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105 Students Selected for Lincoln Park's Pennsylvania Summer School of the Arts

Posted on: Wednesday, 20 May 2009, 12:13 CDT

MIDLAND, Pa., May 20 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Outstanding guest artists such as jazz guitarist Joe Negri will instruct and inspire the next generation of musicians, singers, visual artists, writers and dancers at the Pennsylvania Summer School of the Arts July 12-24 at the Lincoln Park Performing Arts Center (www.lppac.org).

A replacement program for the Pennsylvania Governor's School of the Arts - eliminated in this year's tight state budget - the Lincoln Park program is entirely privately funded and organized, with no state or other governmental funding. It also is the only summer program offering free tuition and housing among several created to fill the void left by the loss of the various Governor's Schools of Excellence, which had operated since 1973.

Some 105 talented high school juniors and seniors have been notified of their selection to the tuition-free program from more than 500 from across the Commonwealth who had applied for the Governor's School of the Arts.

They include 48 music students, 12 in theater, and 15 each in dance, media/visual arts and creative writing.

Stephen Catanzarite, Lincoln Park managing director, recently notified Pennsylvania Secretary of Education Dr. Gerald Zahorchak of the successful completion of the selection process and invited him to visit when the summer school is underway.

Housing is provided in partnership with nearby Geneva College in Beaver Falls, Pa. Faculty artists from the Lincoln Park Performing Arts Charter School volunteered to teach, said Catanzarite. Support is being provided by the National Network of Digital Schools, Yamaha Music and Wellness Institute, and others.

Catanzarite, an alumnus of the Governor's School for the Arts (1985), said the Department of Education and Claudia Ebeling at the Governor's School office in Lewisburg were very helpful in starting the Lincoln Park summer program.

The summer school is in line with Lincoln Park's educational mission, and is a return on the state's investment in the facility, Catanzarite said.

A daily schedule, directions and other information about Lincoln Park Summer School for the Arts is posted at http://sites.google.com/site/lpsummerarts/.

Opened in 2006 in Midland Borough, 45 minutes west of Pittsburgh, the Lincoln Park Performing Arts Center is a cultural and entertainment asset for western Pennsylvania and is host to the 500-student Lincoln Park Performing Arts Charter School(www.lppacs.org).

CONTACT: Stephen Catanzarite, 724-643-9004, ext. 1301, scatanzarite@lppac.org

SOURCE Lincoln Park Performing Arts Center

Source: PR Newswire

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