The Capital Area School for the Arts (CASA) is a 9th to 12th grade, public

charter school A charter school is a school that receives government funding but operates independently of the established state school system in which it is located. It is independent in the sense that it operates according to the basic principle of auto ...

located in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, USA. The School began as an

arts The arts are a very wide range of human practices of creative expression, storytelling and cultural participation. They encompass multiple diverse and plural modes of thinking, doing and being, in an extremely broad range of media. Both hi ...

magnet school In the U.S. education system, magnet schools are public schools with specialized courses or curricula. "Magnet" refers to how the schools draw students from across the normal boundaries defined by authorities (usually school boards) as school ...

, which was founded in 2001 as a partnership between the

Capital Area Intermediate Unit The Capital Area Intermediate Unit (CAIU) is an Intermediate Unit based in Summerdale, a suburb of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania Harrisburg is the capital city of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Dauphin Co ...

and Open Stage of Harrisburg (a regional professional theater group). After first moving through several sites in

downtown ''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in North America by English speakers to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business distric ...

Harrisburg, the school now resides in its permanent location in the first and third floor of

Strawberry Square Strawberry Square is a mixed-use retail and commercial complex located in downtown Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. It is owned and managed by the Harristown Development Corporation (HDC), a non-profit organization. History Strawberry Square is consider ...

. Capital Area School for the Arts Charter School utilizes a 21st-century, hybrid model of teaching and learning. The

curriculum In education, a curriculum (; : curricula or curriculums) is broadly defined as the totality of student experiences that occur in the educational process. The term often refers specifically to a planned sequence of instruction, or to a view ...

is designed to meet all of the Pennsylvania Core State Standards. In 2013, the School received charter status and converted to an intensive, all-day academic and arts high school. CASA Charter School was approved in May 2013 for five years. Students apply to attend the school, with an audition required. If more applications are made than the slots available, the school is required by law to conduct a lottery for admission. Students from public schools in

Dauphin County Dauphin County (; Pennsylvania Dutch: Daffin Kaundi) is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the population was 286,401. The county seat and the largest city is Harrisburg, Pennsylvania's state capital and ninth ...

Cumberland County Cumberland County may refer to: Australia * Cumberland County, New South Wales * the former name of Cumberland Land District, Tasmania, Australia Canada *Cumberland County, Nova Scotia United Kingdom *Cumberland, historic county *Cumberlan ...

and

Perry County Perry County may refer to: United States *Perry County, Alabama *Perry County, Arkansas *Perry County, Illinois *Perry County, Indiana *Perry County, Kentucky *Perry County, Mississippi *Perry County, Missouri *Perry County, Ohio *Perry Coun ...

have attended the school in the past. CASA is located in the downtown area of the City of Harrisburg. The students have the opportunity to use the city as the "classroom", including the numerous resources offered (such as the nearby

Susquehanna Art Museum The Susquehanna Art Museum is a non-profit art museum in the United States, located in Midtown Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, the state's capital. Museum history In 1989, the Susquehanna Art Museum (SAM) began as an idea by a group of central Pennsy ...

and the

Whitaker Center for Science and the Arts Whitaker Center for Science and the Arts is located in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. The center is the first complex of its kind in the United States to use science as an entry to the arts. Whitaker Center exhibits science, the performing arts, and a ...

). Students must attend 1 of 2 sessions daily and choose one of six artistic areas such as;

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 ...

film A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...

and video,

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 ...

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 ...

, or

theater Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actor, 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 p ...

. Beginning in the 2010–2011 school year, a

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 ...

discipline was added for PM classes. Morning classes are studio-based while afternoon classes focus on collaborative interdisciplinary work. The culmination of the afternoon classes' work is a one-night student-produced performance at the nearby Whitaker Center for Science and the Arts.

References

External links

*
CASA on MySpace

VIDEOS FROM Capital Area School for the Arts
{{Coord, 40.2617, -76.8821, type:edu_globe:earth_region:US-PA, display=title Art schools in Pennsylvania Education in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania Educational institutions established in 2001 Magnet schools in Pennsylvania Performing arts in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania Public high schools in Pennsylvania Schools in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania Susquehanna Valley 2001 establishments in Pennsylvania