Cardinal Carter Academy for the Arts (CCAA, Cardinal Carter, or Carter) is a

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

arts high school located in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

, Canada. Admission to the school is granted through an audition process. Serving students from grade 7 to 12, it is one of three schools in the

Toronto Catholic District School Board The Toronto Catholic District School Board (TCDSB, known as English-language Separate District School Board No. 40 prior to 1999) is an English-language public-separate school board for Toronto, Ontario, Canada, headquartered in North York. I ...

that is an elementary and secondary hybrid (the others being

Francis Libermann Catholic High School Francis Libermann Catholic High School (alternatively known as Francis Libermann CHS, Libermann High, FLCHS, FL, Francis Libermann, or Libermann) is a Catholic high school, secondary school (as of 2003, an elementary school as well) in Toronto, O ...

and

St. Michael's Choir School St. Michael's Choir School (also known as SMCS, The Choir School, or St. Mike's Choir) is a semi-Independent school, private Catholic Church, Catholic Cathedral school, choir school for boys from Educational stage, grades 3-12 in Toronto, Ontario, ...

). The school has been consistently ranked as one of the top educational institutions in Ontario.

History

The school was named after Cardinal

Gerald Emmett Carter Gerald Emmett Cardinal Carter (1912–2003) was a Canadian prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Archbishop of Toronto from 1978 to 1990, and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1979. Biography Youth and ordination The youngest o ...

, Ordinary of the

Archdiocese of Toronto The Archdiocese of Toronto ( la, Archidioecesis Torontina) is a Roman Catholic archdiocese that includes part of the Province of Ontario. Its archbishop is also the ecclesiastical provincial for the dioceses of Hamilton, London, Saint Catharines ...

since 1979, a strong supporter of education and a distinguished patron of the arts. Cardinal Carter school community is built upon

Gospel Gospel originally meant the Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words an ...

values and the love of learning. Following the provincial government funding extension to Roman Catholic high schools in June 1984, the Metropolitan Separate School Board (now the

) considered establishing a school for the

visual The visual system comprises the sensory organ (the eye) and parts of the central nervous system (the retina containing photoreceptor cells, the optic nerve, the optic tract and the visual cortex) which gives organisms the sense of sight (the ...

and

performing arts The performing arts are arts such as music, dance, and drama which are performed for an audience. They are different from the visual arts, which are the use of paint, canvas or various materials to create physical or static art objects. Perform ...

. Cardinal Carter was built at the former St. Edward Catholic School which moved to the

North York Board of Education The North York Board of Education (NYBE, commonly known as School District 13), officially the Board of Education for the City of North York is the former public school board for the former city of North York in Ontario, Canada. In 1998, the prov ...

's closed Burnett Public School on Eddiefield Avenue in 1985. That same year, it was the satellite campus of the newly established

Mary Ward Catholic Secondary School Mary Ward Catholic Secondary School (abbreviated Mary Ward C.S.S., MWCSS, MW, Mary Ward, or simply Ward) is a Catholic secondary school in Toronto Ontario, Canada. It is administered by the Toronto Catholic District School Board, formerly the Me ...

. In 1986, the MSSB reached a deal with

Tridel Tridel is a major Canadian real estate developer based in Toronto, Ontario. It is the largest builder of condominiums in the Greater Toronto Area. Since being founded in the 1930s it has built some 85,000 homes. History Founding The comp ...

, a Canadian condominium developer, to acquire of St. Edward property owned by the Board. In return, Tridel built a $10 million three-storey school on the board's property. The first set of auditions were held in January 1990. The school facilities were designed by Makrimichalos Cugini Architects and features a proscenium stage, full orchestra pit, dance, drama, music and art studios, practice and rehearsal rooms. Before the opening of Cardinal Carter, the building was then temporarily used by St. Bruno Catholic School, located in Downtown Toronto, which was closed due to health problems. Because of budget problems, the MSSB originally delayed the school's opening to September 1991 citing a tax increase to 9.5% and pulled Carter from the budget during its 26 April meeting. However, on 17 May 1990, the MSSB trustees reversed the decision proceeding the opening of Carter as planned.Mahood, Casey �
"Board finds money for arts academy"
– ''

Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. The newspaper is the country's largest daily newspaper by circulation. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part ...

