School Staff Places Visual Arts Academy on Hold

The Visual Arts Academy program at Cranford High School has been postponed until next year, but not cancelled. A combination of budget issues and late approval made starting the program this September impossible, according to Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum and Instruction Rose Macaluso and CHS Director of Fine Arts Doris Cudworth.

"After the loss of state aid, the budget didn't allow it," Macaluso said. "Some difficult decisions had to be made in a short period of time."

Cudworth said by the time she received approval for the program and made sure faculty and staff at participating schools knew what the program was about, it was too late to begin marketing it to incoming freshmen. 

"I'm disappointed, but not surprised," Cudworth said. "We'll make a more concerted effort this year (to get the word out.)"

The Visual Arts Academy will be a four-year program. Students will have the option of specializing in photography, two-dimensional art like drawing and painting, three-dimensional art such as sculpture and graphic arts. Freshmen will have an Art Essentials class in the fall that will focus on basic design elements and principles.

As sophomores, attendees will have the opportunity to begin to specialize in the areas that interest them most. Participants will have the first two periods of the day set aside for their Art Academy classes.  

"If you think you have a particular love of arts, think you might want a career in art and want a little more intensity…because you love art, this is the type of course you'll want to take," Cudworth said.

Because it is a four-year program, the Fine Arts department at CHS will focus on getting eighth graders interested this year. To do this, Cudworth will send high schoolers to visit eighth grade art classes. The students will brief the eighth graders about the program and also run art projects in class. Cudworth said she will start sending students to meet eighth graders as early as October, and hopes to have about 30 freshmen sign up for next year.

The program will require about $16,000 worth of equipment, according to Macaluso –funds that Cudworth said she'll have to come up with out of her operating budget. She said she's thinking about fundraising, but has not decided on anything yet. And while both Macaluso and Cudworth said they're disappointed the program had to be postponed, Cudworth doesn't think students who had hoped to join the program this year will be greatly affected, as art class options are varied at the high school.

"We have a very full, deep (fine arts) program as it is," she said.