If the full experience of attending New World School of the Arts (NWSA) could be set to rousing music, staged in a world-class theater or painted by a master artist it would still not fully encompass the journey that carries each student through its training on their path to success. Educated by exceptional artists and entrusted with a goal to excel, students at NWSA embrace the challenge to prove that more than the imagination soars when a young talent is skillfully guided through a creative, nurturing, and safe learning environment.
Consistently recognized as one of the most influential conservatory-style programs in the nation, New World School of the Arts, in Miami, Florida, is comprised of four arts divisions – Dance, Music, Theater and Visual Arts – and offers an eight year educational program. Through its partnership with Miami-Dade County Public Schools, NWSA offers the high school diploma, while through its association with Miami Dade College and the University of Florida, it confers the AA and BFA or BM degrees. NWSA has produced hundreds of YoungArts Award recipients, more than a dozen Presidential Scholars in the Arts and graduated superior talents that have gone on to achieve the Tony, Grammy, Whitney Biennale, Carbonell and countless other prestigious awards, all in its short twenty-four years of existence.
It all starts with diversity, commitment, and a comprehensive artistic, creative, and academic curriculum. Students are taught to explore their vision and voice while collaborating with other talented actors, dancers, musicians and visual artists, both nationally and internationally. At home, performing arts students showcase their craft in Miami’s Adrienne Arsht Center, Gusman Center for the Performing Arts, and the Colony Theater, as well as in the school’s in-house facilities. Visual Arts students exhibit at New World Gallery, Artseen, CIFO, Casalin, Arteamericas, and at the world famous Art Basel in Miami Beach.
NWSA high school and college students also benefit from artistic world views and exposure. This year the college dance students performed at the New Prague Dance Festival in the Czech Republic bringing home the coveted Grand Prix Award, among other recognitions. Puerto Rico and Taiwan were also significant for the dancers who visited, studied, and performed their choreographies in numerous venues alongside international peers. Likewise, music students were involved in various artistic endeavors throughout the nation. While the NWSA Jazz Quintet performed at the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz in Detroit, the award-winning Jazz Ensemble placed among the finalists in New York’s 2011 Essentially Ellington High School Jazz Band Competition and Festival, where they will compete in the spring. Theater BFA graduates traveled to New York for a school-sponsored showcase and performed at the Snapple Theater for more than thirty talent agents and scouts. Finally, the BFA visual arts students had an opportunity to join visual artists from around the globe in the World Design Congress, in Beijing, and later embarked on a journey to the Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art, where they toured exclusive private collections and museums, and attended master classes.
Solidifying its place among the most recognized arts institutions in the nation, NWSA’s successful alumni include Katie Finneran [Theater 1989], recipient of two Tony awards for her brilliant performance in the 2010 Broadway hit Promises, Promises and her equally powerful presence in the 2002 Broadway smash Noises Off; Robert Battle [Dance 1997], Artistic Director of The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, one of the nation’s most renowned dance companies; Hernan Bas [Visual Arts 1996], participant in New York’s Whitney Biennial, and exhibitor in Schirn Kunsthalle in Frankfurt and Saatchi Gallery in London. Bas’s works are included in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art, NY, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Brooklyn Museum, and Miami’s Museum of Contemporary Art. Jencarlos Canela [Music, 2006], singer and songwriter for Ford’s commercial Ride it like a Ford, received the 2011 Premios lo Nuestro for Best Pop Artist and released music CDs: Buscame in 2009 and Un Nuevo Dia in 2011. He also had lead roles in Telemundo’s soap operas Mas Sabe el Diablo and Pecados Ajenos.
Information for New World School of the Arts at (305) 237-3559 or nwsa.mdc.edu.