The HSPVA Philosophy
The High School for the Performing and Visual Arts (HSPVA) of the Houston Independent School District evolved in 1971 from a realization that gifted young artists need highly specialized and rigorous training in the arts to be prepared for the intense competition they will meet in colleges, conservatories, and the professional arts world. The creation of HSPVA represented the first attempt by any public high school in the nation to correlate an academic program with concentrated training in the arts. Also, it was one of only three public schools in the nation to offer programs in both the visual and performing arts, and the first such institution in the Southwest. For HISD, the formation of HSPVA represented a dramatic departure from traditional comprehensive programs. Ultimately the school became the pilot school for today's magnet school concept.
HSPVA is fully accredited and offers the same academic curriculum and graduation requirements as all HISD high schools; the major difference in the academic program is that we offer the added ingredient of correlating the arts with academics, rather than treating either as isolated disciplines. All students spend three hours per day in their art areas, and the remainder of the time in academics or electives. The arts offered for in-depth study are: Dance, Instrumental and Vocal Music, Theatre Arts, and Visual Arts.
In addition, HSPVA is committed to its role as a college preparatory school, making students aware of the variety of opportunities they have for future training at colleges or universities, advanced art institutes, and conservatories.
The school recognizes and values student individuality. It nurtures, without exception, the values of individual accomplishment and independence. Since individual creativity is integral to the production of art, our faculty and staff work with students on an individualized, human level that stimulates intellectual, artistic, and technical originality. We strive to graduate people who can work independently and creatively.
At the same time, HSPVA places high value on group responsibility, loyalty, and sense of community. In a country that is sustained by a democratic process, a sense of individual worth, coupled with a sense of responsibility to a society, is invaluable. It is to these ends that HSPVA devotes its energies.
