild, collaboration and exploration
in two or more disciplines of your choosing, will be your primary approach.
The goal of the Interdisciplinary Arts major at Idyllwild Arts Academy is the cultiva-
tion of a community of thoughtful, creative and aware artists who are versatile,
accomplished and articulate. The program is designed to provide a wide variety
of experiences and training in two or more disciplines of the student’s choosing.
In addition to the core Interdisciplinary Arts curriculum, students’ schedules are
tailored to their individual interests, encompassing intensive training in at least
two areas of the arts.
I N T E R D I S C I P L I N A R Y A R T S
Students enrolled in the Interdisciplinary
Arts program study the relationships among
various art forms, as well as new and tradi-
tional movements in the arts. An emphasis
on critical thinking and evaluative skills is an
integral part of the program.
In the first year, the core curriculum provides an introduction to artistic apprecia-
tion and practice and studio habits for the less experienced artist. The processes of
creation and training are studied in depth. The Interdisciplinary Arts major is a
place where students can explore different disciplines, leading to choice of and
commitment to one of our pre-professional majors, or continued exploration,
leading to a lifelong appreciation of the arts.
An emphasis on critical thinking and evaluative skills is an integral part of the program.
Lights, camera, action! If you want to tell stories through
moving images, we’ll help you translate your ideas into
film, video, and multimedia. In our Department of Moving
Pictures you’ll hone your talent and get the solid education
and technical expertise you’ll need to pursue your dream.
PICTURESMoving
PICTURES
Film schools are looking for the great visual storytellers of tomorrow, people with a distinctive voice and knowledge of literature and the humanities.
Filmmaking is a collaborative endeavor, and as you develop your projects, you’ll find versatile talent all around you. In addition to screenwriting,
film history, acting for the camera, and scoring, you’ll learn the practical craft of production, using cutting-edge digital equipment. You’ll use our
sound stage, editing stations, and specialized software to shoot, edit, and dub your productions.
Film schools are looking for the great visual storytellers of tomorrow...
M O V I N G P I C T U R E S
Our mountaintop campus outside of Los Angeles is ideally located to tap industry talent.
You’ll work with some of the most accomplished names in the business. Recent master
classes featured a designer (The Majestic) on creating storyboards, a key grip (About
Schmidt) on laying dolly track, a cinematographer (Paris Is Burning) on lighting scenes,
and an operator (Being John Malkovich) on handling a Steadicam.
By the time you apply to leading college and university film programs, you’ll definitely
have the edge.
As a musician, you will find an inspiring and
encouraging haven at Idyllwild. In the solitude of
a pine forest, your aspirations become realities.
Our graduates are among the most serious and
talented musicians of today who go on to the
finest colleges and conservatories in the world.
MUSIC
MUSIC
Your music curriculum will focus on performance and be supplemented by
classes such as music theory and history. While nearly one third of our student
body is music majors, classes remain small with great emphasis placed on
personalized attention. Students attend weekly private lessons from the finest
professionals in Southern California. Your studies are further enhanced with
master classes and recitals by some of the world’s leading performers.
M U S I C
In addition to solo practice time, our instrumentalists rehearse several hours a week in chamber ensembles. Pianists study piano literature, keyboard
skills and accompanying. Voice majors participate in voice performance and ensemble classes, study diction for singers and opera literature. Jazz
students learn to improvise and work with combos to develop an individualized style. Guitarists can participate in classical and jazz ensembles.
While some ensembles are open to all students, participation in performances of the Idyllwild Arts Academy Orchestra, one of the premier youth
orchestras in the world, is by audition only. The IAAO performs regularly on campus, in and around Southern California and has given concerts in
prestigious venues across the United States.
Our job is to prepare all of you for a wide range of successful professional careers in music.
THEATREThe resources to make a successful life in the
theatre are already within you. Discovering,
understanding, developing and, ultimately,
trusting them—that will be your fundamental
task as a Theatre Arts student here.
THEATRE
Our department is Stanislavsky based, and we incorporate self-use techniques to guide you
toward greater self-awareness. This is concentrated pre-professional training for serious
students of theatre—the same level and intensity of training you will find in college-level
conservatory theatre programs.
This is concentrated pre-professional training for serious students of theatre...
