FAIR School
FAIR School Crystal (Fine Arts Interdisciplinary Resource) is a magnet school located in Crystal, Minnesota that specializes in the Fine Arts and educates students in the 4th through 8th grades. FAIR is part of the Robbinsdale Area Schools School District, with its partner school FAIR School Downtown, located in downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota, which is K-12. Of the school's 550 students, 218 come from Minneapolis Public Schools, 74 come from Robbinsdale Area Schools, 49 come from Wayzata Public Schools, and the remainder come from other metro districts and a few other school districts.[1]
The school was recently recognized by the United States Department of Education as one of six schools nationwide that should serve as models for magnet schools. These six schools were chosen for strong student achievement, continued success, and the ability to bring white and minority students together.[1]
The current building, at 3915 Adair Ave. N., was built on the site of a previous school, Jeannette A. Fair Elementary School. The elementary school was part of the Robbinsdale Area Schools and was built in 1952. It was originally named Adair Elementary.[2]
Purpose
FAIR was created with the idea of incorporating art into traditional academics as well as to encourage diversity. The school's mission statement reads:
"We are a Fine Arts Interdisciplinary Resource community empowered by diversity, and committed to academic excellence and artistic expression."
Departments
FAIR School extends its reach to a wide variety of arts, including:
Theatre
The Theatre department at FAIR school works with Stages Theater Company to produce 2 shows each year: a fall musical and spring play. Past shows have included West Side Story, Robin Hood, Wind of a Thousand Tales, Into the Woods, Jr., and in spring 2007, The Wonderland Project. Their latest shows have been "The Wiz" (2011) and "The Outsiders"(2012). Their next upcoming performance is "Fame, Jr." (2012). InterDistrict Downtown School also holds performances on the FAIR School stage.
Dance
FAIR's Dance instruction focuses mainly on modern dance, with classes taught daily in the FAIR dance space. The school holds various dance performances by the students throughout the year.
Visual arts
The Visual Arts teacher at FAIR School teaches sculpting, wheel throwing, body structure, sketching, landscapes, and more. The all year 7th grade art class does a primitive outdoor pottery firing. Students help dig a hole, which is lined with sawdust. The clay pieces are wrapped in copper wire, seaweed, splatter with salt water and other materials, which affect the coloring of the clay pieces, which will then be wrapped in newspaper. For most of the school day the students monitor the fire and keep it going.
Media arts
The Media Arts department includes a TV Studio, Mac Lab, digital photography, animation, and education about using Photoshop to edit digital pictures.
Literary arts
Literary arts opportunities are vary and are integrated through most subjects.
Music
The music department includes choir, sound art, band, and orchestra.
FAIR school in popular culture
FAIR School was the school that the character play by Hayden Panettiere went to in the 2001 film, Joe Somebody.
External links
References
- 1 2 Draper, Norman (November 5, 2008). "All's FAIR at Crystal arts school". Minneapolis Star Tribune. Retrieved 2008-11-05.
- ↑ "Crystal History Chronology" (PDF). City of Crystal, Minnesota. 1996. Archived from the original (PDF) on September 25, 2006. Retrieved 2008-11-05.