Photo: Tom Bernard
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The Philadelphia High School for Creative and Performing Arts
The Philadelphia High School for Creative and Performing Arts (CAPA) - the largest project to be completed to date on the Avenue of
the Arts - opened its doors to its new facility for the first time on
Thursday, November 6, 1997, at 10 a.m.
After 30 years of abandonment and neglect, the former Ridgway Library
on Broad Street between Christian and Carpenter Streets has been completely
renovated and expanded to become the new facility for the region's only
magnet school for the arts.
Carpenter Street
Photo: Tom Bernard |
The new $31 million home for CAPA, designed by Kise Straw & Kolodner,
consists of two components: the 1878 Ridgway building and a four-story
addition to the east of the building. As CAPA's new home, spaces long
vacant, including a great hall two stories high, have been restored. Parts
of the building now include a fully-equipped media center, library and
state-of-the-art theater of 350 seats. The new addition will hold another
115,000 square feet of performance, administrative and classroom space
for the 650 members of the CAPA student body.
Main Hall Looking South
Photo: Tom Bernard |
Established in 1978 to foster voluntary desegregation in the Philadelphia
school system, CAPA long outgrew its initial social mission and evolved
into one of the School District's most outstanding programs. When the
school was established the original 250 students in the CAPA program were
crammed on the 16th to 19th floors of an office building at Broad and
Spruce Streets. When that site was no longer available, the school moved
to the old Bartlett Junior High School building at 11th and Catharine
Streets. Not only was Bartlett structurally ill-suited for the performing
arts, but CAPA students shared the building with Palumbo Elementary School,
which has over 300 students in grades kindergarten through eight.
Today, the CAPA student body has more than doubled to over 600 students
from virtually every neighborhood in the city. CAPA focuses on an intense
college-preparatory academic program combined with advanced instruction
in the fields of creative writing, dance, drama, instrumental and vocal
music, and visual arts. Every year, over 95% of CAPA's graduates go on
to college.
For more information call (215) 952-2462 or visit the CAPA web site at http://www.phila.k12.pa.us/schools/capa/
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