The Kentucky Center Blog

"Congratulations! Your life is about to change in a wonderful way!" Notification letters sent to The Kentucky Center Governor's School for the Arts Class of 2012

THE KENTUCKY CENTER GOVERNOR’S SCHOOL FOR THE ARTS

Class of 2012 has been notified!

The roster for The Kentucky Center Governor’s School for the Arts Class of 2012 has been finalized. GSA’s Summer Program – a three week residential arts conservatory for Gifted and Talented high school juniors and seniors - is the only one of its kind in the state. Students are chosen through a highly competitive audition and review process. Out of close to 1800 applicants, 225 have been chosen to attend the program based at Transylvania University (Lexington).

The 2012 Summer Program runs June 17 – July 7. Students receive in-depth instruction in one of nine artistic disciplines: architecture, creative writing, dance, drama, instrumental music, musical theatre, new media, visual art, and vocal music. The life-changing GSA  experience also includes:

• FREE tuition, room and board 
• Opportunities to learn in a supportive community of distinguished master-teachers.
• College preparation, career counseling, and the chance to meet college representatives during an exclusive GSA college fair.
• Arts-related community service opportunities.
• The excitement of performing/exhibiting at the Student Performance Festival at the conclusion of the program.
• Serious fun!

Students are immersed in a rigorous schedule of daily seminars, master classes, lectures, hands-on workshops and field trips. While each student specializes in one art form, all students participate in structured, interdisciplinary arts experiences designed to familiarize them with the joys and challenges of specialties other than their own. Upon completion of the summer program, students become part of the GSA alumni network, gaining entry to a variety of alumni opportunities, including specific GSA scholarships at regional colleges and universities. 

Please contact GSA Executive Director Carrie Nath, at cnath@kentuckycenter.org or 502-562-0718, if you would like to tour the campus during this year’s program.

Congratulations to GSA alum Lathan Vargason! One of the 2012 Presidential Scholars in the Arts...

The Kentucky Center Governor's School for the Arts (GSA) is proud to announce that a GSA 2011 Visual Art alumnus, Lathan Vargason from Hancock County, has been identified as one of the twenty 2012 Presidential Scholars in the Arts!  This is “the highest honor that can be bestowed upon an artistically talented graduating high school senior.”

The Presidential Scholars are picked from participants in the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts’ YoungArts Program.  Lathan first learned about the YoungArts program when we invited them to present to last year’s GSA class during the summer program.  To our knowledge, Lathan is the first GSA alumnus to receive this honor.

Learn more about how The Kentucky Center Governor's School for the Arts positively impacts the lives of Kentucky's young artists, performers, writers, designers and musicians by visiting www.kentuckygsa.org.

 

Kentucky "cello-boxer" featured on the TODAY show

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Congratulations to Kentucky Center Governor's School for the Arts alum KEVIN OLUSOLA for being included in The Grio 100: Class of 2012. This exclusive list highlights the next generation of African-American history makers and industry leaders with the potential to make a positive difference in the lives of all Americans. Olusola also performs with - and is the business manager for - the a cappella group “Pentatonix,” winners of the season 3 NBC “The Sing-Off” competition.  

Learn more about how The Kentucky Center Governor's School for the Arts provides opportunities for young artists, performers, writers and designers across the state. 

Tonight! Meet GSA alum/author Alecia Whitaker (coming-of-age tale "Queen of Kentucky") at Carmichael's

As reported by Erin Day on Louisville.com, article - http://www.louisville.com/content/kentucky-native-alecia-whitaker-promotes-her-new-novel-carmichael%E2%80%99s-bookstore-books

I believe there few people on this Earth who look back with a sincere fondness for their adolescence. For any creature, that uncomfortable halocline between childhood and maturity is filled with its own special potion of traps and confusion that lead many of the smartest animals into a frenzy of bad poetry and ill-fitting clothing. For late-bloomers such as myself, the awkward process – oh, let’s call it a dance – of cultivating those first buds of our adult selves is something with which I can still greatly empathize, the last vestiges of a younger me having only recently met their end at my local Goodwill. It is with a kindred spirit, then, that I promote Carmichael’s event with native Kentuckian and young-adult novelist, Alecia Whitaker.

