• Academics
• Elementary School
• Middle School
• Arts Program
• Additional Educational
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• Portrait of a Graduate

Arts Program

Creative Arts Charter School was founded on the belief that the education of the whole child includes ongoing exploration in dance, drama, music, and visual arts. To that end, every school day for every student at CACS involves opportunities to play, invent, and discover. As part of a universal, cross-cultural language, the arts represent innate aspects of our common humanity, providing an inherent foundation for communication and a bridge for understanding across differences of age, race, gender identity, sexual orientation, socioeconomics, and culture. The arts program lies at the heart and soul of the overall educational experience of every student at Creative Arts Charter School.

The arts staff work closely with all classroom teachers to integrate the arts into their curriculum. This dynamic exchange allows students to become well-versed in a wide range of art media and techniques as they enhance their core competency skills. They also learn the social, historical, and multicultural relevancy and impact of the arts.

From Kindergarten through 4th grade, students participate in three art classes in visual arts, music, and dance each week.

• The visual arts program focuses on the creation of individual fine-arts projects in a variety of media, introducing students to a rich array of materials, techniques, contemporary artists, and art history. These projects also maintain a focus on connecting to themes in the core curriculum.
• Based on the Orff Schulwerk approach, the music program weaves together strands of speech and poetry, movement and dance, drama and song, improvisation and set pieces, as well as use of the body and voice. Students sing folk songs from around the world, rock, jazz, and rap. They move in creative ways, play instruments, learn folk dances, tell stories and play games that teach them beat, rhythm, and pitch. These elements evolve as the students grow from Kindergarten to 4th grade, but the essential aspects of creativity, play, and the love of music remain constant throughout all grade levels.
• The dance program nurtures all students' unique way of expressing who they are through movement. In an environment of encouragement, consistency and mutual respect, student dancers are challenged both physically and creatively. Workshops are lively, exposing the children to a rich blend of jazz, hip-hop, ballet and creative movement to engage everyone and inspire imagination. Weekly workshops build toward two "Grand Performances," one at the Winter Exhibition and one at the Spring Show.

From grades 5-8, students take two weekly visual arts classes that facilitate integration with the core curriculum. In addition, students choose an elective that they take once a week in grades 5-6, or twice a week in grades 7-8. These classes focus on the arts as rigorous disciplines essential to the human experience. Teachers help students to find joy in self-expression and use creativity as a tool for enriching their academic learning and deepening their cultural awareness.

• In visual arts, student use a variety of materials and techniques to explore artists and art history. In addition, art projects connect to other academic subjects. For example, as 6th graders study geology and volcanoes in science, they also learn about the "Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji," a famous series of wood-block prints by master Japanese printmaker Katsushika Hokusai, published in 1830. Students then create their own wood-block prints.
• Students can select from a wide range of electives, including drama, spoken word, creative writing, guitar, and dance. In addition, Community Elders and Youth Art (CEYA) is an elective that connects community service and the arts, with students working with the elderly at a neighboring residential facility.

The arts staff at CACS regularly invite guest artists from the wider San Francisco art community to join us in hosting short-term workshops that expand the exposure of our K-8 student artists to different styles of art-making. We also arrange field trips to museums, galleries, and artist studios. In addition, students attend concerts, dance performances, film festivals, and theater throughout the city, connecting classroom learning with art in the community. Samples of our arts-related collaborations with local organizations and institutions can be found on the Partnerships page.