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The Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts is located near the Juilliard School in the Lincoln Center district of Manhattan, on Amsterdam Avenue between 65th Street and 64th Street. The school is operated by the New York City Department of Education.

Although it offers academic diplomas, and many graduates go on to non-arts careers, the school prepares public high school students for professional careers and/or conservatory study in dance, drama, the visual arts, vocal and instrumental music and theater production.

Informally known as LaGuardia High School, LAG, or LaGuardia Arts, the school is the only school among New York City's eight specialized high schools that receives special funding from the New York State legislature through the Hecht Calandra Act. The other schools are Stuyvesant High School, Bronx High School of Science, Brooklyn Technical High School, Queens High School for the Sciences at York College High School for Math, Science and Engineering at City College, High School of American Studies at Lehman College, Brooklyn Latin, and Staten Island Technical High School.

History

Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts was established in 1984. The school, adjacent to New York's Lincoln Center for Performing Arts, was built in order to bring together two "sister" arts high schools of the day, the High School of Music & Art (started by Mayor Fiorello H. LaGuardia in 1936) and the High School for Performing Arts (popularly referred to as "P.A."). Prior to the building's completion, Music & Art had been located in Harlem on 135th Street; Performing Arts had been located in midtown on 46th Street, both in Manhattan. Mayor LaGuardia regarded Music & Art as the "most hopeful accomplishment" of his long administration as mayorSteigman, Benjamin: Accent on Talent -- New York's High School of Music & Art Wayne State University Press, 1984 ISBN 64-13873..

The movie Fame and the TV Series Fame both dramatized student life at LaGuardia High School. Additionally, an Off-Broadway show of "Fame" was produced in 2003-2004. Alumni from LaGuardia and its two legacy schools, Music & Art and Performing Arts are active in supporting the students and the school through scholarships and support for special programs, school events, and reunions held at the school and throughout the world. The school's alumni organization has a full-time executive director and offices at the school. It functions as an independent charitable organization organized under the laws of New York.

Notable alumni

The following people are alumni of LaGuardia High SchoolA more complete list is available at alumniandfriends.org:

Applications

In order to be accepted at LaGuardia High School one must audition. Students must come prepared to audition for one or more of the following departments: Dance, Drama, Art, Vocal Music, Instrumental Music, or Technical Theater.

LaGuardia High School has no specific feeder schools.

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See also

External links

Educational institutions established in 1984 | High schools in New York City | Public education in New York City | New York City Department of Education | Schools of the performing arts in the United States | Specialized High Schools of New York City

Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts

 

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