Originally hailing from a small farm in Cynthiana, Kentucky, Alecia Whitaker now daylights as an actress and writer in Manhattan. With performances in the New York City Fringe Festival and as an acting ambassador for The Kentucky Center Governor’s School for the Arts, Whitaker has made the transition from small town to big city a seemingly easier task than for the protagonist of her new novel, The Queen of Kentucky. Set in a small rural community of Kentucky, the coming-of-age tale follows the adolescent trials of 14-year-old Ricki Jo as she struggles to find her sense of self somewhere between her rural roots and her aspirations of “sophistication”.

Join Whitaker Friday, January 13^th at the Carmichael’s Bookstore Frankfort Avenue location for an event launching The Queen of Kentucky. Starting at 7pm, Whitaker will present her book in all glorious and youthful woes and will be available for discussion. Now on sale in hardcover for $17.99, pick up a copy of Queen and kick off your weekend with a grateful look back into the yesteryears of self-discovery.

Carmichael’s Bookstore has two area locations: 1295 Bardstown Road and 2720 Frankfort Avenue

For more information about Alecia Whitaker and The Queen of Kentucky visit the event page or call the Frankfort Avenue store at 502-896-6950

GSA Alumni Highlight: Brandon Jones (actor, musician, voiceover artist) from Paris, KY

Originally from Paris, KY, Brandon Jones participated in The Kentucky Center Governor's School for the Arts (GSA) Summer Program in 1997, specializing in Drama. Through auditions at GSA’s College and Career Day, Brandon received a scholarship from the University of Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music (CCM).  After graduation from CCM, Brandon moved to NYC, where he honed his craft by working in plays, musical theatre, film, television, songwriting and theatrical production. He was recently in Louisville, performing in the Actors Theatre production ReEntry.

Brandon says “I found my calling in life thanks to GSA! What I now do as a professional...I learned to appreciate and embrace as a 16 year old kid from a small town, who really had no idea what he wanted to do after high school. The various art forms I was exposed to at the Summer Program, the freedom to create, and the ability to learn - even while struggling as an artist - these are things I learned at GSA that I carry with me every day. There is a sense of community in the arts that is hard to find in any other profession.”

January 7: $8 gets you in. Visual art exhibit + live performances (Louisville) by GSA alums

This Saturday, January 7, The Kentucky Center Governor's School for the Arts (GSA) alumni will showcase their talents in order to raise funds for the program they love so much!

To celebrate GSA's 25th Anniversary, the alumni will collaborate on a visual art gallery and evening of performances in the brand new arts wing of Lincoln Elementary (930 E. Main Street, Louisville). Over 30 alumni from the 2010 and 2011 Summer Programs will participate.

Admission is donation-based. An $8 donation is suggested. The Gallery opens at 6 p.m., with a reception starting at 7 p.m. The performance showcase begins promptly at 8 p.m.

Join us at Lincoln Elementary for a spectacular evening of arts and entertainment and show your support for GSA!

Kentucky Center Governor's School for the Arts hopes to double the number of students served

As reported on the WFPL website:

The Kentucky Center Governor’s School for the Arts is trying to expand enrollment and space, but the summer program will have to compete for extra funding to make up for a decrease in its state appropriation.

GSA has proposed a two-year budget of over $1 million that would almost double enrollment to 400 for the three-week arts program, but the legislature is still faced with a slow recovery since the recession and there will be competition for funding, said GSA Executive Director Carrie Nath.

“Everyone’s going in there, everyone needs more money, everyone truly believes their program is the most important program, and the fact is they’re all important,” she said.

Interest in the program has grown, but GSA has been unable to expand.

“We really want to extend to a second campus. I mean last year we had 1,750 students apply and out of that we can only sever 224 and that’s strictly budgetary,” Nath said.

The Cabinet for Tourism, Arts and Heritage has reduced appropriations to the program by nearly 30-percent over the last few years. Almost half of the budget is now raised through donations.

GSA will plead its case before the legislature early next year, said Nath.

Applications for the Kentucky Governor’s School for the Arts summer program are due by year’s end. The three-week summer program celebrates its 25th anniversary next year.

Pentatonix - featuring GSA alum Kevin Olusola - wins NBC's "The Sing-Off"

 

Congratulations to GSA alum Kevin Olusola (cellist, beatboxer, composer) and his group the Pentatonix on winning NBC’s “The Sing-Off” competition!  The popular television show pitted sixteen of America’s best a cappella groups against each other, with the final winner chosen by viewer votes.

The group won $200,000 and a recording contract!

