This is an artist’s rendition of the new Richmond Hill Centre for the Performing Arts in the downtown. It will serve as a real-world training centre for students in the new Alexander Mackenzie High School specialized arts program.
Richmond Hill
November 27, 2008 09:49 PM
Kim Zarzour
Richmond Hill’s Alexander Mackenzie High School is accepting applications for admission to its new arts focused program to begin in September.
The school, located on Major Mackenzie Drive, will be the fourth public school in York Region to provide specialized arts instruction - this one directed at students who live in central York including Richmond Hill, Aurora and King City.
It’s part of newly-expanded specialized secondary school arts instruction being offered across the region. Three other York Region high schools already cater to students who are gifted in the arts - Huron Heights Secondary School in Newmarket, Unionville High School in Markham, and Westmount Collegiate in Vaughan.
“This will kill the program at Unionville ... or the quality will go down. Why do that to a school that is working really well?”
Under the new regional arts strategy, students undergo a standardized application process including auditions and portfolio review. Students will apply to the arts school closest to their home.
The York Region District School Board has set up a new Arts Program Advisory Committee, composed of parents and staff from each of the schools, to provide input and advice. Alexander Mackenzie will have space for 100 Grade 9 students who pass the school’s audition process. Applications are being accepted now; auditions will be held January 22 to 28. Applications received in the school’s office by Dec. 5 are guaranteed an audition.
The school will provide arts instruction in dance, drama, music and visual arts in combination with behind-the-scene activities such as stage management, lighting, props and theatre administration.
Alexander Mackenzie has partnered with the new Richmond Hill Centre for Performing Arts, which is slated to open in February 2009. Spokesperson Eli Lukawitz says the partnership will be unique and long-term, providing students with access to a professional theatre setting (see side story).
But not everyone is happy with the direction the board has taken. Parents whose children attend the arts program at Unionville say the board’s plans to expand its programming will “water down” the well-respected elite York Arts program at Unionville High School - which was the first to offer an arts focus in the region.
The arts program at Unionville has accepted students from as far away as Georgina, but that was stopped when the board decided to phase out school bus funding and set up four separate arts schools.
New students to the arts will now have to go a school in their attendance area – a move the Unionville parents say will limit the “talent pool” and degrade the level of the program for those at the top.
“It’s confusing. They’ve just set up an elite athlete program in Markham, and now they’re taking it away from the arts,” complains Aurora parent Dave Ruuskanen, whose daughter is a Grade 11 dance student enrolled in the Unionville program.
“York Arts has a great track record. It has an incredible reputation,” and Mr. Ruuskanen predicts it will take years to build that kind of internationally-recognized program in the new schools.
Don Quarles, of Stouffville, agrees. The parent of three Unionville students says the school’s high standards can’t be upheld if only students who live in eastern York Region are able to attend the program.
“Are they going to loosen up the audition process so that the number of students meets the quota and the number of teachers at the schools?” he asks. “Or are they going to apply the same high standards - and not have as many kids?”
Adds Richmond Hill parent Carina Darzon: “This will kill the program at Unionville, or at least shrink it - or the quality will go down. Why do that to a school that is working really well?”
Some parents would prefer York Region’s arts program be set up in a similar manner as the board has organized its sports programs, with several schools targeting high-performance athletics, and one flagship sports school - Bill Crothers Secondary School – for top athletes.
The arts program at Unionville should remain open region-wide ”for the kids who want to take it to another level” and pursue a career in the arts, Mr. Ruuskanen suggests.
Board spokesperson Ross Virgo says the intention in creating four art-focused schools was to increase the quality and access to students. Without door-to-door busing, which the board says is not feasible or equitable, many students just can’t get to the program in Unionville. Offering four locations spread throughout the region ensures access to everyone, he says.
But several parents, including Aurora’s Dave Williams, who has a son and daughter in the drama program at Unionville, feel the board should have consulted them before making the changes to Arts York.
He fears the new advisory committee, which will meet three times a year, is just “window dressing” and key decisions to “drastically change” the arts program have already been made without parental input.
The way the school board handled the decision to change York’s arts program is a symptom of a bigger issue – lack of transparency and accountability – that Williams says has been allowed to continue because of longstanding community apathy.
The Unionville parents point to growing concern over how the new four-school arts approach will affect at Huron Heights in Newmarket, as an example of this problem.
In an interview with York Region Media’s Teresa Latchford, Arts Huron coordinator Michael Halfin said he anticipates a difficult transition. The current arts program does not require an audition process, while the new program will. Some students fear the rules of the new program may be too restrictive.
“Why should a program with a 10-year history, designed/evolved to meet the requirements of their student population, be required to adhere to the Unionville Arts model?” asks Mr. Williams.
It’s another example of the “arrogance of the board,” adds Mr. Ruuskanen, “pushing through a program without consultation from the affected community.”