Tennessee Governor's School for the Arts

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The Tennessee Governor’s School for the Arts is a four-week residency summer program for high school students gifted in music, visual art, theatre, dance, and filmmaking, Governor Lamar Alexander founded the School for the Arts in 1984, assembling a team of professionals to develop a program for Tennessee that would rival the best summer arts schools in the nation.

In the summer of 1985, Middle Tennessee State University hosted the first Governor’s School for the Arts with 90 orchestral students. The following year, the program was expanded to include wind ensemble, vocal music, theatre, and visual arts. By 1986 the School for the Arts auditioned over 1200 students from across the state for one of the coveted 300+ scholarships to the program. In 1987, dance was added to the curriculum and in 2009 filmmaking became the program’s latest area of study. In 2005, Governor Phil Bredesen mandated that all Governor’s Schools award college credit to participating students.

Since 1985 over 7,000 of Tennessee’s gifted and talented students have been afforded the opportunity to attend the School for the Arts. Each January more than 1400 compete for the 230 available scholarships. The students selected for the School for the Arts show true talent and motivation. Coming from every geographical region of Tennessee, these students have shown why they were chosen to participate. Selections for music, art, theatre, dance, and filmmaking are made as a result of auditions or submissions of portfolios and interviews.