2024 Spring Saturday Program
Join us from 10:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. on Saturdays in February, March, and April.
Session One: Saturday, February 17 - Saturday, March 9, 2024
Session Two: Saturday, March 23 - Saturday, April 13, 2024
See below for more info.
More about the Saturday Program
The Academy offers a series of 4-week arts intensives on Saturdays in the Fall and Spring. These classes are designed to introduce students currently in the 6th, 7th, and 8th grades to the arts education offered at The Academy.
If you have any questions about our programs or would like to receive more information, please don't hesitate to reach out to the Co-Directors of Middle School Programs, Nina Karakos and Gavin Schultz.
Who: The Academy Saturday Program is for students currently in the 6th, 7th, and 8th grades. The program is for students serious about the arts.
What: Two 4-week arts intensives in Dance, Media Arts, Music, Theatre & Musical Theatre, and Visual Arts. Registration for one session is $250. Registration for both sessions is $475.
Where: 1010 West Chicago Avenue, Chicago, IL 60647
When: The program runs 10:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. on Saturdays in the Fall and Spring.
Saturday Program Curriculum
The perfect program balance for comprehensive dance training. We will give your child the fundamentals of ballet, jazz, and modern dance, all while inspiring their creative voice. This is the perfect introduction to dance training at The Academy. Each session will offer codified techniques and also allow your child to learn to express themselves through the language of dance.
Students will be introduced to the basics of filmmaking through scriptwriting, storyboarding, cinematography, and editing.
In a collaborative environment, students will have the chance to brainstorm ideas, develop their own unique stories, and ultimately turn those ideas into a short film. They will learn how to effectively use post-production software, camera angles, lighting techniques, and sound to enhance their storytelling abilities.
On the last day of the program, students, friends, and family will come together for a screening of their projects.
Spend your Saturdays in a professional recording studio learning to use industry-standard recording software to produce, record, and craft an original song.
During the program, students will learn the ins and outs of Ableton Live, our industry-standard recording software, and how to set up and use cables and microphones, effects, and other studio equipment. Students will be immersed in topics such as music production, beat making, samples and remixing, lyric writing, and vocal recording. Students will use this knowledge to produce and record their own original song or piece of music.
Join us this spring as we explore the essential storytelling elements of music and movement! Build your acting skills and gain an inside eye to directing an opening number. Students will be trained in theater movement techniques that will expand their physical acting while studying a song from Musical Theatre history.
The Visual Arts Saturday Program mirrors The Academy’s Visual Arts Department’s curriculum and will pair teaching traditional foundational skills with contemporary art-making practices.
Weekly exercises will include drawing from observation as well as imagination and students will explore the connection between drawing and other mediums including printmaking and three-dimensional sculptural techniques. Students will be introduced to artists and artworks that push the definition and boundaries of “drawing” and the limitless potential of what a drawing may become. Our program’s instruction is highly individualized and projects will be geared towards and accessible to students who are beginners as well as to students with advanced levels of arts training and experience.
The perfect program balance for comprehensive dance training. We will give your child the fundamentals of ballet, jazz, and modern dance, all while inspiring their creative voice. This is the perfect introduction to dance training at The Academy. Each session will offer codified techniques and also allow your child to learn to express themselves through the language of dance.
Students will survey the ten principles of animation through a variety of technical projects. They will learn classic 2D animation techniques through storyboarding, illustration, and character design. They will use various software as well as hand-drawn techniques.
On the last day of the program, students, friends, and family will come together for a screening of their projects.
Spend your Saturdays with a world-class jazz musician and educator learning the basics of improvisation.
During the program, students will learn basic jazz harmony, chord-scale relationships, melodic development techniques, and strategies for building confidence in improvising and soloing. We will spend time listening to the masters of this music, discussing what they are doing during improvised solos and how we can continue to learn from them.
Introduction to Stage Combat is a four-week workshop that will feature the basics of Stage Combat including punches, kicks, hair pulls, eye gouges, and more all while teaching essential onstage skills such as listening, empathy, care, and concern, connecting to a scene partner, stage safety, and much more. The course will culminate in a Showcase of skills acquired for family and friends. Join us!
Students will be introduced to and practice traditional and experimental painting methods and processes. In weekly exercises, students will work both from observation and imagination, learning techniques to realistically and abstractly render form, space, and dimension. Additional and independent projects may include working with textile design, sculpture, printmaking, and digital mediums that will advance young artists’ visual thinking and their perception of “painting.” Our program’s instruction is highly individualized and projects will be accessible to students with beginning to advanced levels of arts training and experience. Though recommended, Drawing into Painting, Printmaking, and Sculpture is not a prerequisite for this session.