'', 18 May 1990. Retrieved 29 December 2015. "The school board had already accepted 269 Grades 7, 8 and 9 students from across Metro into the academy after holding auditions in dance, music, fine arts and drama." and "Louis del Grande, star of the former CBC television show Seeing Things, has a daughter accepted into the school. He said the academy will give Christians a chance to win some ground in the artistic community." On 4 September 1990, Cardinal Carter opened its doors to 269 pupils in the seventh, eighth, and ninth grades with Millie Seguin as its founding principal. The school was blessed in 1991 and the first graduates emerged in 1994. One of the school's original students was the daughter of

CBC Television CBC Television (also known as CBC TV) is a Canadian English-language broadcast television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcaster. The network began operations on September 6, 1952. Its French-l ...

's hit show '' Seeing Things'',

Louis Del Grande Louis Del Grande (born March 23, 1943) is a Canadian-American television writer and actor. He is best known for starring in the Canadian mystery/comedy series '' Seeing Things''. Early life Del Grande was born and raised in Union City, New Jersey ...

. Since 1999, the school operates a second campus using the TCDSB's Catholic Education Centre building just across the street.

Admissions

The primary intake years are grades 7 and 9. Admission at senior levels is possible if space is available, and only at times of the school year when it is educationally sound to transition students. Audition requirements differ with every arts area. Drama majors must complete a workshop and perform a memorized monologue. Dance students must participate in a 90-minute dance class and perform a one-minute improvisation. All music students will be given an ear training/rhythm test; furthermore, instrumentalists need to sight read a piece of music and perform a solo piece, while vocalists need to sing '

O Canada "O Canada" (french: Ô Canada, italic=no) is the national anthem of Canada. The song was originally commissioned by Lieutenant Governor of Quebec Théodore Robitaille for the 1880 Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day ceremony; Calixa Lavallée composed the mus ...

' without accompaniment. Visual artists must first submit a portfolio of assigned exercises (Round 1); further audition requirements are then sent out (Round 2).

Arts

Students receive a balanced and thorough education in the arts, and through the arts. The integrated and accelerated arts program allows students to concentrate in one of four majors:

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 ...

(vocal, band, string instruments),

drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has been ...

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

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 ...

. There is a theoretical and practical aspect within each art major.

Dance

Dance students learn both

classical ballet Classical ballet is any of the traditional, formal styles of ballet that exclusively employ classical ballet technique. It is known for its aesthetics and rigorous technique (such as pointe work, turnout of the legs, and high extensions), its ...

and

contemporary dance Contemporary dance is a genre of dance performance that developed during the mid-twentieth century and has since grown to become one of the dominant genres for formally trained dancers throughout the world, with particularly strong popularity in ...

. They also learn about dance theory and composition to choreograph original performances. Dancers perform in outreach performances, school liturgies and Dance Night, a year-end performance. Every two years, the Dance Department puts on a Christmas production of ''

The Nutcracker ''The Nutcracker'' ( rus, Щелкунчик, Shchelkunchik, links=no ) is an 1892 two-act ballet (""; russian: балет-феерия, link=no, ), originally choreographed by Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov with a score by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaiko ...

''. The Dance facilities include two 40 feet wide, 30 feet deep studios with floor to ceiling mirrors, permanent ballet barres, and non-slip sprung hardwood floors.

Drama

Students explore the following areas: voice, movement, theatre games, mask, mime, musical theatre, improvisation, stage combat, theatre history, outreach performances, short film production and directing. There is a variety of exciting performance opportunities available to students over the course of the school year. Students can also participate in the Canadian Improv Games, the National Theatre School Festival and various short film competitions. In order to broaden their experience, students regularly work with a variety of guest artists from the professional community in such areas as scene study, script writing, musical theatre, sword work and mask.

Instrumental music

The Instrumental Music Department includes Strings and Band. Music students perform many times during the year and host a Christmas and spring concert. Music students frequently participate in festivals and competitions, such as

Kiwanis Music Festival The Kiwanis Music Festival movement consists of regional music competitions. These festivals are named after the Kiwanis Kiwanis International ( ) is an international service club founded in 1915 in Detroit, Michigan. It is headquartered in In ...

and TCDSB Music Festival. The Music Department performs internationally on biennial music trips.

Strings

The Strings Department is organized into four orchestras. The Junior Strings Orchestra consists primarily of the students in Grades 7, 8 and 9. Intermediate Strings include students in Grades 9 and 10. Senior Strings primarily include the students in Grades 11 and 12, with deserving younger musicians integrated into the ensemble. The Senior Chamber Strings are a chamber string orchestra who perform select standard repertoire for String Orchestra. The Cardinal Carter String Orchestras have earned over 100 first-place finishes in the

. CCAA Chamber Strings was the only Canadian string orchestra to perform at the

Midwest Clinic The Midwest Clinic International Band and Orchestra Conference is the world's largest instrumental music education conference, annually drawing approximately 17,000 attendees to Chicago from all 50 states and as many as forty countries. It is he ...

