Ringling College Provides Unique Workshops for Booker High VPA Students this Summer
SARASOTA, FL – Thanks to an incredible partnership between Ringling College of Art and Design and Booker High School’s Visual and Performing Arts (VPA) program, roughly 25 BHS students will have the opportunity to attend the prestigious art school this summer.
The workshops enabled by the partnership, architected by Ringling College President Dr. Larry R. Thompson and Booker High School Principal Dr. Rachel Shelley, will provide a pre-college arts curriculum to the high school students, as well as access to world-class facilities.
It is tiered into three distinct programs:
● 18 students will attend a Sound in Film workshop, led by renowned sound designer Nick Palladino, in June. Students will work with Palladino through two one-week intensive sessions, learning about Foley design, scoring, and diegetic sound in film and how to construct dynamic film soundtracks.
● An additional five students will attend the College’s Teen Studios Program, one-week “camps” designed for middle- and high-school students with an interest in any of Ringling College’s nine youth program offerings, which range the gamut from painting to virtual reality.
● One student, Booker High junior Delcy Calderon, will attend Ringling’s Pre-College program, majoring in Visual Development/Concept Art. Ringling Pre-College is an immersive, month-long program. Participants live in the dorms on campus and get a deep dive into campus life there.
Dr. Shelley said the experience will open students’ eyes to a range of new options that will be available to them upon graduation.
“This is a game changer,” she said. “The generosity of Dr. Thompson to our students and this community is changing lives.”
The creation of these program opportunities is significant, especially for students at Booker’s VPA program; Booker has the highest population of underserved students in the district. Roughly a quarter of the school is involved in the VPA program, which is the district’s first magnet program. Those attending Ringling College programs this summer are enrolled in the high school’s VPA Film & Animation program, a pre-professional program for students hoping to enter careers in motion pictures.
Dr. Thompson said he’s excited to introduce the young cohort to the realm of sound design and engineering, and to be able to offer the additional creative experiences of Teen Studios and Ringling’s Pre-College.
“Many high school students go through their entire educational experience without any exposure to the abundance of opportunities in creative careers. We feel so fortunate at Ringling College to have such incredible facilities in which we can help inspire the next generations of creative storytellers, and to continue to further enhance our close relationship with Booker High,” he said.
The Sound in Film workshop will be held over two consecutive weeks, June 6 – 10 and June 13-17, and will provide hands-on, experiential learning in sound design and engineering for film, work on the Foley stage, sound editing and mixing, ADR/synch work for dialogue, and recording for animation.
The workshops are possible through the generosity of Ringling College of Art and Design and signals an even greater level of commitment in the longstanding relationship the two art schools have shared.
