SAA: Making Art, Music, and Friendships to Last a Lifetime

For three weeks in July at Simsbury High School this summer, Simsbury Arts Academy (SAA) offered K-12 students from all over the Farmington Valley arts enrichment and education. In a relaxed atmosphere with students sharing the same interest in expressing themselves creatively,it is no wonder that many formed deep friendships that have the potential to last a lifetime!

SAA offers different areas of study grouped into “academies,” which give students the freedom to focus on one particular artistic area or cross over to sample many forms of visual arts, music, or performing arts. A hallmark of SAA is its professional faculty, all experts in the fields of visual arts, strings, musical theater, fashion design, and jazz. The teachers work to develop students’ budding artistic talents in a particular area or introduce them to a creative area they have never before explored, whether that might be playing around with digital photography, plucking notes on the ukulele, singing on stage, or walking the red carpet during a fashion show.

Said SAA Director Shannon Gagne, “In three short weeks students created glazed wheel thrown pottery, wearable fashion pieces, portfolio drawings, complex watercolor books, landscape paintings, sculptural jewelry, 3-D printed sculptures, black light paintings, dynamic photos and video creations, individual comic illustrations, a painted mural, lanterns, and musical ensembles involving students who have never met and or never played an instrument! We visited the Kansas City Jazz scene and closed the program deep under the sea with an out of this world performance of The Little Mermaid Jr.!”

Want to Find Out More About SAA?

• View a slideshow of this summer’s activities
• Summer 2020 information will be posted on the SAA website in the spring