Tulsa School for the Arts?

[aoxamaxoa]

quote:Originally posted by Double A

This is a waste of taxpayer dollars to build and operate a new school for arts, when we already have one. The Tulsa School for Arts and Sciences has been around for years and is arguably one of the best(if not the best) school in the TPS system. Williamson should concentrate on adequately funding the excellent arts school already in existence and fixing the charter school law, instead of throwing tax dollars away on an unnecessary duplication of services.

Come on Tulsa Community Foundation. Hope they step up....or some others. Tulsa Spirit!?

[CRZ]

As someone who works in the performing art field, I don't understand the need for a seperate school for the arts.  I can understand that many schools drama programs have been cut to the breaking point, and are currently running programs sub par to any small community theater.

But as it stands now Tulsa has one of the best dramatic teaching facilities in the region at TCC.  As an employee of there for nearly three years I can't see why we can't team up with TPS and offer HS students the ability to take courses at TCC for HS and College credit.

As for producing drama queens, I agree actors and actresses can be a nuissance at times and the star factor seems to shine falsely in their minds.  But, a good portion of a dramatic program is technical, scene production, scene painting, design, costuming, makeup...  These courses teach students a heck of alot more than drama, they teach many of the things lost in the schools systems now, carpentry(which involves alot of math, something I think that is not taught anymore) and art.

The Performing Art Center for Education is one of Tulsa's many overlooked gems that I feel could be utilized a lot more than a new school for the very same thing.

[TheArtist]

quote:Originally posted by tim huntzinger

If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.  If we do not want more people in math and sciences than open a school that emphasizes the opposite.

If we want fewer doctors and nurses by all means encourage kids to be sketch artists.  We have a real crisis in education and this move is part of the problem, not part of the solution.

If we want inventors and innovators and to achieve scientific supremacy over our nation's economic competitors this is exactly the wrong way to go.

Republicans, where are you to defend your boy's legislation?

I agree that math and science (especially scientific reasoning skills) should be emphasized far more than they are.  However, I would hope this wouldnt be something just done in one math and science school, but all of them.  

It was my experience that it was those right brained people who were the ones left out.  Most schools have gifted math and science classes for those with above average aptitudes in those subjects. But for those who had a talent in the arts, well your pretty much out of luck. I think there are far fewer people who can do what I do, than there are those that can have an aptitude for math or computers. Its why I get paid as much as I do and thus afford to pay a "number cruncher" to do my book keeping. []

I remember being in high school in Owasso and going to Vo-Tech in Tulsa to take Architectural Drafting and Engineering classes. I remember sitting in computer labs "usually in a complete state of dumbfoundedness lol" trying to figure out how to use the danged things.  I remember getting in trouble for "scribbling", and having to take math classes in summer school. The emphasis for math and science was already there, at home and in school, it was the ability for the person like me to further their unique talents that was deemphasized, squashed, and unavailable.  Having ONE shool, for the state, for that percentage of those students with those rare aptitudes to be able to meet THEIR potentials, isn't IMO taking away from a world already very much geared towards math and science and even set up for the gifted in those subjects.  This school will be one ray of hope, not for the average talent, but for the best in the state to further their abilities.  

"Education is supposed to empower kids to ask and find the answers to tough questions: 'How can I make this work?' 'Why does this person get sick and this one does not?' 'When is the right time to add the compound to make this material stronger?' 'What can be done to save energy?'"

I challenge you to do what I do.  A painting is nothing more than thousands of "tough questions" requiring critical thinking skills and abstract reasoning abilities.  As Michaelangelo said, "A man paints with his brains and not with his hands."  or as Degas said, "A picture is something which requires as much knavery, trickery, and deceit as the perpetration of a crime." []



That is a mural in the Cancer Treatment Centers of America.  Apparently they think it beneficial and important to have something that helps create a calming and beautiful environment for their patients.



I bet I could do just about anything, anyone else on here can do.  But how many can do that^? And if you don't think that takes any math or higher level thinking skills, you got another thing coming. I know plenty of schools that teach math and science related subjects, but not many that give a crap about helping artists reach their full potential, actually its often just the opposite.  

If you don't think artistry and design are important and allow for competitive advantage, look at the computer industry and the automotive industry. They are rife with examples of function being defeated by similar function but with better artistry and design.  Engineers can't do it by themselves.  What an ugly, clumsy, world it would be lol.

