Name recommended for Muscogee County’s new arts school

Midtown Columbus School of the Arts is the proposed name for the Muscogee County School District’s arts academy for middle and high school students.

Muscogee County School Board policy allows the board member representing the district where a new school is being constructed to recommend the name. The arts school is being constructed at 1700 Midtown Drive, behind the Columbus Public Library and the Columbus Aquatic Center off Macon Road and next to Rigdon Road Elementary School. That’s in District 1, represented by vice Pat Hugley Green, the board’s vice chairwoman.

Green asked former MCSD executive assistant to the superintendent Billy Kendall to lead a committee of local arts supporters to recommend the name. They agreed to not propose a name honoring a person, Green said, because Columbus is home to too many famous artists from which to choose. They instead wanted a name that would provide recognition for the school’s location, Green said.

Board policy requires the board to wait until the next meeting to vote on naming a school.

MCSD students who will be in grades 6-10 are eligible to apply to the arts school for the 2017-18 school year. The 11^th and 12^th grades will be added the following years.

Construction is scheduled to be completed by June, so the academy should open on time when the new school year starts in August.

The $36 million project is designed to produce a three-story, 118,500-square-foot facility. Hecht Burdeshaw of Columbus is the architect, and Brasfield Gorrie of Columbus is the construction contractor. The funding comes from the 1 percent Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax county voters renewed in 2003, 2009 and 2015.

The arts school will comprise a 650-seat auditorium with a balcony, a mini theater, a black-box theater, a recital hall, an outdoor studio, dance studios and film editing rooms. It is designed to educate approximately 500 students (275-300 in middle school and about 200 in high school).

Admission for middle school students will be open enrollment as they apply or based on a lottery system, depending on the number of students who show an interest. Admission for high school students will require an audition or portfolio assessment, depending on the discipline in which the student wants to focus.

All prospective students will be interviewed and must have two letters of recommendation. They and one of their parents or guardians also must sign a contract.

Programs are expected to include music (band, chorus, guitar, orchestra and piano), dance (classical and modern), theater, technical theater, musical theater, visual art (2-D, 3-D, sculpture and photography), film and creative writing.

“Some of the disciplines have yet to be determined,” superintendent David Lewis has said. “It’s going to be based on interest, but we are prepared to offer all the disciplines.”

The application period started Dec. 2 and ends Feb. 3. Applications are available on the district’s website, www.muscogee.k12.ga.us and may be submitted through that online link. Printed copies may be obtained at the information desk in the Muscogee County Public Education Center, 2960 Macon Road, Columbus, Ga., 31906. They should be mailed to that address or left at the information desk and written to the attention of the MCSD Arts and Humanities Department.

For more information, call the department at 706-748-2122.

This story was originally published December 12, 2016 at 8:41 PM with the headline "Name recommended for Muscogee County’s new arts school."