Fine and Performing Arts
The Fine and Performing Arts Department at Williston houses the various arts disciplines within a single department. Our faculty, who are practicing artists in their chosen fields, all bring their professional experiences to their teaching. We strive to instill in our students a broad respect for learning; to develop in them a respect for and enduring interest in the arts through knowledge and experience; to stimulate their awareness of their own creative potential, not only in the arts but in other endeavors; and to equip them with the skills and discipline necessary for pursuing one or more of the fine or performing arts.
arts—painting, dancing, playing music, and acting—students develop intellectual and cognitive operations that are central to all experiences in school or in life. Study of the arts provides a meaningful and constructive connection to other cultures and the history of the world. Through the arts, students discover that there is a unique opportunity to create community and to share with others, while experiencing the excitement of creative realization and self-discovery. It is our mission as well to train the audiences of tomorrow, audiences who, through their enlightened perception and understanding of the arts, will find their lives enhanced and immeasurably enriched.
The arts faculty, while diverse in its own artistic pursuits, shares a common concern for developing human expressiveness and a profound commitment to making the arts an integral part of their students’ lives and the life of the entire school community. The arts have historically been a strong thread that binds together all human endeavors and reveals the human response to the world and to the sense of self. Such awareness illuminates and gives depth to our own experience. By engaging in the studio and performing
The lives of our students are also enriched by our close relationships with the Five Colleges and the many cultural and artistic offerings in the Pioneer Valley that Williston calls home. Our students have the opportunity to attend concerts, dance recitals, theatrical performances, and the marvelous galleries and museums throughout the area. In addition, students and professors from the nearby colleges and universities have enriched the Fine Arts classroom experience through lectures, workshops, and demonstrations on our campus.
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