Olosola, an Owensboro native, participated in The Kentucky Center Governor's School for the Arts Summer Program at Transylvania University in 2004. He credits GSA with putting him on a diverse path of high academic achievement underscored by rigorous musical studies.

Olusola went to Yale to study Medicine, but changed his focus to music after participating in a cello competition presented by Yo Yo Ma. "Medicine was a reliable and safe career, so it was a big leap of faith for me and my parents when I decided to pursue music," Olusola told the Lexington Herald-Leader. "So it's nice to have a recording contract!"

GSA Alum Makes the Finals on NBC’s “The Sing-Off." Your votes can help his group win!

GSA Alum Makes the Finals on NBC’s “The Sing-Off”

Each summer, Kentucky high school sophomores and juniors come to The Kentucky Center Governor’s School for the Arts (GSA) with big hopes and even bigger dreams. One such member of the GSA class of 2004 now serves as inspiration that those big dreams can come true.

 

Kevin Olusola, who attended Owensboro High School and recently graduated from Yale University with a degree in East Asian Studies, has made the finals in the popular NBC a cappella reality competition “The Sing-Off”. His group, Pentatonix, has performed each week since the show’s third season debut in September. They have managed to impress the expert panel of judges – including Ben Folds of the pop group Ben Folds Five, Boys II Men singer Shawn Stockman and Grammy nominated solo artist Sara Bareilles.

  

Olusola is passionate about his experience at GSA and says the opportunity to be among other people his age who shared his passion was inspiring.

“GSA opened my mind to other disciplines, and that has helped me so much. For example, when performing on ‘The Sing-Off,’ not only do I beat-box, but I also have to learn and understand choreography,” he said. “The staff at GSA was so encouraging, and the training and exposure to multiple art forms has been so helpful.”

When asked if there was one event or opportunity at GSA that made a significant impact, Olusola said that a master class given by musician Arturo O’Farrill offered a life-changing lesson in how to approach music.

“He told me to just play, and not to think too much. I needed to play what I felt and let the emotion take over, and let myself loose.”

Olusola, like many GSA students who may have limited access to the arts, was thrilled at the caliber of talent and the training available beyond the borders of his hometown.

 

Right now, Olusola and the other members of Pentatonix are focused on winning the competition, which could nab them a $200,000 Sony recording contract. In addition, Olusola says he is reading up on the music business – something he says he has “a lot to learn about” in the coming weeks and months. He hopes to tour with Pentatonix, and plans to focus on a music career for the immediate future. In addition, he has completed requirements for pre-med at Yale and may work in medicine one day. He also plays the cello and would like to find a way to make the instrument more accessible and appealing to new, younger audiences. In short, he’s very busy.

As for future GSA students who dream big of making it on a show watched by millions of viewers every week, Olusola has one piece of advice: “I would tell them to learn everything they can, learn from other points of view and other disciplines. They will realize just how vital other disciplines are to their craft and will help them in the future.”

The finals for the third season of “The Sing-Off” will air on Monday, November 28 at 8pm/7pm central on NBC. The winner will be determine be viewer votes taken up until the day of the finals; to vote, visit http://www.nbc.com/sing-off/vote/, call 1.877.674.6401, or text 1 to 97979.

Auditions for GSA are in March, 2012, in Louisville, Lexington, Morehead and Murray. Deadline to apply for the summer program is December 31, 2011. Click here to access application and audition information.

GSA College and Career Day successful, with over 80 schools participating!

Over 80 colleges and universities form around the nation participated in The Kentucky Center Governor's School for the Arts (GSA) annual “College & Career Day” on October 28. Held on the Louisville Youth Performing Arts School campus, “College and Career Day” saved GSA alumni (and their parents) time and money, allowing families to explore scholarship opportunities from multiple institutions at a single event. 
 
Alumni participated in a morning orientation session, followed by one-on-one visits with each school, while parents attended workshops focusing on how to properly fill out college applications and explore financial aid opportunities. In the afternoon, all students interviewed and/or auditioned in their specific art form. All nine GSA disciplines were represented: architecture, creative writing, dance, drama, instrumental music, musical theatre, new media, visual art and vocal music. This is an unprecedented opportunity for GSA alumni to secure their higher education and prepare to be the next generation of successful (and creative) citizens.

Learn more about The Kentucky Center Governor’s School for the Arts by visiting their new web site.

(Image sourced from mentalfloss.com)