State charter panel set to hear pitch from Institute for the Creative Arts

The application for the Institute for the Creative Arts, a new charter school to be located along the Arkansas River in downtown Fort Smith, is on the agenda for consideration of the Charter Authorizing Panel of the Arkansas Department of Education meeting Tuesday (Nov. 14).

If the charter is granted the institute will become the first performing arts high school in Arkansas and would be housed in the Community School of the Arts (CSA) new 40,000-square-foot Center for Creative Art building under construction just north of the U.S. Marshals Museum.

Dr. Rosilee Russell, CSA founder and executive director, said they are going into Tuesday’s meeting of the Charter Authorizing Panel with optimism. Dr. Jennifer Fenney, the institute’s K-12 consultant and an expert on K-12 education and charter schools, will speak on the institute’s application before the panel. Fort Smith Mayor George McGill will speak on behalf of the institute, Russell said.

Legislation signed by Gov. Sarah Sanders this spring promoting charter schools led the Community School of the Arts to change plans from offering half or partial day opportunities to for high school students wishing to pursue more education in the arts to opening a full-day school for students in ninth through 12th grades. The Community School of the Arts has been pursuing becoming a charter school since then.

The school hopes to open for grades 9-11 in fall 2024 with 200-250 students, said Dr. Rosilee Russell, founder and executive director. The first year, the school won’t have a 12th grade, but that grade will be added the following year when the first year of 11th graders moves up a grade. The goal is to have 350 students the second year, 400 the third and max at 500 in the fourth year, according to the charter application.

Though the school will be located in Fort Smith, the application says it will draw students from Alma, Booneville, Cedarville, Charleston, County Line, Fort Smith, Greenwood, Hackett, Johnson County Westside, Lavaca, Magazine, Mansfield, Mountainburg, Mulberry/Pleasant View, Ozark, Paris, Scranton, Van Buren, Waldron and Westfork school districts.

The Center was initially planned to house arts programs for young children through high school students and adults. While after school programs are still planned, earlier plans called for the Center to be home to specialized programs for high school students that would operate daily as students attend from regional school districts and receive high school credits at their participating school.

The new building on the river will include high-tech classrooms, teaching studios, art galleries, recording studio, film and digital animation labs, dance studios, culinary labs, black box theater and a 350-seat theater and performance hall.

“The purpose of the institute is to serve as a performing and visual arts high school in Arkansas. It will be the first of its kind in the state,” the application states.

Rather than being an arts-integration school where the arts are inserted into all subjects as a means of learning that particular subject, the school will be an “immersive arts school where creative students vigorously train to hone their talents to the highest level” with the guidance of master teachers combined with peer collaboration, the application states.

The school would be a place where creative students can thrive while preparing for college and careers that are in high demand as well as develop strong study skills that translate into the same type of focus and discipline in core academic subjects, it said.

The overall structure of the school, according to the application, will be similar to that of a college or university with departments called “schools.” Those will include the school of academic studies, the school of music, the school of dance, the school of dramatic arts, the school of culinary arts, the school of art and design, and the school of cinematic arts.

“As students enter the Institute, they will go through an audition process to be placed in one or more of the arts schools which best fits their interests and creative abilities,” the application states.

Students will then be placed in a curriculum track that develops those specific creative skills.
Walker said they are going into Tuesday’s meeting of the Charter Authorizing Panel with optimism. Dr. Jennifer Fenney, the institute’s K-12 consultant and an expert on K-12 education and charter schools, will speak on the institute’s application before the panel, and Fort Smith Mayor George McGill will speak on behalf of the institute, Walker said.