Celebrate the Arts 2023

Next Monday is the beginning of Shorecrest’s decades-old tradition of Celebrate the Arts Week. These five days showcase the School’s commitment to and value of visual, performing and literary arts. Each spring, students, teachers, staff and parents share their love for the arts, embrace individual creativity, and enjoy the artistic achievements of Shorecrest students, from Alpha to 12th grade.

Celebrate the Arts 2023 will feature art displays all around campus. Shorecrest students and families will enjoy a juried art show with Upper School works displayed in the Raymund Center. In addition, two new mural works of student art are completed on our campus. One celebrates Shorecrest students throughout our 100 years and welcomes visitors as they enter the Admissions Office in Raymund Center. The other new mural decorates the Upper School Arts Cottage and conveys the natural world and joy experienced by student artists on campus. Celebrates the Arts Week culminates in the spring musical performances of "Mamma Mia!" For nearly 25 years people all around the world have fallen in love with the characters, story, and music that make the jukebox musical "Mamma Mia!" the ultimate feel-good show. Performances will be in Shorecrest's Janet Root Theatre on April 13-15 at 7pm [and new this year, you can order tickets online!].

The Middle School will set up a small stage area with a sound system in front of the Middle School Arts and Sciences building (MSAS) center doors. Students will have the opportunity to sing, play an instrument (including piano), read a poem, or perform a monologue or short scene in front of their peers and other members of the Middle School community. An exhibit of student work is available for all to see in the first floor hall gallery of the MSAS. During Celebrate the Arts week, rehearsals will continue for the new Middle School performing arts event "Theatre on the Green" coming up in May. Through this event, eighth graders have a chance to demonstrate their leadership and love of theater as they direct other students actors in this new opportunity. In addition eighth graders will join Upper Schoolers in the cast of the spring musical "Mamma Mia!"

Lower Schoolers will Celebrate the Arts both on and off campus. The students will host guest authors and performers in various classrooms throughout the week. Third and Fourth graders will embark on mural and architecture tours throughout the city of St. Petersburg. Lower School art will be displayed around campus and the students will experience a “gallery walk” to different school buildings to enjoy student pieces of art. Poetry in the Park, a much beloved Shorecrest tradition, returns to the Lower School after a three-year hiatus. After weeks of studying and writing poetry, Lower School students will discover their own poetic voice. Poetry in the Park is a culminating event, an informal share where each class will have the experience of reciting poetry outdoors, in front of a large group. It is an uplifting event of celebration, and reminds us all of the soaring power of words and feelings expressed through poetry. 

The Experiential School will kick off Celebrate The Arts with Ms. Alexis, a beloved former art teacher who will return for a day of clay exploration with Alpha and JK. Students love to manipulate the material and often come home with dirty uniforms, speckled with clay remnants as they use their imagination to create pieces of art. Other events include a professional dancer who will join us to speak to and perform for our students. Throughout the week there will be a variety of art experiences available to the students in the Exploratorium of the ES building. And rounding out the week will be a Puppet Theater performance on Friday, to the delight of our youngest Chargers (and their teachers!)

Shorecrest is clearly a community that appreciates the Arts. We look forward to a week of celebration and hope that everyone will join in all the fun!

All the best,

Nancy