Pittsburgh High School for the Creative and Performing Arts
Part of Pittsburgh public school district, the Pittsburgh High School for the Creative and Performing Arts is one of the ten public high schools of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It is popularly known as CAPA and is situated on the downtown section of the Cultural District of the city.
Pittsburgh High School for the Creative and Performing Arts offers six art majors, which include theatre, literary arts, instrumental music, visual arts, dance and vocal music. Costume design, traditional theatre, technical theatre and musical theatre are included in the theatre major offered by CAPA.
Students are admitted by the public high school in Pittsburgh through audition or portfolio. Aside from offering art majors, Pittsburgh High School for the Creative and Performing Arts also offer academic studies in complete range. Its program offers also include Centers of Advanced Study and Pittsburgh Scholars Program. The school has lots of activities and organizations catered for students. They include National Honor Society, Amnesty International, newspaper, ski club and student council.
Pittsburgh High School for the Creative and Performing Arts is one of the public high schools in America that is classified as a magnet school. The term, magnet school refers to distinct public school that provides specialized curricula or courses. This term is mostly associated with a certain type of specialized schools in the United States. However, other countries also have this type of public school. In the United Kingdom, for instance, the term of the public school that has similar characteristics to magnet school in the US is called UK specialist school.
The opening of Pittsburgh High School for the Creative and Performing Arts took place on September 1979. During the initial phase of the school's operation, Baxter Elementary School housed the first students of the institution. There were 35 students at the time of the school's opening. At the start of the school year of 2003-2004, the public high school transferred to its present location at Ninth Street cornering Fort Duquesne Boulevard.
The building in which the Pittsburgh High School for Creative and Performing Arts is occupying is an 8-story structure with an area of 175,000 square foot. It is regarded as a world-class facility that has various spaces that include a black box theatre, media arts center, an art gallery, a television studio, computer laboratories and a 400-seat auditorium. The school's building also includes special rehearsal spaces and fitness center. The recent location of the school provides opportunities for students to possibly collaborate with artists found across the country, state, region and city.
Pittsburgh High School for the Creative and Performing Arts have produced collaborative productions. The school has also made collaborative efforts with outside groups to produce musicals such as Les Miserables, West Side Story and Titanic.
