The Genesis of Salt Lake Arts Academy

Salt Lake Arts Academy was born of both ingenuity and frustration, the flintlocks of creativity. It was only fitting that creative learning within the vibrant urban setting of Salt Lake City became the foundation on which this school was built.

The Salt Lake School District had been struggling with the painful decision to close schools, not knowing how to accommodate a changing and diverse student population. Before the school board's 2001 closure decision, both parents and educators began turning their despair to concern for the district's children, and ultimately to the proactive goal of building an educational model on the foundation of public school choice.

Today, because of the work and insight of two district principals, Amy Wadsworth and Dr. Carol Lubomudrov, and a cast of dedicated parents, Salt Lake Arts Academy has opened its doors to all children who seek to enhance the joy of learning.

Dr. Lubo, as she is nicknamed, had been interested in alternative schools, specifically the open education movement, since the 1960s. The movement caught on, but "open classrooms" struggled. Dr. Lubo felt Salt Lake City's Open Classroom would fare better as a charter school, but Gov. Michael Leavitt was promoting the Centennial School concept instead.

"I never felt that the Centennial Schools stretched beyond the envelope of the district," Dr. Lubo said.

When the state passed charter school legislation in 1998, educators began seeing new possibilities.

Dr. Lubo and Ms. Wadsworth had been working as a consortium with three other elementary school principals, all interested in the arts. Called BETA (Better Education Through the Arts), the group held workshops and in-service sessions in an effort to develop a cohesive strategy for arts curriculum. Ultimately, each school developed its own curriculum, partly because the effort was not district-driven.

"Amy and I started talking about a charter school during the closures," said Dr. Lubo.

"The whole closure thing created a real sense of wanting to look for solutions elsewhere," said Ms. Wadsworth. The district and board of education appeared to be dismantling some of the best and most promising programs for students. It is not surprising that the founding parents all came from highly successful choice schools targeted for closure, Wasatch, Beacon Heights and Lowell elementaries. Dozens of interested parents dwindled, however, as it became obvious that their focus had to be either on the charter school or the closure threat to their schools. Ultimately, 12 parents stayed the course.

The turmoil over closures prompted City Councilman Tom Rogan to invite the Concordia Group, a nationally recognized planning and architectural design firm based in New Orleans, Louisiana, to Salt Lake. Most of Concordia's work "is in the public sector and emphasizes community participation and integration. Concordia's planning process engages community participants in the systemic analysis of a wide range of physical, cultural, social, economic, organizational and educational needs," according to its publications.

Thus began the notion of using the downtown as an educational resource, of sharing facilities and becoming a force for revitalization of people and institutions. Through contacts developed with the city's after-school arts effort, Global Artways, Dr. Lubo and Ms. Wadsworth began to forge alliances that would make bring the charter school into reality. Global Artways and its then-director, Elaine Harding, were part of a group hoping to renovate and revitalize the Old Library building in downtown Salt Lake City. Eventually, Global Artways would join the Utah Science Center and the Center for Documentary Arts as the "Leonardo Group," to raise funds for the building. Salt Lake Arts Academy became a partner of Global Artways, and won the backing of Mayor Rocky Anderson to eventually occupy the third floor of the library building.

Sharing spaces. Creating mutual benefits. These are the philosophies that have guided Salt Lake Arts Academy. How to do it was the question.

At first, Ms. Wadsworth and Dr. Lubo talked about opening a science-and-math academy, or perhaps an arts-and-sciences school. It became apparent, though, that the professional strengths in this venture came through the arts.

"Science doesn't happen in isolation," said Ms. Wadsworth. "The spirit of the creative mind sets people apart, not only by the skills they have or the tools they use, but by how artistically they are trained. Who do we want to have designing our world? We want our children to be creative and to have a repertoire of creative skills which they can use to enhance their lives and ours."

On April 2, 2002, the Salt Lake School Board denied the Academy's application, citing the fact that the board had yet to develop a charter school policy. On May 30, 2002, the State Board of Education unanimously accepted the Academy's application for 100 students in grades five through eight, a new and exciting concept in middle schools.

On April 4, 2003, the State Board agreed to allow the Academy to increase its 2003-04 student population to 112 for economies of scale, and to allow an ultimate increase to 300 students within three years.

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