The Lois Cowles Harrison Center for the Visual and Performing Arts (also called Harrison School for the Arts) was founded in Lakeland, Florida

Lakeland, Florida

Lakeland is a city in Polk County, Florida, United States, located approximately midway between Tampa and Orlando along Interstate 4. According to the 2008 U.S. Census Bureau estimate, the city had a population of 94,406...

, United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 in 1989 and named after community member and art patron Lois Cowles Harrison. It is a Magnet school

Magnet school

In education in the United States, magnet schools are public schools with specialized courses or curricula. "Magnet" refers to how the schools draw students from across the normal boundaries defined by authorities as school zones that feed into certain schools.There are magnet schools at the...

 that draws its student population from communities throughout Polk County. Students may specialize in dance

Dance

Dance is an art form that generally refers to movement of the body, usually rhythmic and to music, used as a form of expression, social interaction or presented in a spiritual or performance setting....

, classical guitar

Classical guitar

The classical guitar is a 6-stringed plucked string instrument from the family of instruments called chordophones...

, orchestra

Orchestra

An orchestra is a sizable instrumental ensemble that contains sections of string, brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. The term orchestra derives from the Greek ορχήστρα, the name for the area in front of an ancient Greek stage reserved for the Greek chorus...

, piano

Piano

The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...

, choir

Choir

A choir, chorale or chorus is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform.A body of singers who perform together as a group is called a choir or chorus...

, jazz

Jazz

Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...

, theatre

Theatre

Theatre is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music or dance...

, technical theatre, musical theatre

Musical theatre

Musical theatre is a form of theatre combining songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance. The emotional content of the piece – humor, pathos, love, anger – as well as the story itself, is communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an...

, film

Film

A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...

, or visual arts

Visual arts

The visual arts are art forms that create works which are primarily visual in nature, such as ceramics, drawing, painting, sculpture, printmaking, design, crafts, and often modern visual arts and architecture...

. Students take general education classes at Lakeland High School, located adjacent to Harrison School for the Arts.

Notable alumni

• Susan Sherouse
  Susan Sherouse
  Susan Sherouse is an American violinist from Lakeland, Florida. She attended the Lois Cowles Harrison Center for the Visual and Performing Arts, from which she graduated in 2001. She would then continue her education at Palm Beach Atlantic University...
  
   - violinist - Orchestra Department, Class of 2001
• Aaron Marsh
  Aaron Marsh
  Aaron Marsh is an American singer-songwriter, musician and producer from Florida. He first gained prominence as the lead singer, guitarist, and pianist for the Florida-based indie rock band Copeland, who formed in 2000...
  
   - lead singer - Copeland
  Copeland (band)
  Copeland was an indie rock band, originally formed in 2001 by singer Aaron Marsh with his friend, bassist and backup singer James Likeness, in the city of Lakeland, Florida.-Inception:...
  
   - Orchestra Department, Class of 1999
• Dena Kology - Off-Broadway Producer, Director and Actress, http://www.playbill.com/news/article/113512.html Class of 2000
• Karen Olivo
  Karen Olivo
  Karen Olivo is a stage and television actress, who is known for originating the role of Vanessa in the Tony Award–winning musical In the Heights both on and off Broadway. She won her Tony Award for her performance as Anita in the revival of West Side Story...
  
   - Broadway, In the Heights
  In the Heights
  In the Heights is a musical with music and lyrics by Lin-Manuel Miranda and a book by Quiara Alegría Hudes. The story explores three days in the characters' lives in the New York City Dominican-American neighborhood of Washington Heights....
  
  , West Side Story, Brooklyn
  Brooklyn (musical)
  Brooklyn the Musical is a musical with a book, lyrics, and music by Mark Schoenfeld and Barri McPherson.-Synopsis:Using the play within a play structure, Brooklyn focuses on a group of five ragtag homeless musicians known as the City Weeds...
  
  , Tony Award Winner 2009 for Featured Actress in a Musical
• Laura L. Davis - Technical Theater Department, Class of 2003 http://www.laura-davis.net
• Joshua B. Baggett - Director - Theater Department, Class of 2004

External links

• School website