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

in 2008. CCAA Chamber Strings performed at

Carnegie Hall Carnegie Hall ( ) is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is at 881 Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh Avenue, occupying the east side of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street (Manhattan), 56th and 57th Street (Manhatta ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

in 2011.

Band

The Band Department is organized into the following ensembles: Junior Concert Band, which plays repertoire at the 200-300 level, Intermediate Concert Band, which plays repertoire at the 300-400 level, and Wind Symphony, which plays repertoire at the 400-500 level. The Band Department regularly participates in the Ontario Band Association Concert Band Festival. The Wind Symphony performed at the Festival at Carnegie Hall in 2014.

Vocal

In all vocal music courses, students study theory, history, listening, dictation, ear training, sight singing/solfège and prepare for performance of choral repertoire, vocalises, and solos. Senior students plan and perform their own solo recitals. Vocalists make up the choir for school

Mass Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different elementar ...

. Students participate in the school's annual Christmas and spring music concerts as well as the annual Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols, held at various churches in the Greater Toronto Area. The Vocal Program has achieved a number of first-place finishes (platinum awards) at the Kiwanis festivals. Students have performed the Duruflé Requiem with the Brampton Symphony Orchestra, sacred concerts with Elmer Iseler Singers, and several performances of the Missa Gaia.

Visual arts

The Visual Arts curriculum covers drawing, painting, sculpture, installation art, photography, printmaking, media studies, performance art, design and information design. Art appreciation, theory and history are inclusive for each grade. Specializations and portfolio preparation for college, university and art based alternatives are provided for all senior students. The Visual Arts program further provides opportunities for students to take part in a variety of outreach community projects, interact with professional artists, experience current gallery trends and take part in interdisciplinary projects.

Academics

Students must take a full academic course load in addition to their arts major. Cardinal Carter has a Gifted/Enriched program to further accommodate students with individualized needs. The school has been continually ranked as one of the best performing high schools in Ontario based on academics by the Fraser Institute. Cardinal Carter has earned a spot among the top 40 schools in the country as chosen by

Maclean's ''Maclean's'', founded in 1905, is a Canadian news magazine reporting on Canadian issues such as politics, pop culture, and current events. Its founder, publisher John Bayne Maclean, established the magazine to provide a uniquely Canadian perspe ...

and Today's Parent Magazine. CCAA was selected as a runner up in the "Classrooms of Creativity" category.

Uniform

Required tops include a navy blue or white crested golf shirt or a white or light blue dress shirt. Optional tops include a crested cardigan vest, zippered jacket, crewneck pullover or zip polo, all of which must be worn over the golf shirt or dress shirt.

Notable students

Dance

Leah Miller Leah Miller (born July 20, 1981) is a Canadian television host and former Much (TV channel), MuchMusic VJ (media personality), VJ from Toronto, who was the host for the three seasons (2008–2011) of ''So You Think You Can Dance Canada''. She wa ...

, television host *

Anjelika Reznik Anjelika Reznik (born 25 June 1995) is a Canadian former group rhythmic gymnast and individual athlete. She represents her nation at international competitions. Reznik made history by qualifying Canada as the 1st group ever when she participated ...

, Olympic gymnast

Drama

Raymond Ablack Raymond Ablack (born November 15, 1989) is a Canadian actor and comedian. He began his career in the early 2000s as a child actor on stage, performing as Young Simba in ''The Lion King'' at the Princess of Wales Theatre. He later gained recogni ...

, Degrassi: The Next Generation, Ginny and Georgia *

Giacomo Gianniotti Giacomo Keaton Gianniotti (born 19 June 1989) is an Italian-Canadian film and television actor. He studied theater at Humber College and made his acting debut in the Italian television series ''Medicina Generale'' in 2010. He went on to play rec ...

Grey's Anatomy ''Grey's Anatomy'' is an American medical drama television series that premiered on March 27, 2005, on ABC as a mid-season replacement. The series focuses on the lives of surgical interns, residents, and attendings as they develop into se ...

Eliana Jones Eliana Jones (born October 28, 1997) is a Canadian actress. She first came to attention as the younger version of the Alex character on ''Nikita'' (2010–2012), and in the recurring role of Alexa Sworn, one of the twin daughters of the sheriff ...

Hemlock Grove ''Hemlock Grove'' is a 2012 Horror-thriller debut novel by American author Brian McGreevy. The book was released on March 27, 2012 through Farrar, Straus and Giroux and is set in the fictional town of Hemlock Grove, Pennsylvania. A graphic nove ...

