All,
I hope you had a wonderful and restful holiday break. Of course, we hit the ground running now that we’re back. We have several district-wide events coming up very soon. Some are pertinent to all of you and some are pertinent to respective content areas. I wanted to make you aware of a few things that are coming up that need to be on your radars for the next few months.
1) On Stage: Don’t forget that On Stage applications are due January 12. I have heard from several of you. There are some of you who have said you will be auditioning but I have not received an application. Make sure you get those applications in to me either by courier or fax (370-4207) by January 12. I will then prepare the audition schedule and get that back to you immediately. Remember, you may audition by videotape. On Stage is April 29 with a dress rehearsal on April 28 and a rehearsal on Saturday, April 24. Production meetings will be March 1, 2, and 3. You have your choice as to which production meeting you’d like to attend. Any live auditions will be February 1-2 at Southwest HS.
2) GCS All-County Musical: Information is below with the exception of the county-wide kickoff date for students, parents, faculty, and staff and the audition dates. Please get this information out to all of your students and it would be beneficial to get the information school-wide. This will be sent to principals and CFs this week but I wanted you to get it first. The kick-off for the event will be at Weaver Academy auditorium on January 21 at 7:00. This is for all who are interested in knowing more, interested in auditioning, interested in holding a volunteer position, and to meet the current staff who are in charge of the production. Audition dates will be at Grimsley HS on March 8 (choral rehearsal room), 9, 16, 22, and 31 (all in auditorium). We have decided that it would be best to separate auditions via age group. Once we have determined what each date will be, I will send that out to you then. Please consider being a part of the staff for this event. Band and orchestra directors, I will inform you of how we will determine auditions for the pit at a later date. The musical will be in July during the second and third weekends. If interested in holding a position, please e-mail Mitchel Sommers at msommers@ctgso.org.
3) Summer Arts Institute: Paperwork as well as a database of students who were nominated last year will be coming out to you hopefully today. I have been assured that we will absolutely kick-off this program this year. The money has been encumbered and we are set to go. I am oscillating on whether or not to hold the week-long session during the week of July 5 or the week of July 12. I would welcome your suggestions if you see problems with any of those. We will have a limited number of scholarships available for students. We will definitely need some students who are capable of paying the fee. The only changes we have made is that we had to increase the fee to $100 for the week. This was due to the sales tax increase as we will need the extra money for supplies. Still, $100 for the week of instruction is a steal.
4) Arts Education Summit: This will be June 14 rather than May this year. We are doing this to kill two birds with one stone. GCS designed the professional development days (i.e., the one you attended in August) so that you get 4 hours in August but have to attend another 2 hours in June to get the full credit for professional development for both days. Therefore, we will hold the Arts Education Summit on June 14 so that will satisfy your required last 2 hours get the full credit.
5) All-Counties: All-County MS Chorus will be at Page HS on February 25 at 7:00 PM, All-County Elementary Chorus will be at Smith HS on March 18 at 7:00 PM, and All-County Band will be at Grimsley HS on April 8 at 7:00 PM. Come out and support these students and your colleagues if you can.
That’s all for now. I’ll communicate content specific events with each area. Hope you have a great day!
Nathan Street
