Director’s Statement
Welcome to the UALR Community School of the Arts!
When considering the education of the children in our community, we discover that for a variety of reasons our schools have been unable to provide consistent and varied arts instruction. Sadly, music and visual art classes are the first to be cut when money is short. To address this, the UALR Community School of the Arts, initiated in 1979, was created. The goal was to provide a professional environment where excellent instruction in all the arts could be obtained regardless of age for the hobbyist or the serious-minded. One of central Arkansas’s best kept secrets, despite an annual enrollment of approximately 1,000 students, the CSA is an amazing place where high caliber and affordable instruction in visual art, music, voice, languages, and others is offered on a once-a-week basis to both adults and children, by college faculty and professional working artists. It is this caliber of instruction that distinguishes the Community School of the Arts from other programs.
In every age, there is a need for a new generation of musicians and artists! There is also a need to cultivate new audiences and supporters. A continual flow of new artists, audiences, and supporters into a culture requires excellent arts education and exposure. It is often not understood that, unlike many other professions that can be learned in college, art forms such as dance and instrumental music require instruction to begin early in life: waiting until college to study is usually too late to gain the skills necessary to become a professional. The Community School of the Arts in the ideal place for discovering the gifts and talents among the young, and for grooming those persons who are considering a future in the arts.
Moreover, in an age where information highways and technology dominate our lives, the arts play a vital balancing role, reminding us of heart and spirit, life and beauty, and all that it means to be fully human. It is to this end that this not-for-profit, year-round university school is dedicated. Whatever your artistic goals may be, I cordially invite you to embrace the art form of your choice and become part of this wonderful learning environment.
Leslie J. Mangiamele, Director