Barbara Ingram School for the Arts Student Applications Now Available

HAGERSTOWN, MD (September 19, 2008) - Student applications for the Barbara Ingram School for the Arts (BISFA) are now available. The five-page application packet contains information about the new school’s mission and vision, its programs in dance, music, visual arts, and theatre, along with admissions criteria. The application must be completed and received by the audition coordinator at Washington County Public Schools by December 15, 2008. 

Applications should be mailed to: Audition Coordinator, Barbara Ingram School for the Arts, Washington County Public Schools, 820 Commonwealth Avenue, Hagerstown, MD 21740. Application packets are available from the Washington County Public Schools’ website (www.wcboe.k12.md.us), at each middle and high school, and from the Office of System Development, 820 Commonwealth Avenue, Hagerstown, MD 21740. Interested applicants can also call BISFA Principal Michael Thorsen at 301-766-8840 for more information.

Workshops to provide assistance with the application process in the individual disciplines will be held on the following dates at South Hagerstown High School:

• Theatre - Monday, November 10th - 7:00 p.m.
• Dance - Monday, November 17th - 7:00 p.m.
• Visual Arts - Tuesday, November 18th - 7:00 p.m.
• Music - Monday, November 24th - 7:00 p.m.

Students who have submitted an application will receive an audition packet in early January.  Auditions are scheduled on February 7, 2009, at South Hagerstown High School, with acceptance announcements expected in March 2009.
BISFA is scheduled to open in August 2009, as a full-time, college preparatory high school with a rigorous academic program and pre-professional training in the arts.  In the 2009-2010 school year, incoming freshmen and sophomores will attend full time.  Incoming juniors and seniors will take academic courses at their home school in the morning and attend BISFA in the afternoon.

The mission of the Barbara Ingram School for the Arts is to provide students with a rigorous, comprehensive, college preparatory curriculum rooted in intense, pre-professional training in the arts that encourages excellence and success in their personal development as students, artists, and cultural leaders.