Perpich Center for Arts Education
The Perpich Center for Arts Education (PCAE) is an agency of the State of Minnesota that is dedicated to improving K-12 arts education for all Minnesota students and educators through innovative programs and partnerships centered in the arts. A 33-acre campus in Golden Valley houses the Center's three main components: the Professional Development and Research Group (PDR), Arts High School (AHS) and the PCAE Library. PCAE serves as the premier resource for arts education in Minnesota.
The Arts High School is a tuition-free public high school delivering a comprehensive education centered in the arts. The school is open to all 11th and 12th grade students who are Minnesota residents. Students apply and audition in their 10th or 11th grade year, in one of six areas:theatre, dance, media arts, visual arts, literary arts, or music. AHS is the leading public arts-centered high school in the state. With enrollment limited to 310 students, AHS offers the benefit of learning in a small community while allowing students to take advantage of arts resources in the Twin Cities. Student who live in the Twin Cities area often commute each morning, while those from the greater Minnesota area live in dorms on campus.
History
Former Minnesota Governor Rudy Perpich and his wife Lola provided the vision for the creation of the center following an extended stay in Vienna, Austria. Inspired by the seamless integration of arts and academics in Viennese schools, Lola and Rudy worked to create a similar model in Minnesota when Rudy was re-elected governor in 1983. After lengthy debate and across-the-aisle compromise, the idea of an arts high school was expanded to include professional development in arts education available to all Minnesota teachers and a statewide resource library.
The center was established in legislation in 1985 and was titled the Minnesota School of the Arts and Resource Center. Opening as The Minnesota Center for Arts Education (MCAE) in the autumn of 1989, the school opened with junior students who graduated in the spring of 1991. The school has graduated nearly 2,000 alumni, many of whom have gone on to top ranked colleges and conservatories across the country.
The center is located on property that belonged to the Golden Valley Lutheran College and the majority of the Center's buildings were originally part of that school. Some relics from the old school still remain, such as the Alpha and Beta dormitories that are no longer in use.
Art Areas
Theater
The theater program at Perpich, taught by Barbara Morrin and Tory Peterson, focuses on Stanislavsky System. The department is divided between juniors and seniors with juniors learning Stanislavsky System and improvisation.
Dance
The dance program at Perpich, taught by Mary Harding and Tom Kantak, is focused mostly on modern dance, with some ballet training. Students are taught improvisation, dance history, criticism, and choreography. Two dance concerts are performed per year, in the winter and in the spring. Although at times the dance department is split between juniors and seniors, more than any other art area the dance departments students spend time in class together regardless of grade.
Music
Literary Arts
The literary arts program at Perpich is taught by John Colburn and Shannon Hannigan. In junior year, with Shannon Hannigan, students start out with an intense study and practice of memoir, and then move on to short fiction, eventually creating a research-based, character-driven short story. In senior year, John Colburn focuses on developing students' work in a variety of genres, with a strong emphasis on poetry.
The literary program tends to develop into a very strong community-based group, since the students start off as strangers and go immediately into memoir, telling each other their deep dark secrets within the first weeks of knowing each other. Students in the literary arts program have a reputation for quiet contemplation and for spending large amounts of time in the lit loft, a room in the school designated specifically for literary arts students.
Media Arts
Visual Arts
The Visual Arts program is taught by Karen Monson, Bill Jeter, and Colleen Brennan.
Noted Alumni
- Sean Tillmann (Har Mar Superstar) (1995), singer
- Erik Kenward (1995), writer for Saturday Night Live
- Jordis Unga (2000), contestant on Star Search and Rock Star: INXS
- Karin Jacobson (1991), jewelry designer
- Katherine (Katy) Gerdes, (1999), fashion designer on Project Runway Season 3
- Caleb Wood (2006), the only student at Perpich that matters.
Location
The Perpich Center is located within the city of Golden Valley: 6125 Olson Memorial Highway, Golden Valley, MN 55422. The Perpich Center can be contacted by phone by calling (763) 591-4700 (Twin Cities) or 800-657-3515.
Trivia
As of 2006, Perpich students judge the annual "Oh, You Turkey" art competition for children, presented by the Star Tribune.
Perpich's football club considers Breck School as its rival, and frequently sees their spies during practice on Thursday.
Caleb Wood was voted Prom King in 2007 by EVERYONE at Perpich. Caleb did not attend prom.