Lets not forget the point of living, of attaining wealth, of medical science, engineering. The point of life is to live, not just exist, and what better way to live than to be surrounded with art, music, beauty, romance, joy.....  If we were just animals only needing food, clothing and shelter, well we would just be animals lol.  Its art and culture that set us apart.  
An old proverb says,  If you have but 2 pennies left, with one buy a loaf of bread, the other, a lilly.    



A few quotes:

"It is art that MAKES life, makes interest, makes importance... and I know of no substitute whatever for the force and beauty of its process."  Henry James

"The artist is the person who makes life more interesting or beautiful, more understandable or mysterious, or probably, in the best sense, more wonderful."  George Bellows

"Arts a staple. Like bread or wine or a warm coat in winter. Those who think it a luxury have only a fragment of a mind.  Man's spirit grows hungry for art in the sme way his stomach growls for food..."  Irving Stone

one of my favorites lol.  "Painting: The art of protecting flat surfaces from the weather and exposing them to the critic." Ambrose Bierce

"What was any art but a mold in which to imprison for a moment the shining elusive element which is life itself- life hurrying past us and running away, too strong to stop, too sweet to lose."  Willa Cather

"I hope with all my heart that there will be painting in heaven."  Camille Corot, his dying words.

[Double A]

Ars Longa! Vita Brevis!

[pfox]

They could buy Bruce Goff's Tulsa Club building for starters.

I've long thought that building would be fabulous for a design institute or something of that sort.

[aoxamaxoa]

quote:Originally posted by pfox

They could buy Bruce Goff's Tulsa Club building for starters.

I've long thought that building would be fabulous for a design institute or something of that sort.

That would be immensely expensive! Abatement, the building being mothballed for 20 years, the elevators, and more....Once a fine Tulsa gathering place no more. No, the Brady district needs to be the focal point for this idea.

[TheArtist]

quote:Originally posted by aoxamaxoa

quote:Originally posted by pfox

They could buy Bruce Goff's Tulsa Club building for starters.

I've long thought that building would be fabulous for a design institute or something of that sort.

That would be immensely expensive! Abatement, the building being mothballed for 20 years, the elevators, and more....Once a fine Tulsa gathering place no more. No, the Brady district needs to be the focal point for this idea.

The Brady District would be an excellent place for it. Lots of synergies and positives for having something like that there.  Near the college, near the Jazz Museum and hall of fame, and the new Symphony headquarters, PAC, the glassblowing studio, ceramics studio,etc. etc.  Not to mention just being  in an area that could use some new development.  Are there still plans for some artists lofts in one of the old buildings down in that area?  

It would be soooo nice to have a real full fledged arts district. A place where artists of all fields, writing, painting, sculpture, dance, music, performance, glass, clay, stone, etc. etc.  A place where artists of any age or level, could live, learn, have studios and galleries.  A place where others could go and see, buy and enjoy all kinds of arts.

Now THAT could be a really unique thing for Tulsa to showcase.

[Double A]

Personally, I would rather see Tulsa get a Modern Art Museum to rival some of the best in the U.S. and arts and music funded at all TPS schools.

[tim huntzinger]

Nice KOTV story on the OSSM.

[dioscorides]

just curious if anyone knows what happened with this.  with all the stuff going on in brady district, this was brought to mind.

[Townsend]

just curious if anyone knows what happened with this.  with all the stuff going on in brady district, this was brought to mind.

Per my spy it is "still in the works".  That's all I've got.

[SXSW]

I think an arts school should have synergy with the PAC and even complement the offerings there.  In that regard the parking lot across the street from the main entrance would be a good location.  The main entrance to the school's theater could be directly across 3rd with the rest of the school extending west to Boston.  The theater could be used for community groups as well and act as a "third" performance space at the PAC (next to the large Chapman and smaller Williams theaters).  

Dallas has a downtown arts high school...very contemporary

[dioscorides]

Per my spy it is "still in the works".  That's all I've got.

thanks! i think this school would be great for tulsa.  especially if it goes downtown.

[Townsend]

thanks! i think this school would be great for tulsa.  especially if it goes downtown.

They've looked at several locations around DT.  I wish I knew more and could give you some news.

[dioscorides]

They've looked at several locations around DT.  I wish I knew more and could give you some news.

no worries.  i'm just glad to hear the idea is still being kicked around.  thanks again!