Frank Sinatra School of the Arts

The Frank Sinatra School of the Arts (FSSA) opened in the fall of 2001 as a public high school in Queens, New York. FSSA provides a rigorous academic curriculum, in addition to its unique arts offerings, with all of its students majoring in one of five studios: Drama, Dance, Fine Art, Instrumental, or Vocal Music. FSSA requires auditions and portfolio submissions from its prospective students to ensure that those it selects to enroll demonstrate talent and a strong commitment to their art form. FSSA has 580 students and once it moves to its new, permanent home in 2008, FSSA will have 900 students. Learn More About the New Bulding. FSSA believes that the arts and academics play equally important roles in its students' education and strives to integrate the two curricula whenever possible. Within its studios, FSSA aims to instill in its students a love of their craft, challenging the societal norm that values instant, fleeting success over a lifetime of cultivation and achievement. FSSA also wants to create young artists who connect with the wider world. To that end, the school requires its students to employ their art form towards community service work throughout their high school years.

The ETA / FSSA Partnership

Exploring the Arts has been providing support to Frank Sinatra School of the Arts since its original founding in 2001. To this end, ETA offers FSSA the following: curriculum development workshops for teachers; college and summer program scholarships for students; musical accompanists for dance and voice classes; professional costume and set designers for school productions; as well as planning, funding, and oversight for the many special programs and events ETA runs at the school, among them Career Night and The Tony Bennett Apprenticeship Program. For further information on these programs and events, click here. Most exciting of all, is the work ETA has done to secure FSSA a new school building, one that will have state of the art facilities coupled with an awe-inspiring architectural design. To view design images and read more about the architects, ETA's capital campaign, the building, and the role it will serve in the community, click here.

Using FSSA as a Model

ETA is a relatively new organization with big dreams and expansion goals. Right now, we are using our partnership with the Frank Sinatra School of the Arts to test out our various ideas. We would like to share the successes we have at FSSA with other schools, programs, not-for-profits, and individuals in the field of arts education by exporting curriculum and program models, sharing our financial resources as they grow, and by contributing to the larger discourse surrounding: 1) the importance of the arts in education, and: 2) the need to create an improved system for funding schools that provides better resources and equality of opportunity to all young people.

To visit the Frank Sinatra School of the Arts website click here.