The Alabama School of Fine Arts (ASFA) is a public, tuition-free partially boarding state middle and high school located in downtown

Birmingham, Alabama Birmingham ( ) is a city in the north central region of the U.S. state of Alabama. Birmingham is the seat of Jefferson County, Alabama's most populous county. As of the 2021 census estimates, Birmingham had a population of 197,575, down 1% fr ...

, United States. It provides an intensive specialty-focused education in the arts, math, and science to students with outstanding talent from across Alabama in grades 7-12.

Specialties

The six specialties of the school are

music Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspect ...

visual arts The visual arts are art forms such as painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, ceramics, photography, video, filmmaking, design, crafts and architecture. Many artistic disciplines such as performing arts, conceptual art, and textile arts al ...

theatre arts Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The perform ...

creative writing Creative writing is any writing that goes outside the bounds of normal professional, journalistic, academic, or technical forms of literature, typically identified by an emphasis on narrative craft, character development, and the use of literary ...

math Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...

and

science Science is a systematic endeavor that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe. Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earliest archeological evidence for ...

, and

dance Dance is a performing art form consisting of sequences of movement, either improvised or purposefully selected. This movement has aesthetic and often symbolic value. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...

. The largest of these is math and science with an enrollment of around 100 students, with the other departments being smaller portions of the student body.

History

The school began in 1968 with a group of Birmingham arts community leaders, James Hatcher and Peggy Beddow Cook, who acquired funding from Governor

Lurleen Wallace Lurleen Burns Wallace (born Lurleen Brigham Burns; September 19, 1926 – May 7, 1968) was the List of Governors of Alabama, 46th governor of Alabama for 15 months from January 1967 until her death. She was the first wife of Alabama governor Georg ...

to support instructional programs based in community arts agencies after school. The

Alabama Legislature The Alabama Legislature is the legislative branch of the state government of Alabama. It is a bicameral body composed of the House of Representatives and Senate. It is one of the few state legislatures in which members of both chambers serv ...

formally created the school with a resolution in 1971. The school was located at

Samford University Samford University is a private Christian university in Homewood, Alabama. In 1841, the university was founded as Howard College by Baptists. Samford University describes itself as the 87th oldest institution of higher learning in the United Sta ...

, with the dance program being located at UAB, but moved to

Birmingham–Southern College Birmingham–Southern College (BSC) is a private college in Birmingham, Alabama. Founded in 1856, the college is affiliated with the United Methodist Church and is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS). More than 1 ...

in 1974. While there it was consolidated into five arts programs and a core academic program, staffed in part by the

Birmingham City Schools Birmingham City Schools is a public school district that serves the US city of Birmingham, Alabama. It is the fourth-largest school system in Alabama behind Mobile County Public School System, Jefferson County School System, and Montgomery Pu ...

. The school moved to its own temporary downtown Birmingham campus in 1976. At this time the private, non-profit Alabama School of Fine Arts Foundation was established to raise funding to build an all-new campus complex. A new law was approved by the Legislature in 1992 to provide for authorization for the school. The school moved into its new $10 million facility in the heart of Birmingham's cultural district the following year. A theater was added to the campus in 1995, followed by a mathematics and science wing in 1996. A creative writing wing was added in 1999. The ASFA Foundation began a new capital campaign in 2006 to raise money for the construction of a new theatre complex. The fundraising took many years, with construction lasting 17 months and costing $8.5 million. The new 500-seat theater, named in honor of Dorothy Jemison Day, was opened on March 30, 2012 with an ASFA theatre department production of

Thornton Wilder Thornton Niven Wilder (April 17, 1897 – December 7, 1975) was an American playwright and novelist. He won three Pulitzer Prizes — for the novel ''The Bridge of San Luis Rey'' and for the plays ''Our Town'' and ''The Skin of Our Teeth'' — a ...

's ''

Our Town ''Our Town'' is a 1938 metatheatrical three-act play by American playwright Thornton Wilder which won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. The play tells the story of the fictional American small town of Grover's Corners between 1901 and 1913 throug ...

''. The ASFA theatre department was named as one of the nation's outstanding high school theatre programs by ''Stage Directions'' magazine in 2011.

Admittance

Admission into the school is competitive. Prospective students must submit an application with test scores, transcripts, essays, and three letters of recommendation. Selected students then audition for their chosen department. For the arts departments, audition is through performance, portfolios, and interview. For the math and science department, audition is through interview and two rounds of testing. With the school funded by the Alabama Legislature, in-state students pay no tuition. Students from outside the state are charged tuition.

Campus

It includes dormitory facilities for students aged 11-18.

Notable alumni

Ajiona Alexus Ajiona Alexus Brown (born March 16, 1996) is an American actress known for her roles in ''The Rickey Smiley Show'', ''Empire'', ''13 Reasons Why'', ''Acrimony'', and '' Breaking In''. She started her career in 2008, at the age of 12. Early lif ...

, actress * Ryan Swain, actor; most recently, ''Pose'' *

Suzanne Collins Suzanne Collins (born August 10, 1962) is an American author and television writer. She is known as the author of the book series ''The Underland Chronicles'' and ''The Hunger Games''. Early life Suzanne Collins was born on August 10, 1962, in ...

, writer; author of

The Hunger Games ''The Hunger Games'' is a series of young adult dystopian novels written by American author Suzanne Collins. The first three novels are part of a trilogy following teenage protagonist Katniss Everdeen, and the fourth book is a prequel set ...

Laverne Cox Laverne Cox (born May 29, 1972) is an American actress and LGBT advocate. She rose to prominence with her role as Sophia Burset on the Netflix series ''Orange Is the New Black'', becoming the first transgender person to be nominated for a Pri ...

, actress and transgender activist *

Orenda Fink Orenda Fink is an American singer, musician, and writer. Perhaps best known as half of the duo Azure Ray, Fink is also a member of Art in Manila, O+S, Closeness, and High Up, and has played with or appeared as a guest on records by Bright Ey ...

, musician *

Jennifer Hale Jennifer Hale is a Canadian-American voice actress. She is best known for her work in video game franchises such as ''Baldur's Gate'', ''Mass Effect'', ''Metal Gear Solid'', ''BioShock Infinite'', ''Metroid Prime'', ''Overwatch'', and '' Star Wa ...

, voice actress *

Brent Hinds William Brent Hinds (born January 16, 1974) is an American musician best known as a member of the Atlanta, Georgia metal band Mastodon, in which he shares guitar duties with Bill Kelliher and vocal duties with Troy Sanders and Brann Dailor. Hi ...

, guitarist * Robert Hoffman, actor *

Maria Taylor Maria Taylor may refer to: * Maria Taylor (sportscaster) (born 1987), American sportscaster * Maria Taylor (musician) (born 1976), American musician * Maria Jane Taylor (1837–1870), British missionary to China * Maria Madeline Taylor Maria Made ...

, singer * Mitski Miyawaki, singer

References

External links

Alabama School of Fine Arts
{{DEFAULTSORT:Alabama School Of Fine Arts Public high schools in Alabama Boarding schools in Alabama Educational institutions established in 1971 NCSSS schools Coalition of Essential Schools Public middle schools in Alabama Schools in Jefferson County, Alabama Schools of the performing arts in the United States 1971 establishments in Alabama Public boarding schools in the United States