Northwest School of the Arts is a grade 6 through 12 art

magnet school In the U.S. education system, magnet schools are public schools with specialized courses or curricula. Normally, a student will attend an elementary school, and this also determines the middle school and high school they attend unless they mo ...

Charlotte, North Carolina Charlotte ( ) is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina and the county seat of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 United ...

. The school enrolls around 1100 students. Students audition for acceptance and choose a major. Majors available include performing arts (

theatre Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors to present experiences of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a Stage (theatre), stage. The performe ...

technical theatre Stagecraft is a technical aspect of theatre, theatrical, filmmaking, film, and video production. It includes constructing and Rigging (theatre), rigging scenery; hanging and focusing of lighting; design and procurement of costumes; make-up; sta ...

musical theatre Musical theatre is a form of theatre, theatrical performance that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance. The story and emotional content of a musical – humor, pathos, love, anger – are communicated through words, music, ...

ballet Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread and highly technical form of ...

, modern

dance Dance is an The arts, art form, consisting of sequences of body movements with aesthetic and often Symbol, symbolic value, either improvised or purposefully selected. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...

, tap,

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

orchestra An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * String instruments, such as the violin, viola, cello, ...

choir A choir ( ), also known as a chorale or chorus (from Latin ''chorus'', meaning 'a dance in a circle') is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform or in other words ...

, and

band Band or BAND may refer to: Places *Bánd, a village in Hungary * Band, Iran, a village in Urmia County, West Azerbaijan Province, Iran * Band, Mureș, a commune in Romania * Band-e Majid Khan, a village in Bukan County, West Azerbaijan Province, ...

) and visual arts (

painting Painting is a Visual arts, visual art, which is characterized by the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called "matrix" or "Support (art), support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with ...

drawing Drawing is a Visual arts, visual art that uses an instrument to mark paper or another two-dimensional surface, or a digital representation of such. Traditionally, the instruments used to make a drawing include pencils, crayons, and ink pens, some ...

studio A studio is a space set aside for creative work of any kind, including art, dance, music and theater. The word ''studio'' is derived from the , from , from ''studere'', meaning to study or zeal. Types Art The studio of any artist, esp ...

printmaking Printmaking is the process of creating work of art, artworks by printing, normally on paper, but also on fabric, wood, metal, and other surfaces. "Traditional printmaking" normally covers only the process of creating prints using a hand proces ...

photography Photography is the visual arts, art, application, and practice of creating images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is empl ...

fibers Fiber (spelled fibre in British English; from ) is a natural or artificial substance that is significantly longer than it is wide. Fibers are often used in the manufacture of other materials. The strongest engineering materials often inco ...

sculpting Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

ceramics A ceramic is any of the various hard, brittle, heat-resistant, and corrosion-resistant materials made by shaping and then firing an inorganic, nonmetallic material, such as clay, at a high temperature. Common examples are earthenware, porce ...

, and other classes which depend on availability and student participation), as well as technical theatre. A communications major was added for the 2010–2011 school year and beyond. NWSA hosts a variety of AP classes, including AP art classes such as AP Studio and AP academics like AP English and AP Biology. Northwest students are active in organizations such as Student Leadership, Diversity Club, Yearbook, Literary Magazine, various honors societies. Every morning, Northwest School of the Arts begins the day with a "Daily Affirmation". The affirmation was written by long time dancer, choreographer, and faculty member Chandra McCloud. The affirmation, which follows the Pledge of Allegiance, reads: "I have a gift. I am talented. I am a doer; not a quitter. I matter to others and to myself. That is why I will be good to others and good to myself. I am a leader. I will walk in my excellence."

Notable alumni

Ashlei Sharpe Chestnut Ashlei Sharpe Chestnut is an American actress and writer who has worked on Broadway, film and television. She is best known for her roles as Ensign Sidney La Forge in the third season of '' Star Trek: Picard'' (2023) and Doctor Naomi Howard in ...

, actress and writer who made her Broadway Debut in the Tony nominated revival of Arthur Miller's ''

The Crucible ''The Crucible'' is a 1953 play by the American playwright Arthur Miller. It is a dramatized and partially fictionalized story of the Salem witch trials that took place in the Province of Massachusetts Bay from 1692 to 1693. Miller wrote ...

'', and was in the company of the Tony nominated play ''

A Doll's House, Part 2 ''A Doll's House, Part 2'' is a 2017 play written by Lucas Hnath. The play premiered at the South Coast Repertory, in April 2017, before transferring to Broadway at the John Golden Theatre. The play "picks up after Henrik Ibsen's 1879 play '' ...

'' on Broadway. She also has starred in several Primetime Television shows, a few of her credits include: ''

Homeland A homeland is a place where a national or ethnic identity has formed. The definition can also mean simply one's country of birth. When used as a proper noun, the Homeland, as well as its equivalents in other languages, often has ethnic natio ...

'', ''

Rap Sh!t ''Rap Shit'' (stylized as ''Rap Sh!t'') is an American comedy television series created by Issa Rae for HBO Max. The show is produced by Hoorae Productions and 3 Arts Entertainment and centers on two Miami-based rappers (portrayed by Aida Osma ...

'', '' Gotham'', and '' Cruel Summer'' * Abby Howard, creator of ''Junior Scientist Power Hour'' and ''The Last Halloween'' *

Eva Noblezada Eva Maria Noblezada (; born March 18, 1996) is an American actress and singer. She is best known for her work in theatre, starring in musicals in the West End and on Broadway. Her accolades include a Grammy Award and two Tony Award nominations ...

, two time Tony Award nominee and actress who starred as Eurydice in the Broadway musical ''

Hadestown ''Hadestown'' is a musical with music, lyrics, and a book by Anaïs Mitchell. It tells a version of the ancient Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice. Eurydice, a young girl looking for something to eat, goes to work in a hellish industrial vers ...

from 2018 to August of 2023, and'' has previously starred as the lead Kim, in ''

Miss Saigon ''Miss Saigon'' is a sung-through musical theatre, stage musical by Claude-Michel Schönberg and Alain Boublil, with lyrics by Boublil and Richard Maltby Jr. It is based on Giacomo Puccini's 1904 opera ''Madama Butterfly'', and similarly tells th ...

'' on West End *

Reneé Rapp Reneé Mary Jane Rapp (born Reneé Jane Rapp; January 10, 2000) is an American singer-songwriter and actress. She gained recognition for starring as Regina George in the Broadway musical ''Mean Girls'' (2019–2020). She reprised the role in t ...

, actress who played Regina George in the Broadway musical ''

Mean Girls ''Mean Girls'' is a 2004 American teen comedy film directed by Mark Waters and written by Tina Fey. It stars Lindsay Lohan, Rachel McAdams, Tim Meadows, Ana Gasteyer, Amy Poehler, and Fey. The film follows Cady Heron (Lohan), a naïve t ...

'' and was the winner of Best Performance by an Actress at the 2018

Jimmy Awards The National High School Musical Theatre Awards, more commonly known as the Jimmy Awards, are awards given annually to recognize musical theatre performances by high school students in the United States. Two main awards are given each year, Best ...

* Ryan Saranich, jazz fusion

saxophonist The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of Single-reed instrument, single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed (mouthpi ...

Ryan Saranich
''pmauriatmusic''. Retrieved August 22, 2022.

References

External links

Northwest School of the Arts
{{authority control Schools in Charlotte, North Carolina Public high schools in North Carolina Public middle schools in North Carolina Magnet schools in North Carolina