Alabama School of Fine Arts
Encyclopedia
The Alabama School of Fine Arts (ASFA) is a public, partially residential high school
located in Birmingham, AL
. The mission of the Alabama School of Fine Arts, a community of explorers, is to nurture impassioned students by guiding and inspiring them to discover and fulfill their individual creative abilities in an atmosphere distinguished by the fusion of fact and feeling, risk and reward, art and science, school and community.
ASFA strongly emphasizes performance and learning. The dual requirements of specialty and core academic courses result in a school day typically beginning at 7:55 a.m. and ending at 4:40 p.m. or later. Although studious, the school’s atmosphere is in no way stiff or severe.
In 1971, the Legislature approved a resolution formally establishing the school. In 1974, after a year at Samford University, the school moved to Birmingham-Southern College, where it consolidated five arts programs and a core academic program, staffed in part by the Birmingham Public Schools. In 1976, the school moved to its own temporary campus in downtown Birmingham, where it established a private, non-profit support foundation to raise private funding to build an all-new campus complex.
In 1992, the Legislature approved a new law providing more specific authorization for the school. The next year, the school moved into its new $10 million facility at the heart of Birmingham’s Cultural District. Campus improvements continued with the addition of a theater (1995) and mathematics and science wing (1996). The math/science wing houses the school’s sixth specialty program, established in 1990 with a major donation from the Russell Corporation. In 1999, the school opened a creative writing wing.
In 2006, the Alabama School of Fine Arts Foundation kicked off the Stars of Tomorrow capital campaign, to raise money to build a 650 seat theatre complex called The Performance Network. This will allow the city to broaden its creative and cultural base and set a new national standard for high school learning and performing in the arts.
ASFA Theatre Department was named the Best High School Theatre Program in the Southeast by Stage Directions magazine, in 2011.
High school
High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....
located in Birmingham, AL
Birmingham, Alabama
Birmingham is the largest city in Alabama. The city is the county seat of Jefferson County. According to the 2010 United States Census, Birmingham had a population of 212,237. The Birmingham-Hoover Metropolitan Area, in estimate by the U.S...
. The mission of the Alabama School of Fine Arts, a community of explorers, is to nurture impassioned students by guiding and inspiring them to discover and fulfill their individual creative abilities in an atmosphere distinguished by the fusion of fact and feeling, risk and reward, art and science, school and community.
ASFA strongly emphasizes performance and learning. The dual requirements of specialty and core academic courses result in a school day typically beginning at 7:55 a.m. and ending at 4:40 p.m. or later. Although studious, the school’s atmosphere is in no way stiff or severe.
Specialties
The 6 specialties are Music, Visual Arts, Theatre Arts, Creative Writing, Math & Science, and Dance. The largest is Math and Science. Most of the specialties are available to grades 7-12, but Math and Science doesn't start until 8th grade. You have to audition to get in.History
The school began with a group of Birmingham arts community leaders, who acquired discretionary funding from Governor Lurleen Wallace in 1968 to support after-school instructional programs based in community arts agencies.In 1971, the Legislature approved a resolution formally establishing the school. In 1974, after a year at Samford University, the school moved to Birmingham-Southern College, where it consolidated five arts programs and a core academic program, staffed in part by the Birmingham Public Schools. In 1976, the school moved to its own temporary campus in downtown Birmingham, where it established a private, non-profit support foundation to raise private funding to build an all-new campus complex.
In 1992, the Legislature approved a new law providing more specific authorization for the school. The next year, the school moved into its new $10 million facility at the heart of Birmingham’s Cultural District. Campus improvements continued with the addition of a theater (1995) and mathematics and science wing (1996). The math/science wing houses the school’s sixth specialty program, established in 1990 with a major donation from the Russell Corporation. In 1999, the school opened a creative writing wing.
In 2006, the Alabama School of Fine Arts Foundation kicked off the Stars of Tomorrow capital campaign, to raise money to build a 650 seat theatre complex called The Performance Network. This will allow the city to broaden its creative and cultural base and set a new national standard for high school learning and performing in the arts.
ASFA Theatre Department was named the Best High School Theatre Program in the Southeast by Stage Directions magazine, in 2011.