(Unlike many art walks, visual arts were just part of this one)
By Macey Wurm
Reporting for West Seattle Blog
The arts are alive and well at Chief Sealth International High School, showcased through Thursday night’s third annual CSIHS Art Walk. Originally proposed by Sealth’s choir director Katie Lenoue, the Art Walk is intended to cohesively showcase all of the school’s fine arts programs.
The event was open to the public, and began at 6:00 p.m. with a brief introduction, before guests were invited to explore the various rooms. Each room was home to a department – choir, jazz, orchestra, or poetry – which each put on three performance “sessions” throughout the night. Attendees were encouraged to continuously explore various rooms, paying no mind to performance starts, or end times. This created a well-rounded arts experience where attendees could linger as long as they wanted with programs they particularly enjoyed.
The choir department took over room 206, and showcased multiple soloists, a duet, and a quintet over the course of the three performances. Director Lenoue expressed her joy in the group, mentioning that one student had qualified as a state alternate in a recent competition on Jan. 31, and that she and a partner had qualified for state as a duet.
“We’re really proud of those kids, and we thought people would enjoy hearing them,” Lenoue said.
Jazz music filled the Little Theater, three different ensembles, each with at least 5 members, played for the audience in the span of an hour. This was just a snippet of the jazz program at large, which has seen recent growth at Chief Sealth, according to Joey Roberts, the band director. He mentioned that more than 50 students pursued the program this year, causing it to split into two stage bands and three combos. The program will be attending the Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival in Idaho again this year, in April.
Unique from the other rooms were the poetry readings held in 209. An ensemble labeled on the directory as “Addison Whited and Friends” overtook the space in what seemed like an organic, mostly unstructured slam poetry session. Students took turns reading famous works and mixed in self-written poems. The poetry branch is largely student run, with some help from Chief Sealth’s English department.
The main auditorium was home to the orchestra, with three consecutive performances by a chamber orchestra and a string quartet. At 7:50, attendees gathered back into the auditorium to observe a brief combined show by the choir, jazz band, and orchestra. The diverse body brought together a piece from “The Prince of Egypt,” followed by a sneak peek into the drama department’s upcoming musical “Little Shop of Horrors.”
Chief Sealth plans to bring its music programs to Disneyland in June, with the help of DSPA Parent Boosters, the booster group for arts at Denny International Middle School and Chief Sealth IHS.
The Art Walk is typically DSPA’s most prominent fundraiser. “Performing arts programs are sorely underfunded, so we just do a lot of work throughout the year to try to raise as much money as we can,” said an officer of the booster group. Fundraising will ensure that all students would be able to go on the California trip. Consistently, funds go toward instruments, sheet music access, and other materials necessary to continue the livelihood of the arts. You can donate online by scrolling down this page to the “Direct Give” links.