Jamie Johnston James Michael Johnston (born July 7, 1989) is a Canadian actor and singer-songwriter. He is best known for his role as Peter Stone on '' Degrassi: The Next Generation''. Personal life and career Johnston was born July 7, 1989 in Toronto, Ontar ...

, ''Degrassi: The Next Generation'' * Stephanie Paterson,

Big Brother Canada ''Big Brother Canada'' is a Canada, Canadian television Reality competition, reality game show based on the Big Brother (Dutch TV series), Dutch reality show of the same name, which is part of the wider ''Big Brother (franchise), Big Brother'' f ...

Season 10 Contestant *

Caterina Scorsone Caterina Scorsone (born October 16, 1981) is a Canadian-American actress. She is best known for playing Dr. Amelia Shepherd on the ABC medical drama ''Grey's Anatomy'' (2010–present) and its spin-offs ''Private Practice'' (2010–2013) and ''St ...

and

Private Practice Private practice may refer to: *Private sector practice **Practice of law In its most general sense, the practice of law involves giving legal advice to clients, drafting legal documents for clients, and representing clients in legal negotiati ...

* Katherine Winter, Billions,

Lady In The Lake ''Lady in the Lake'' is a 1947 American film noir starring Robert Montgomery, Audrey Totter, Lloyd Nolan, Tom Tully, Leon Ames and Jayne Meadows. An adaptation of the 1943 Raymond Chandler murder mystery ''The Lady in the Lake'', the picture ...

, The Verdon Fosse® Legacy

Music

Toya Alexis Toya Alexis (born July 16, 1980) is a Canadian vocalist and actress from Ajax, Ontario. Career Alexis won a "Rising Star" contest and sang at the Apollo Theater. In 2001 she appeared, as LaToya Lesmond, as a contestant on season one of ''Po ...

, singer * Martina Ortiz-Luis, singer, actress in Wynonna Earp Season 4 *

Natalie Di Luccio Natalie Di Luccio (born 29 June 1989) is an Italian-Canadian classical-crossover singer from Toronto, Ontario. She is often referred to as "Bollywood's Soprano" because of her unique renditions of Indian classics. Her career began in 2010 whe ...

, vocalist *

Amanda Joy Amanda Joy is a Canadian actress, screenwriter, comedian, satirist, and producer. She is best known for co-creating and starring in the Omni Television original series ''Second Jen''. Early life and education Joy studied vocal music at Cardinal ...

Second Jen ''Second Jen'' is a Canadian television sitcom that premiered on City on October 27, 2016. The series is produced by Don Ferguson Productions and stars Amanda Joy and Samantha Wan as Mo and Jen,

* Martha Joy, singer *

Alessandra Paonessa Alessandra Paonessa (born July 24, 1989) is a Canadian soprano from Toronto. Her 2014 debut album ''Remembering Heaven'', a collaboration featuring the works of British composer Chris Broom, reached number 25 in the UK Official Classical Artist A ...

, vocalist *

Tony Yike Yang Tony Yike Yang (born December 7, 1998) is a Canadian-Chinese pianist. Early life and education Yang was born in Chongqing, China to Chinese parents. He and his parents immigrated to Toronto, Canada in 2004. He began piano studies at the age of ...

, youngest prizewinner of the

International Chopin Piano Competition The International Chopin Piano Competition ( pl, Międzynarodowy Konkurs Pianistyczny im. Fryderyka Chopina), often referred to as the Chopin Competition, is a piano competition held in Warsaw, Poland. It was initiated in 1927 and has been held ev ...

FrancisGotHeat Francis Bach Hoang Nguyen-Tran (born 1996), known professionally as FrancisGotHeat, is a Canadian record producer and songwriter. He is best known for his production with several well-known artists, most notably Drake, Bryson Tiller, and Big Sean. ...

, multi-platinum music producer * Chelsea Clark, actor

Visual Arts

Footnotes

External links

Cardinal Carter Academy for the ArtsTCDSB Portal
{{authority control Art schools in Canada Educational institutions established in 1990 High schools in Toronto Music schools in Canada Catholic elementary schools in Ontario Catholic secondary schools in Ontario Toronto Catholic District School Board 1990 establishments in Ontario

History

Admissions

Arts

Dance

Drama

Instrumental music

Strings

Band

Vocal

Visual arts

Academics

Uniform

Notable students

Dance

Drama

Music

Visual Arts

See also

Other art schools

Footnotes

External links