Idyllwild Arts Academy - Review #1

Idyllwild Arts Academy is a community of artists more than anything. Music majors and visual art majors work together for the same reason. The academic classes and art classes are rigorous, but well worth it in the end. Looking back on my high school experience, I think more about it as living and working with my friends and fellow artists more than attending high school. I think what makes Idyllwild Arts unique is the closely knitted family that is created year after year with all of the students. I have friends who live all over the world just from knowing them when I was 15. It's incredible.

The first day of orientation, the freshman, anonymously, had to hand in a card with their fears written on it. I had written down that I did not want to fall victim to peer pressure, having been told that it was not something I wanted to give in to, and having seen it happen first hand. I would have to say, that becoming my own person, and developing my own personality was a direct result from falling in to some peer pressure. I am not talking about people pressuring me to do things that are morally wrong or anything like that, but people pressuring me to push my limits as a person and as an artist. I became who I am today while at Idyllwild Arts because of the other students and all of the faculty. There is so much love and support offered at this school, that I hope I can send my children here. The one particular experience that I had that was absolutely amazing was when I was a senior and I was given the gallery to have my own show in. I worked and worked and worked, and on opening night, to see so many people from the school community and the community of Idyllwild there, I knew that I had become the person I wanted to be.

I don't think I would have done anything differently other than to have been as open minded as I was when I graduated, my very first day.

I would never want to change how all students have academics in the morning, but in the afternoons attend their own studies (dance, creative writing, individualized, moving pictures, music, theatre, visual arts) and then at the end of the day, all come back together to eat dinner and "go home" to the dorms. I said this earlier, but the love and the support that comes from the administration, the faculty, and the fellow students at this school is simply amazing, and that is what should never change. Everyone who attends or works at Idyllwild Arts is here because they love the arts.

I think the things that could be improved are the things that are in the process of improving. They already have a new gallery/exhibition center, a new painting studio, and are working on updating the facilities for the other majors as well.

Enjoy your time with everyone. Don't judge anyone by their appearances, as we all know they can be very deceiving. Attend every single performance, gallery opening, reading, etc. Do not miss a single one, as you cannot expect people to attend your performances when you do not attend theirs.

Small classes and teachers who actually care. My academic teachers understood that we were all artists and made their subjects somehow tie into each specific area of art we were all studying. The small classes made it easier to receive help from the teacher if needed, and generally made it easier to learn.

nothing.

I was a visual art major, and studied ceramics, drawing, printmaking, computer graphics, photography, sculpture, and so on every year. My pre-professional training in visual art helped me tremendously when I got to college. I was well ahead of many of the other freshman in the core program at ccac. At Idyllwild Arts, I was treated like an artist, and a human being, not a child in some finger painting class. While working in the ceramics studio, theatre majors could come in and use the facilities as well-- all disciplines could work in our studios because our school understood that while people may have their heart set on becoming a cello player, that person may be interested in photography as well.

The fact that I couldn't take my teachers with me to college to be there with their everlasting support.

The extra-curricular activities at Idyllwild Arts are your afternoon classes. After going to academic classes all morning and arts classes all afternoon, there isn't time for many other activities. However, the activities that were offered were so creative and imaginative that I remember them to be solely for fun and to relax with one another.

I was a day student, so I cannot answer this question.

The fact that I couldn't spend the night if I wanted to.

Eating with the boarding students, day students, teachers, staff, etc. every day was great. It made it seem like there was no separation, like schools that have a teacher's lounge. There were clubs like spanish club and french club that met at dinner and lunch, and sometimes my math class would eat breakfast together and have class in the dining hall on Saturdays. It was like a big casual dining room.

Who really likes eating mass made food everyday? However, I do know for a fact that the food has improved 100% since I graduated.

Being a completely shy and timid person when I first arrived at Idyllwild Arts, I felt like I wouldn't be accepted by other students. However, much to my amazement, I was completely accepted and learned how to break out of my shell. Idyllwild Arts, among other things, is a place for students who feel like they don't fit in other places, because everyone fits in here. No one is "weird". All of the students are so accepting of each other. There is not a better place for a teenager to grow up.

There were students from 19 countries I believe who attended while I was a student at IAA. As far as diversity goes, there was no lack of it.

On weekends I would attend jazz performances, orchestra concerts, dance concerts, creative writing readings, gallery openings, theatre performances. I would work in the painting studio with my friends, collaborate on mini films and write scripts for them. I would meet my friends in town for coffee, or a movie.

Idyllwild is a very small town of approximately 3000 people. Boarding students were allowed to go into town on Saturdays and Sundays to shop, eat, go to the movies, etc. Idyllwild itself is a small community of artists, and so in town there are often times art walks, gallery openings, musical performances at coffee houses, creative writing readings, etc. It is almost like a larger version of Idyllwild Arts. Since Idyllwild is such a small town, Idyllwild Arts constantly offers "off the hill" trips to larger towns nearby in order for the students to go to a larger movie theatre, a mall, or other specific shopping trips.