Canvas and Chorus Meet at Cicero Prep’s Fine Arts Night at Cicero Prep

From its very beginning, when the campus opened in Central Scottsdale in 2014, Cicero Prep has set aside a evening to appreciate the fine arts. This semiannual event welcomes between 800 and 900 guests and showcases young artists with a combined studio art exhibition and a choir concert.

“In a lot of places, the music concert and the art show are kind of split apart. On our campus, it’s one event,” explained Brighton Demerest-Smith, a master fine arts teacher who has been with Great Hearts for 13 years. “We have a studio art exhibition with works from [middles school and high school] students. And then in the evening after this event, we will have a music concert with our curricular choirs as well as our recorder ensembles and then our enrichment course choirs.”

One of the distinctives of a Great Hearts upper school education at Great Hearts is the exposure to the fine arts built into the curriculum. Every student will experience studio art, drama, music, and poetry at some point, rather than making it an elective. This not only develops an eye, or ear, for Beauty, but also gives students the opportunity to explore mediums that they wouldn’t naturally be drawn to. While feeling the initial challenge and slight discomfort of learning something new, students often discover a new talent and passion they didn’t know they had.

“I wouldn’t really say I do art as a hobby, but I feel like I do really enjoy the art program we have here,” said Junior Karlyn Drazenobich, noting the progress she has seen in her own work. “It’s really nice to be able to just look at what you’re drawing and compare it to the drawing you’ve done.”

8^th grader Ellie McLaug guided visitors at the art exhibition. “This is just a demonstration of what we learn in our art class at school,” she shared. “I feel like it’s really made me grow and I’ve learned to use more materials and [it has] helped me branch out in my skills. I probably wouldn’t have tried using watercolor if it weren’t for the classes that I’ve taken here.”

“In the districts around us, schools are cutting the fine arts left and right,” added Demerest-Smith. “At a Great Hearts school from kindergarten through to 12th grade, we’re really promising your students that we will have a fine arts class in every semester of their experience. So, that’s 13 years of fine arts experience. Making a painting, or making a drawing, or singing together is a part of observing the world, making beautiful music as well as something beautiful that that we’re looking at.”

The Fine Arts Night at Cicero Prep offered guests a glimpse into the Beauty that Great Hearts scholars both appreciate and create each day. From the thoughtful strokes of paint on canvas to voices raised together in harmonies, the evening showcased the discipline, creativity, and joy cultivated in the classroom. Families and friends left the campus enriched by what they saw and heard, while also inspired by the talent and uplifted by the shared pursuit of Truth, Goodness, and Beauty.

Do you have a story or know of one that you would like to see featured at Great Hearts? Please contact jmoore@greatheartsamerica.org.

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