Youth Performing Arts School history

October 3, 1884: The Academy first opened its doors at The Lyceum Theatre in Manhattan.

DuPont Manual Training High School had been founded in October 1892.

Juilliard was founded in 1905 as the Institute of Musical Art by Doctor Frank Damrosch, the godson of Franz Liszt and the head of music education for New York City’s public schools.

With the initial enrollment figures nearly five times what was expected, the Institute quickly outgrew its original home at Fifth Avenue and 12th Street (seen at left) and moved to new quarters near Columbia University in 1910.

During the years 1915-19, the school board decided that there was not sufficient funds to run two boys schools as separate units.

The trustees of the bequest founded the Juilliard Graduate School in 1924 to help worthy music students complete their education.

In 1926, the Graduate School and the Institute of Musical Art merged to become the Juilliard School of Music under one president, the distinguished Columbia University professor John Erskine.

Built by the Rommel Co. in 1933, the massive Collegiate Gothic structure was named Reuben Post Halleck Hall after prominent local educator and textbook author, Reuben Post Halleck.

In September 1950, the advent of coeducation brought about the merger of the Louisville Girls High School and duPont Manual Training High School.

In 1962, Milton Anderson founded The Young Americans, the world’s first “show choir.” Their success has become legendary.

In 1968, during the tenure of Peter Mennin, a Drama Division was created, with John Houseman as its first director and Michel Saint-Denis as consultant.

In 1969 the Jefferson County School's Board of Education responded to the needs and interest of a group of parents and students to establish a learning community which honored the development of the whole child.

The first class of students was welcomed into the Open Living School in Arvada in 1970.

In 1975 Mountain Open High School was added to the Evergreen campus, making Evergreen a pre-Kindergarten through 12th grade program.

In 1978, the Youth Performing Arts School became part of Manual.

In 1989, Tanglewood and Mountain Open were reunited as a pre-Kindergarten through 12th grade program at the current location in Lakewood.

Launched in 2003 as a summer pilot program with 50 children, the Conservatory Program has expanded substantially since then.

In 2011, Tina Reynolds revived Ovation when she reshaped it into a successful musical theater experience for dedicated high school artists who wanted access to professional training and a high-caliber performing arts outlet.

The partners opened Ovation Academy for the Performing Arts in October 2014 at its own stand-alone facility in Oak Park, where children and youth ages 4-18 in the western suburbs and throughout Chicago have year-round access to performing arts training and education.

Important note: the following recommendation was approved by the Board of Supervisors on June 6, 2017:

In 2018-19, JCPS Language Services began providing services for all English learners and families, including Early Childhood students and families.