260-plus expected at Governor’s School for the Arts at MTSU

More than 260 rising high school juniors and seniors from across Tennessee will be arriving Sunday, June 2, for the four-week 2013 Tennessee Governor’s School for the Arts at Middle Tennessee State University.

Students attending the June 2-28 Tennessee Governor’s School for the Arts 2013 gain a deeper insight and perspective of theater, like this group participating in a performance at the 2012 Governor’s School session at MTSU. (File photos courtesy of Martin O’Connor)

The Governor’s School for the Arts at MTSU, which provides high quality arts education for gifted and talented Tennessee high school students, will run from June 2 through June 28.

The pre-professional summer curriculum includes individual and group instruction designed to help each student explore talents in music, ballet, theatre, filmmaking and visual art. Students spend about four hours each day for six days a week working in their major concentrations.

Performance events of the Governor’s School this month include:

a Nashville Opera performance at 7 p.m. Monday, June 3, in the Hinton Music Hall inside the Wright Music Building.
the Governor’s School faculty ensemble at 7 p.m. Wednesday, June 5, in Hinton Hall.
a performance by guitarist Mike Loudermilk at 7 p.m. Monday, June 10, in Hinton Hall.
a recital by internationally acclaimed mezzo-soprano Mary Ann McCormick at 7 p.m. Tuesday, June 11, in Hinton Hall.
a performance of “Anne Frank” by the Nashville Ballet at 7 p.m. Wednesday, June 12, in Tucker Theatre.
a Maestro Class with Nashville Symphony music director Giancarlo Guerrero at 10 a.m. Monday, June 17, in Hinton Hall.
a live art presentation called “SandStory” by Joe Castillo at 7 p.m. June 17 in Tucker Theatre.
a performance of “The Zoo Story” by actors Stoney Westmoreland and Benim Foster at 7 p.m. Saturday, June 22, in Hinton Hall. Westmoreland, a native of Kingsport, Tenn.,is a 1987 Governor’s School alumnus.

All the performance events — except the Maestro Class — are open to the public, and admission is free.

MTSU professor of music Raphael Bundage, who is director of choral activities and opera in the School of Music, serves as director for the Tennessee Governor’s School for the Arts.

Lynda Hawkersmith serves as assistant director and dean of students Janet Bell-Taylor is assistant dean of students, Glenna Robinson is school coordinator and Brenda Batey is finale event coordinator. Faculty from MTSU and other universities assist as instructors for the Governor’s School for the Arts.

Tennessee Governor’s Schools were created when the 1984 Extraordinary Session of the Tennessee General Assembly mandated a summer program to meet the needs of the state’s top secondary school students.

In 1985, the first three schools opened: the Governor’s School for the Arts at MTSU, the School for the Humanities at the University of Tennessee at Martin and the School for the Sciences at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville.

Since then, other schools have been added:

the Governor’s School for Agricultural Sciences at UT-Martin;
the Governor’s School for Computational Physics at Austin Peay;
the Governor’s School for Emerging Technologies and the Governor’s School for Information Technology Leadership, both at Tennessee Tech;
the Governor’s School for Engineering at UT-Knoxville;
the Governor’s School for International Studies at the University of Memphis;
the Governor’s School for Prospective Teachers at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga;
the Governor’s School for Scientific Exploration of Tennessee Heritage and the Governor’s School for Scientific Models and Data Analysis, both at East Tennessee State.

Officials with the Governor’s School for the Arts at MTSU also are asking past students to visit the online alumni center (http://gsfta.com/alumni-survey) and complete a survey. The information will be kept confidential.

For more information, visit http://gsfta.com or call 615-898-2223.

— Randy Weiler (Randy.Weiler@mtsu.edu)