Ramón C. Cortines School of Visual and Performing Arts
The Ramón C. Cortines School of Visual and Performing Arts, known unofficially as “VAPA” by students, is a performing arts public high school in the Los Angeles Unified School District in the United States. It is located on the site of the old Fort Moore at the corner of Grand Avenue and Cesar E. Chavez Avenue in Downtown Los Angeles, adjacent to Chinatown. Grand Arts anchors the north end of Los Angeles' "Grand Avenue Cultural Corridor".[1][2] The school's distinctive architecture has made the facility noteworthy beyond the Los Angeles area.
Grand Arts High School
Public
September 9, 2009
Jantré Christian
9-12
1,152 (2018-2019)
Urban
Grand Arts, VAPA, Number 9
The school admits around 300 incoming freshmen students each year, with Media Arts, Dance, Music, Theatre, and Visual Arts accounting for a portion of the incoming freshman. However, Visual Arts is by far the most applied to and the largest, with around 30%-40% of the school belonging to the Visual Arts Academy. Students are admitted via a lottery which takes place each spring. Admission requires no prior training or auditions, and there are no fees or tuition.[3]
The school's leadership history includes, founding administrator and former principal Ken Martinez, and former Executive Artistic Director, Kim M. Bruno (former principal of Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts and Professional Performing Arts School).
History[edit]
When the school opened on September 9, 2009, it was known as Central Los Angeles High School #9. Suzanne Blake was its first principal. In June 2011, the school board renamed the school in honor of former school district superintendent Ramón C. Cortines.[5] As of 2014, it has been unofficially called Grand Arts High School, Cloud 9, Number 9, and most frequently VAPA.
The school has been featured in several commercials, films, and photo shoots. In 2015, the school released a music video called "Dream It! Do It!", directed and choreographed by Debbie Allen. The video was produced and conceived by the school's principal, Kim Bruno. "Dream It! Do It!" featured Grand Arts and Debbie Allen Dance Academy students showcasing the importance of the arts in the Los Angeles community.
Kenneth Martinez, the school's first founding Administrator, rose to become Principal in 2015 until 2019.
Norman Isaacs, the school's former principal, resigned in protest over what he termed inadequate funding for the school.[6]
Past productions at Grand Arts include the Dance Academy's yearly spring dance concert, annual musicales by the Music Academy, Hairspray, Once on This Island, In The Heights, Joe Turner's Come and Gone, Noises Off, The Glass Menagerie, Steel Magnolias, Twilight: Los Angeles 1992, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Hello Dolly, Guys and Dolls, Dreamgirls, The Crucible where the school traveled and performed at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2011, Peter Pan, and the school's inaugural production of La Llorona (an Aztec version of Medea).
In addition to the wide range season, five visual art exhibitions are produced by the Visual Arts Academy each school year, 2-4 Concerts, 2 Dance Exhibitions, and at least 1 Media Arts Exhibitions.