Lehigh Valley Charter High School for the Arts, or Charter Arts, is an audition-based, tuition-free 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 autono ...

located in downtown

Bethlehem, Pennsylvania Bethlehem is a city in Northampton and Lehigh Counties in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania, United States. As of the 2020 census, Bethlehem had a total population of 75,781. Of this, 55,639 were in Northampton County and 19, ...

in the

Lehigh Valley The Lehigh Valley (), known colloquially as The Valley, is a geographic region formed by the Lehigh River in Lehigh County and Northampton County in eastern Pennsylvania. It is a component valley of the Great Appalachian Valley bound to the no ...

region of eastern

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

. As of the 2020-21 school year, the school had an enrollment of 636 students, according to National Center for Education Statistics data. The school first opened in September 2003 under the name Lehigh Valley Charter High School for the Performing Arts or “LVPA” before changing to its current name in 2012, abbreviated “LVCA”. Students major in one of seven artistic areas: dance, theatre, instrumental music, vocal music, visual art, literary arts, or production arts. As of the 2019-2020 school year, figure skating is no longer a major. Students commute to the school daily from over 40 surrounding Pennsylvania school districts. The school has core courses at the College Preparatory (CP), Honors, and Advanced Placement (AP) levels. The course catalog consists of more than 200 courses ranging from traditional core courses to comprehensive courses in the arts. Advanced placement courses are available in English, Math, American History, Science, Art History, Music Theory and Spanish. In September 2015, the school opened a new 87,000 square-foot facility.

Notable alumni

Taylor A. Purdee Taylor Armstrong Purdee is an American director, actor, screenwriter, and songwriter. He is best known for creating the musical film ''Killian & the Comeback Kids'', as well as for his work preserving the documentary films of Academy Award wi ...

, director, '' Killian & the Comeback Kids''

External links

Official website

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Niche Niche may refer to: Science *Developmental niche, a concept for understanding the cultural context of child development *Ecological niche, a term describing the relational position of an organism's species *Niche differentiation, in ecology, the ...

{{coord, 40.6225, -75.3628, region:US-PA_type:edu, display=title 2003 establishments in Pennsylvania Bethlehem, Pennsylvania Charter schools in Pennsylvania Educational institutions established in 2003 Public high schools in Pennsylvania Schools in Northampton County, Pennsylvania