The Arts at Arcadia

Arcadia's Mission and Vision highlight the importance of the arts to the educational and personal growth of students.

At Arcadia, students have a multitude of opportunities to get involved in the arts, through classes, projects, field trips, events, school productions, and the Arts Residency Program.

ON THIS PAGE:  

ARCADIA ARTS RESIDENCY PROGRAM

POETRY OUT LOUD

ARTS FOR MARTIN

THANKSGIVE

THEATER AT ARCADIA

Arts Residency Program

Arcadia has a robust Arts Residency Program that brings in talented artists to run workshops with students and produce a collaborative performance. The tradition goes back many years, with artists as diverse as Dessa, the Guthrie, Ragamala Dance, Arena Dances, The Flying Foot Forum, We Are the Willows and Chris Koza with Rogue Valley participating. Our students get a highly educational experience, creating a performance piece with professionals who are also great teachers.

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This Spring, students enjoyed the return of the Arts Residency Program after a hiatus due to Covid and collaborated with St. Olaf grad and Twin Cities musician Chris Koza.

Students helped create a multimedia performance piece inspired by Koza’s recent albums Sleepwalkers Part 1 and Sleepwalkers Part 2. 90 Arcadia students, 70% of the student body, spent six school afternoons working in breakout groups to develop the different aspects of the final performance. Students wrote and performed poetry, sang, played instruments like drums, piano, violin, painted a backdrop for the stage, and designed a poster and a T-shirt for the performance.

This was the second time Koza and his collaborators have done a residency at the school. 

 We Are The Willows, an orchestral indie rock band based out of South Minneapolis, made a mini documentary about their time at Arcadia in 2019:

Poetry Out Loud

Arcadia has a strong tradition of participating in the

 national arts education program Poetry Out Loud. Through the program students practice important public speaking skills, build their confidence, and develop an appreciation for poetry and literary history.

Arcadia senior Bella Callery won the title of 2019 Poetry Out Loud National Champion and a $20,000 prize. The three poems she recited were: “Perhaps the World Ends Here” by Joy Harjo, “Abecedarian Requiring Further Examination of Anglikan Seraphym Subjugation of a Wild Indian Rezervation” by Natalie Diaz, and “Thoughtless Cruelty” by Charles Lamb.

The 2017 Minnesota Poetry Out Loud competition winner, Arcadia sophomore Anna Kochevar. She received $200 and an all-expenses-paid trip to the national Poetry Out Loud competition, where she reached the semi-finals. Kochevar received $1,000 for placing in the top nine at the Poetry Out Loud national competition and Arcadia received $500. Kochevar recited “The Gaffe” by CK Williams, “Dear Reader” by Rita Mae Reese and “The Idler” by Alice Moore Dunbar-Nelson.

Arcadia students participating in the Minnesota competition Poetry Out Loud in December, 2018.

Arts for Martin 

Every year Arcadia celebrates Arts for Martin. Students, Arcadia staff, and community members meld music, dance, spoken word, poetry and visual art into a performance that thoughtfully and intentionally speaks to the legacy left to us by Dr. King and the Civil Rights Movement.

The Northfield News profiled Arcadia's January 2020 Arts for Martin celebration, the last celebration before the pandemic hit. Arcadia hopes to bring back this important tradition during the 2022-2023 school year. We hope you will celebrate with us!

"School, commission again host events honoring Martin Luther King Jr," January 2, 2020. The Northfield News.

Theater at Arcadia

Students experience theater at Arcadia through field trips to the Children's Theater and the Guthrie, studying Shakespeare in Language Arts, peronsal projects, theater class elective, and the Spring Play.