Lois Cowles Harrison Center for the Visual and Performing Arts

The Lois Cowles Harrison Center for the Visual and Performing Arts is a high school in Lakeland, Florida, United States. The school was founded in 1989 and named after community member and art patron Lois Cowles Harrison. It is a magnet school that draws its student population from communities throughout Polk County. Students may specialize in dance, classical guitar, orchestra, piano, choir, jazz, theatre, technical theatre, musical theatre, film, visual arts, or creative writing. Students take general education classes at Lakeland High School, located adjacent to Harrison School for the Arts. The school received an expansion in 2008, with renovations and the addition of 95,000 square feet to the building.HistoryHarrison School for the Arts opened in 1989, after much debate about whether to open Polk County's first arts school. The school started off with only 154 students, and 5 departments: Chorus, Orchestra, Dance, Musical Theater,and Art. Students in Chorus and Orchestra had to be bused everyday to nearby Florida Southern College to receive their classes. Through years of expansion, the current departments were added, now resulting in 12 total departments. Before the major renovations of 2008, Harrison shared with Lakeland High School the only chorus room and orchestra room available. The only building Harrison could call its own was the current 649 seat theater. After 2008, Harrison was able to expand into two multi-million dollar buildings. The new Harrison Arts Center is now home to a brand new 130-seat movie theater, a blackbox theater, recording studios, three art labs, three dance studios, a Musical Theatre/Vocal room, chorus room, orchestra room, jazz band room and other technologically advanced classrooms. Lakeland's fine arts sector now has their own building as well. Tom McDonald was the founding principal.