Theatre faculty will help you develop a program of study based on personal interest
and your level of training, assessed by auditions each fall. Prior to your junior year,
we encourage you to take courses in related disciplines such as music or visual art. At
the start of your junior year, you will select one of three areas of concentration: acting,
design, or musical theatre. Actors and musical theatre students study movement,
combat, dance, voice and speech, theatre history, mask for characterization, and
improvisation, as well as the required sequence of acting classes. A musical theatre
concentration requires additional study of voice, music theory, dance and participation
in a musical theatre repertory workshop.
T H E AT R E
In the design concentration, technical classes like costume and
make-up design, scene painting and stage management provide
vital career skills and critical insight into the many components that
make up a theatrical production.
Sustaining a career in the world of professional theatre requires
extraordinary determination, discipline and drive. Helping you
understand that reality, we believe, is the best preparation for
making intelligent choices about higher education and your career.
Visualize this: art studios open and accessible throughout the
day and evening, all the materials you need at your fingertips,
a work space entirely your own, exposure to a variety of studio
arts, and personalized attention from talented, caring teachers.
This, we believe, is the environment most conducive to helping
you develop your artistic instincts, and that is our primary goal.
ARTVisual
Our faculty are professionals in their fields who continue to have their own work exhibited.
V I S U A L A R T
Pre-professional training at Idyllwild begins with your exploration
of fundamental artistic process and technique. As an entering
visual art major, you will take an art survey course and eventually
go on to complete one year of art history, a drawing class each year,
and choose among elective courses such as painting, animation /
screenprinting, computer graphics, sculpture, ceramics, new genres,
digital photo and photography. In small classes your teachers will
help you incorporate verbal and visual communication skills,
historical perspective, fundamental theory and critical thinking
into your own creative expression.
Our faculty are professionals in their fields who continue to have
their own work exhibited. Like you, they are passionate about art
and eager to share that feeling with you as you grow and work
together. Often prominent contemporary artists show their work
in the Exhibition Center and give workshops in concepts and media
beyond our formal curriculum. In addition, we organize trips to
important art exhibits at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art,
Los Angeles galleries, the Getty, Armand Hammer Museum and the
Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles.
Your senior year at Idyllwild will be filled with preparation for
college: distilling a portfolio and planning your senior show.
Throughout that process we will encourage you—as we have from
the start of your education here—to discover your own unique way
to reaffirm the world’s need for art.
American Academy of Dramatic Arts
Art Center College of Design
Barnard College
Berklee College of Music
Boston Conservatory
Boston University
California Institute of the Arts
Carnegie Mellon University
Chicago Art Institute
Cleveland Institute of Music
The Colburn School Conservatory of Music
Columbia University
The Cooper Union School of Art
Cornell University
Cornish College of the Arts
Curtis Institute of Music
Eastman School of Music,
University of Rochester
Fordham University
Hampshire College
Hartt Conservatory, University of Hartford
Juilliard School
Kansas City Art Institute
Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts
Lynn University
Manhattan School of Music
New England Conservatory of Music
New York University, Tisch School of the Arts
New York University Film School
Phot
ogra
phy:
Pete
r How
ard
and
vario
us
Cop
y: Pa
m S
heff
and
Ann
Lano
, She
ff an
d La
no C
omm
unic
atio
ns
Des
ign:
SDY
M, In
c.
Northwestern University
Oberlin College Conservatory of Music
Otis College of Art and Design
Parsons School of Design
Peabody Conservatory,
Johns Hopkins University
Pratt Institute
Rhode Island School of Design
Rice University
Royal Scottish Academy of Music & Drama
San Francisco Conservatory of Music
Sarah Lawrence College
Savannah College of Art & Design
School of the Art Institute of Chicago
School of Visual Arts, New York
Smith College
Stanford University
State University of New York, Purchase
University of California, Berkeley
University of California, Irvine
University of California, Los Angeles
University of Chicago
University of Colorado, Boulder
University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
University of Southern California
Vassar College
Western Michigan University
Yale University
Our students often find themselves ahead of the competition for places in the best conservatories, art schools, and colleges.
C O L L E G E A C C E P TA N C E S
The following colleges, universities and conservatories are a representative sample of this
year’s graduates’ acceptances:
Idyllwild Arts Academy52500 Temecula RoadP.O. Box 38Idyllwild, Ca 92549-0038951.659.2171, extension 2223 fax: 951.659.3168admission@idyllwildarts.orgwww.idyllwildarts.org
