Charlottesville City Schools

Drawing International Attention for Excellence in Music and More

Charlottesville City Schools views the arts as essential for the complete education of every child. In Charlottesville, the arts have never been viewed as “frills” but as an indispensable part of our culture and history, a heritage to be shared by all. This philosophy is embraced by the school board, the administration, and the community at large.

Students in Charlottesville City Schools participate in the arts in a number of ways. Field trips to live performances, school visits from guest artists, and in-school and after-school instruction are important to us. As a result, our students perform and create at the highest levels, routinely receiving superior evaluations, regional and national honors, and international invitations to perform.

Community Partners

The schools take advantage of the rich resources in our area, including area artists and nonprofits such as the McGuffey Art Center and Second Street Gallery, whose exhibiting and member artists often visit art classrooms. Charlottesville Symphony provides an annual Youth Symphony concert at UVA’s Old Cabell Hall for CCS students, while the Tuesday Evening Concert series provides children's concerts featuring world renowned musicians at the MLK Performing Arts Center. Additionally, the Wednesday Music Club offers small group tutoring for beginning instrumentalists, and students often attend educational performances that are connected to Virginia’s SOL’s at Charlottesville’s historic Paramount Theatre.

Contact

Aaron Eichorst, Fine Arts Coordinator
Phone: 245-2671
Email

Charlottesville City Schools lays a strong musical foundation in our elementary schools, where children sing and play instruments regularly.  In the elementary schools, students take music class once and generally offer winter and spring concerts.  The students also perform in the community — for example, Venable Elementary was the guest choir when Grammy Award-winners Wayne Shorter and Esperanza Spalding performed at the Paramount Theater.

• Students of all ages enjoy high-quality concerts thanks to partnerships with Piedmont Virginia Community College, the University of Virginia, and regional artists.

Beginning in fifth grade, many students elect to join the band, choir, or orchestra. Charlottesville City Schools has an extraordinarily strong record of excellence in these groups. Some of our middle- and high-school performing groups have not received less than a superior rating (the highest possible) since the 1980s! In 2023, the Virginia Music Educators’ Association named CHS a Blue Ribbon School for the 13th time when it earned a superior ranking in the school’s top group for band, choir, and orchestra. In 2023-24, the CHS band was invited to perform in Rome at the New Year’s parade, and the orchestra accepted invitations to perform across Ireland. Each spring, the CHS band, choir, and orchestra join forces for a special symphony concert. Charlottesville’s music program is regularly cited as exemplary, and its graduates perform professionally around the world.

• Students in Charlottesville regularly enjoy live performances through field trips to destinations such as the Paramount Theatre or the American Shakespeare Center. Other groups come to our schools, including the Ash Lawn Opera Festival.

Opportunities to perform on stage also abound. Gym and music classes in elementary school teach dance, and after-school clubs encourage drama and dance, as well. We are partnering with the Charlottesville Ballet to offer after-school ballet lessons.  In addition, certain schools, such as Jackson-Via Elementary, offer innovative ways to celebrate music and dance. Jackson-Via’s Bully-Nots club performs to the beat of friendliness– using dance, skits, and more to teach kindness and respect. In addition, the middle school and high school have step teams that compete and perform in venues such as the Ting Pavilion on the Downtown Mall.

CHS Bands    CHS Orchestra

For More Information
Aaron Eichorst, Fine Arts Coordinator
245-2671
Email

Theater productions, often combined with music and dance, are a vital part of elementary education and occur frequently in all the elementary schools.

Beginning in fifth grade, students at Walker can perform with the after-school club First Act which offers students free theater experiences both on stage and behind the scenes.

Buford is proud to provide a full year course of Theatre as well an after-school enrichment program for those students unable to fit theater into their schedule. Buford Theatre attends the Virginia Theatre Association festival and performs around the community.

TheatreCHS offers a host of opportunities for thespians, whether students wish to take theater classes or participate as an extracurricular activity. The CHS theater program participates in Virginia High School League competitions such as one-act performances and various design and costuming challenges. Besides major productions, theater students enjoy performing for their peers and teachers, at the elementary schools, and at their annual student-directed Dessert Theater. The season’s highlight is the spring musical, which delights crowds in the Martin Luther King Performing Arts Center.

TheatreCHS

For More Information
Aaron Eichorst, Fine Arts Coordinator
245-2671
Email

All elementary students take art, taught by an art specialist, at least once a week. At the upper elementary and middle school levels, students may choose art as a full-year course. At the high school, there are numerous levels and options offered each semester, including Fundamentals of Art, Studio Art, Photography, and AP Portfolio Art classes. Field trips to museums and galleries, along with frequent artists-in-residence, supplement the schools’ visual arts programs by giving students the opportunity to observe, work with, and learn from professional artists.

Our students’ excellence in the arts is shown in their regional and national recognition. In 2015, students at Burnley-Moran Elementary claimed three of the top six spots in an art competition sponsored by Shenandoah National Park. In recent years at Buford Middle School and Charlottesville High School, students have won Gold Key awards through the Scholastic Art Awards, with their work exhibited at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.

Reflections

Reflections is a Summer Regional Governor’s School Program, funded in part by the Virginia Department of Education with local financial and in-kind support. The Reflections Program is a 10-day summer program for middle school students gifted in the visual arts, competitively selected from Charlottesville City, Albemarle, Greene, and Nelson Counties, and the private and home-schooled students in the region.

High school students talented in the visual (or performing arts) can apply to the state Governor’s School summer program.

Online Art Gallery and Unfinished Jigsaw Anthology

For More Information:
Aaron Eichorst, Fine Arts Coordinator
245-2671
Email

Charlottesville City Schools nurtures young writers through language arts, and CHS offers both English and creative writing classes. Our school division is a founding partner with the Virginia Festival of the Book, which brings guest authors to all of our schools each spring. Our students participate in writing competitions such as the Writer’s Eye contest sponsored by the Fralin Museum at University of Virginia, and more. Additionally, Charlottesville City Schools produces the Unfinished Jigsaw, a division-wide anthology of student art and writing.

For More Information:
Aaron Eichorst, Fine Arts Coordinator
Phone: 245-2671
Email