Class Acts: Keeping arts education alive: Marin School of the Arts
A cavalcade of culture is thriving at Marin School of the Arts. And that makes it a very inspiring place to be.
“W hen you put musicians, dancers, filmmakers and other artists together, you create an arts community—a synergy,” says Mark Peabody, the director and visionary behind Marin School of the Arts, a magnet school academy at Novato High School. In just six short years, the school has made quantum leaps—more than doubling its enrollment, earning widespread parental support and turning out such high-achieving students that the 45 seniors in last year’s graduating class earned $1.7 million in college scholarships.
Dubbed Novato Unified School District’s “crown jewel” by the school board, MSA glitters so brightly that its luster has even radiated across the continent: One student arrived this year from Philadelphia.
Arts high schools are not uncommon in big cities—just think of “Fame,” the feature movie and television series set in the Big Apple. (Come to think of it, there’s even an arts high school in Philly.) But creating an arts magnet school outside of a metropolitan area is not so common—and that’s one of the things that makes MSA stand out. Also unusual, according to Peabody, is the school’s broad curricular reach, with advanced training in every major art discipline: dance, theater, music, creative writing, film and visual arts.
“One of the important aspects of MSA is that we wanted to make sure to offer all the arts to students,” he says. “In most schools, there are holes.”
“Every student loves it here,” says Marisa Smith, a senior who had heard such great things about MSA that she transferred from another district in her freshman year. “I wasn’t being challenged at my other school. I thought, ‘If that’s what I have to look forward to in the next four years, it’s a joke.’ ”
Smith says she found the challenge she was looking for in MSA’s instrumental music program.
“We play college-level music in all of our bands, which is difficult when you’re a high school student. That’s why I say every student loves it here: If they didn’t love it they wouldn’t be here, because you have to work hard to stay in the program.”
Indeed, the numbers seem to indicate that MSA students are working hard—and achieving. As of 2007, the school’s average GPA was 3.3, with 21 percent of the students above 4.0. And though it’s not their grades that get them in—students are admitted solely on the basis of an audition or portfolio—they also soar in the state’s Standardized Testing and Reporting program, posting with some of the best scores in all of Marin County. Those results helped MSA earn a CSBA Golden Bell Award in the category of Visual and Performing Arts in 2007.
Numbers also loomed large in Peabody’s mind when he began planning for the school, though at the time he wasn’t as concerned about GPAs and test scores as he was about dollars and cents. It’s a sad fact that when school budgets get cut, electives—including arts—can be among the first programs to go. So Peabody knew that the only way to keep an arts school alive was to find creative means of funding that would, as he puts it, “bring money in instead of taking it out. The idea was to find a way for the program to sustain itself even in hard economic times.”
Peabody’s savvy solution: Create innovative programs that not only pull in students from outside the district, adding to revenues, but that also put the school in the proverbial catbird seat when it comes to getting grants—some $311,000 from the California Department of Education, the Milagro Foundation (the San Rafael-based organization established by Carlos and Deborah Santana) and the local Marin Community Foundation. Peabody also hopes to land a $1.5 million career and technical education grant from CDE thanks to MSA’s strong career focus, which includes the ongoing development of curricula in graphic arts, digital animation and other high-tech disciplines that translate to real-world jobs.
Parental support also goes a long way at MSA. Through the school’s nonprofit corporation, parents are asked to provide “family grants” of $600 a year, eliminating lab and festival fees. But parents donate more than money: They also give their time. There’s even a parent team that gets the good word out about the school through press releases, media coverage and expanded public awareness.
At the end of the day, though, it’s all about the kids, who benefit not only from a rich education but an environment that is as stimulating as it is nurturing.
“You walk around the school, and there’s not only this artistic community, but a different kind of value system,” says Peabody. “The emphasis isn’t on what you look like, your politics or the color of your skin—it’s really on what you have to offer.”
Student Marisa Smith concurs. “It’s a great atmosphere. Everybody’s accepted because we’re so focused on our arts. We’re not outcast or looked at as weird, like you might be at other high schools.”
—Cathy Cassinos-Carr