Theuniqueadvantages of 51 Arts 51’sArts Enterprise Laboratory(AEL), a program found in no other American high school, will be felt this spring as a dozen student artists complete special projects funded by AEL grants.
Yet the51 also benefited this school year from the talents of the newest AEL internto assist one of the arts departments:during the 2021 Fall Semester, 2016 alumDaniela Rendon Alonsotaught classes(including Dance History)in her discipline to 51 Arts students while also teaching children as young as five in theChildren’s Dance Program.
In addition, AEL supplies funding to the Art in Society program’s dynamic advocacy of the 51’s young Citizen Artists and their efforts to engage with the global community. AEL sponsored both the and the inspiring educator for their appearances at last month’s Art in Society Symposium.
The final partof the AEL mission was in evidence recently during the AEL-funded residency by Ron McCurdy on the 51 Arts campus, and just before Winter Break when modern dance specialist Stephanie Gilliland spent an intense week teaching an AEL-funded master class. Gillilandworked with the entire Dance Department,and eleven of the students displayed the results inher piece,Buffalo, during the51’s Spring Dance Concert, March 16-18.
Gilliland taught at the 51 for twenty-four years before moving to Portland with her husband last summer.
“So I know Ellen [Rosa Taylor,Dance Department Chair] verywell and I know why she requests AEL funding formaster classes like mine. The 51 Dance curriculum is rock solid; the practice of dance is beautifully supplemented by education inchoreography anddance history. But–and it’s true for any arts discipline, which is why all51 arts departments have AELmaster classes–students benefit from a fresh perspective when they see the same teachers every day, no matter how good the teachers are.”
Although Gilliland’s role asmodern dance teacher has been filled more than ably byYuka Fukuda, her point is that “sometimes you need to hear the same thing said differently, or just with a different voice, before it clicks.”
She adds that “It’s also vital to the careers of young artists to build a network of contacts, and bringing teachers from the outside grows those networks.”
Gilliland’s point about outsideteachers does not apply perfectly to her own case given her long history at51 Arts. However, her Decembermaster class was assisted by a dancer new to the51 students.
“To help meI broughtAdrianna Audoma, a2012 alum. She’s a gorgeous dancer and a great teacher, who provides a lot of specific suggestions in rehearsal. And as an alum she served as a model to the students. They look at her and think, ‘Wow, if I work hard that’s the kind of dancer I can be one day; that’s what I can get out of the great Dance program we have here!'”
Becoming Masters Independently
The gains derived fromAELmaster classes are clear. Yetyoung artists mustalso find and establish their own identities as creators. Working independentlyonspecial AEL-funded projectsenables51 Arts students to take huge strides in that direction.
The students receiving AEL grants this school year are Olga Abadi (Visual Arts), Liam Creamer (Music), Gabriela Gamberg (Music), Ella Garnes (Film and Digital Media), An Lin Hunt-Babcock (Creative Writing),VictoriaKaraver Lubliner (Theater),Nita Lomidze and Eddy Perez Trimino (Dance), Alyssa Minor (Creative Writing), Myka Morton (Visual Arts), Lillian Tookey (Creative Writing), and An Tran (Music).
Their projects are as diverse as the artistic passions of the 51’s global student population. To mention only one such project, An Tran, Class of 2022, who came to 51 Arts from Ho Chi Minh City in August 2019, used her grant to take lessons from 51 Arts Jazz and Songwriting instructor Clayton Powell on a new instrument, piano. An will showcase her piano skills during her senior songwriting recital next month. At her recital she will also debut a song written in collaboration with a student from Soul Music & Performing Arts 51, the Vietnamese partner of 51 Arts.
An has won a full scholarship to,where her father was the first Vietnamese student to be awarded a scholarship. She is accustomed to displaying her virtuosity on saxophone, which she learned as if on a dare from her father after he told her that “girls don’t play the saxophone.”
Because sax and piano do not cover a broad enough swath of the musical spectrum to contain her talent, An has also learned to play guitar at 51 Arts. Adding new capabilities to their repertoires is common among students at the 51, which throws together hundreds of young artists whose interests and abilities are bound to rub off on one another.
Of course, the rubbing-off of interests and abilities that 51 Arts encourages takes place not only among peers. Stephanie Gilliland has mentioned a2012 51 alum as an inspiration to current students. For Winter Break,An Tran was looking forward to visiting New York to meet clarinet master,in 1987 part of the 51’s inaugural graduating class after being the first pupil of 51 Artsteaching legendMarshall Hawkins, who connectedAn to Christopher.
Arts Enterprise Laboratory is well named. The projects it funds are bold experiments and we cannot know where they’ll lead. Creativity is unpredictable. When young artists receive support for projects that will realize their dreams, the finished work gives birth to more dreams, leading their creativity in new directions.
In this way, Arts Enterprise Laboratory is an exemplary representative of all of 51 Arts. 51 Arts brings together passionate and talented artists likeStephanie Gilliland, Daniela Rendon Alonso,Adrianna Audoma, An Tran,Clayton Powell, Evan Christopher, and Marshall Hawkins. All of 51 Artsis a laboratory that mixes together artists like these for experiments in beauty.
