Dillard Center for the Arts
Alumni
I am in the process of sorting through the boxes of old Dillard Photographs and scanning them to be included in ths website...
In the mean time, I have added a guestbook for our alumni to use to keep all of us up-to-date on the happenings in the extensive Dillard Arts Family. Use this guestbook to tell us when you attended Dillard, where you are now and what is happening in your lives! And, of course, pass this site on to any Dillard Arts alum every chance you get!
A Rose By Any Other Name...
Dillard School of Performing Arts
1977*-1990
Dillard School of the Arts
1990-1998
Dillard Center for the Arts
1998-
*Yes, there was a magnet school for the performing arts before 1977 but that information is well documented in several web pages under Broward County Performing Arts. These pages are dedicated to the years since Dillard was added to our name.
A Brief History of Dillard...Arts
* Broward County Performing Arts becomes a magnet program and moves from Nova High to Dillard High in 1975
* In 1977 the program moves into the current facility and becomes Dillard School of the Performing Arts. Magnet students attend academic classes at "home" school and magnet classes at Dillard High from 1-4pm. Courses include Dance, Band and Theatre
* First "off-campus" production (Corsican Brothers) is performed at Fort Lauderdale's Parker Playhouse in 1978
* The annual spring musical theatre production moves to Broward Community College's Bailey Hall in 1982
* In 1984 Dillard develops partnership with McFatter Vocational to transport scenery and equipment from Dillard to Bailey Hall
* Music program expands to incorporate electronic/"high tech" music courses and Video Production is added in 1987.
* Visual Art program added in 1988. Parkway Middle School of the Performing Arts magnet program starts with students attending magnet classes at Dillard in the mornings and academic classes back at Parkway Middle. High School students now reguired to attend Dillard High full time.
* In the spring of 1989 magnet visual art students are featured in the first Fort Lauderdale Museum of Art/DSPA Art Show. Having since become an annual event, over 250 students have had the opportunity to exhibit their work in this state-of-the-art facility.
* Program renamed Dillard School of the Arts in 1990 to reflect the expanded programing.
* Parkway moves into a beautiful new facility in 1991. High school magnet offerings are now available all 7 periods of the day. Enrollment has grown and for the frist time in the program history some classes are held in portable classrooms. Talks begin on the expansion of the "over-crowded" facility.
* Concurrently, Dillard School of the Arts begins a professional affiliation with the brand new Broward Center for the Performing Arts; becoming the only high school in the nation to produce a full season of 5 to 6 productions annually in a professional theatre facility. Since that time, Dillard has produced 47 fully staged plays, musicals, dance and music concerts for thousands of satisfied arts patrons in the beautifaul Amaturo Theatre.
* The move to the Broward Center opens the opportunity for affiliation with the Broward Schools' Students Enrichment in the Arts and Sciences (SEAS) program. With funding provided by the program Dillard has given over 70 individual performances providing an unique arts axperience to well over 30,000 Broward County students.
* By 1995 the programming has expanded so much that arts classrooms are spread throughout the campus of Dillard High.
* Dillard School of the Arts named a Magnet School of Excellence by the Magnet Schools of America Association in 1996. Specifically sited were the Partnerships with the Broward Center and McFatter.
* Kennedy Center Alliance for the Arts Education Network and National School Boards Association Award! In the spring of 1997, special recognition was given to the School System's SEAS program calling it a national model for integration of the arts into the classroom. All departments of DCA participate in this award-winning program.
* In the summer of 1998 the program is renamed Dillard Center for the Arts and the school board announces a committment to a new arts facility on the Dillard Campus which will once again place all of the arts programs back under one roof.
* Fall of 1999 brings the announcement that the School Board has approved over \$40,000,000 for a 5 year construction project which will include new and renovated facilities for every department at Dillard High. The new arts building is to include a 650 seat proscenium theatre, a 250 seat blackbox theatre, a 200 seat recital hall, a 2500 sq. ft. art gallery and classroom/rehearsal space for the 4 artistic disciplines (Art, Dance, Music and Theatre) in the current DCA curriculum.
* 54 new academic classrooms open in time for the beginning of the 2000/01 school year. Groundbreaking for the new Arts Building is scheduled for November with actual construction set to begin in January.
To Be Continued...
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