The Arts are a big part of NYA. As you walk the halls of the school, you might find students playing guitar or steel pan in the hallway, rehearsing lines for an upcoming drama performance, photographing a sculpture for an upcoming exhibit, singing in harmony, or looking through an art book. In a world where life is getting faster and more stressful, the deliberate pace and deep focus of the artistic process become more valuable. We recognize that at NYA and ensure that all students have artistic opportunities. At NYA:

• 100 % of Middle School Students and 73% of Upper School Students participate in a music ensemble.
• 100 % of Middle School Students and 72% of Upper School Students are in a visual arts class.
• 24 % of students are involved in a drama production.

Our students exhibit work in public and excel in juried contests, our music ensembles travel and perform, and our drama performances sell out. As part of our curriculum, NYA students attend concerts, visit museums and galleries, show and perform work outside of school on a regular basis, and meet and work with artists. We do our best to not only support the highly motivated and dedicated artists, but also to create opportunities for all students to find an artistic niche that suits them. At NYA it is cool to be an artist.

Our students participate in summer programs like:

• Interlochen Summer Arts Camp
• The Putney School
• Maine College of Art Pre-College Program
• Maine Jazz Camp
• Skidmore Jazz Institute
• School of the Museum of Fine Arts
• Tisch School of the Arts Summer High School
• Southern Maine Music Academy
• National Guitar Workshop
• Haystack Mountain School of Crafts

NYA graduates have gone on to further their artistic pursuits at schools like:

Washington University New York University Bard College Pratt Institute Harvey Mudd College Colorado College Gettysburg Gordon College Syracuse University McGill University University of Chicago Columbia College Chicago Yale University Oberlin College and Conservatory The Hartt School St. Michaels College St. Lawrence University University of Iowa

The College of Wooster University of Southern Maine University of Denver Academy of Art University Amherst College San Francisco Art Institute School of the Museum of Fine Arts The Eastman School of Music Emerson College Bennington College Hampshire College Brown University Williams College University of Bristol Sotheby’s Institute of Art Rhode Island School of Design Massachussetts College of Art Norwich School of Art and Design

NYA graduates have gone on to work for institutions and companies like:

Chicago Jazz Institute Maine College of Art University of San Diego Houston Center for Photography Honeychurch Antiques Gallery Dreamworks Portland Stage Company

The Stranger Seattle Grossmont College CBS Macomber Studios Lake’s Lampshades Blue Sky Studios Giant Killer Robots

At NYA, the arts:

• bring us together
• make us look at things differently
• lead us to express
• stir us to feel emotions
• encourage us to take risks
• open us to new ideas
• train us to work hard
• teach us to slow down
• provoke us to step back and rethink
• help us to cross disciplines

The Arts are a big part of who we are at NYA, a gift that we share with each other every day. We hope you’ll have a chance to share that gift.