Newark School of the Arts (NSA) and Sharron Miller’s Academy for the Performing Arts (SMAPA) Announce A Joint Partnership.
/FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Carmen Santos-Robson,
Associate Director,
Newark School of the Arts
Phone: 973-642-0133 Ext. 20
Email: Carmen@newarkschoolofthearts.org
Newark School of the Arts (NSA) and Sharron Miller’s Academy
for the Performing Arts (SMAPA) Announce A Joint Partnership.
Newark, NJ, August 29-Sharron Miller, SMAPA’s Founder/Director and Larry Tamburri, Executive Director of NSA are pleased to announce the partnership between these two arts education organizations. As the new Chair of NSA’s Dance Department, Miller hopes to bring the same level of artistic excellence to the NSA Dance Division as exists in its Montclair home. Although both organizations have their separate locations, both Tamburri and Miller hope to share not only teaching artists, but programming as well.
NSA Board President, Lori Scott-Pickens said “"The NSA welcomes Ms. Sharron Miller to our School. Ms. Miller, a is renowned career Dancer, Instructor, and founder of SMAPA. We are happy to have her as the new Chair of the NSA Dance Department. Ms. Miller brings a wealth of knowledge and experience in dance pedagogy. We are excited about the possibilities and look forward to her working with dance students in the greater Newark community at NSA."
“Our association with her and SMAPA will signify that we are offering quality dance instruction. An added benefit to this partnership is that we will be able to offer some programs at SMAPA in Montclair beginning with Early Childhood Music.” said Larry Tamburri, NSA Executive Director.
As the new Chair of NSA’s Dance Division, Miller is looking forward to generating renewed interest in dance among children, teens and adults through new program offerings like Dance with Me (ages 2-3 with caregiver), Afro-Caribbean (ages 10-adult) and Contemporary (teens). These classes are in addition to our standard offerings of ballet, modern and jazz. Miller says, “Dance should be available to students at all stages of life”.
There will be an opportunity to meet Sharron on Saturday, September 10, between 11am - 1pm at the Newark School of the Arts Open House, 89 Lincoln Park in Newark.
We are grateful for the support of the various funders who have supported our individual efforts including the Turrell Fund, Prudential Foundation, PWC, PNC foundation Victoria Foundation, Geraldine R. Dodge, Stone Foundation of New Jersey, National Endowment for the Arts and theNew Jersey Council on the Arts among other contributors.
Sharron Miller is Founder/Director of Sharron Miller’s Academy for the Performing Arts (SMAPA), an arts education organization whose mission is to provide comprehensive, inclusive developmental training in dance and related theater arts to children, teens, adults and seniors. She is a former Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater soloist and veteran of seven Broadway shows. She has appeared on television, film, and hundreds of radio and television commercials. She is a member of Actors’ Equity Association, Screen Actors Guild, and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists.
Ms. Miller, who attended The Juilliard School, is committed to enriching the lives of young people through the arts. Her early training began with the late Fred Danieli, founder and director of the Garden State Ballet, who taught her the value of self-discipline, self-respect, and a commitment to excellence. Ms. Miller’s educational focus is to foster, nurture and encourage skill building, self-discipline, self-esteem and creativity in every student.
She served on the faculty of Renaissance Middle School in Montclair for 13 years where SMAPA provided the dance and drama program for 6th, 7th and 8th grade students during the school day. This program was developed with multi-year leadership support from the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, praised by the State of New Jersey as an “outstanding arts education model,” and eventually fully funded by the Montclair Board of Education. Ms. Miller has also served on the faculty of Montclair Kimberley Academy, Far Brook School, and has been affiliated with the New Jersey Performing Arts Center as an arts-in-education consultant/partner.
At SMAPA, she not only continues to train hundreds of students yearly, but also continues to develop her arts enrichment programs and community outreach, which includes working in partnership with seven K-3 elementary schools and Rosa Parks High School for the Fine and Performing Arts in Paterson; North Star High School in Newark providing a yearlong dance residency for 10th, 11th and 12th grade students; creating a 6-week full-day arts program, Prime Time Summer Arts, for children 6-14 in association with the Montclair Department of Recreation and Cultural Affairs; and adapting Prime Time Summer Arts to a half-day theme-based preschool summer arts program for children 3-5.
SMAPA receives generous financial support from foundations including the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, Victoria Foundation, the Stone Foundation of New Jersey, the Turrell Fund, National Endowment for the Arts and the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, among other contributors. Ms. Miller resides in Montclair, New Jersey with her daughter, Jaimie and granddaughter, Jubilee.
The Newark School of the Arts (NSA) changes the lives of youth through access to quality education in the performing and visual arts. We accomplish this by providing excellence in sequential education and training, offering an emerging state of the art learning environment, accepting students of all ages and abilities, and partnering with other successful arts educators while maintaining affordability and accessibility. The School provides high-level training in the performing and visual arts. Since 1968, the school has offered instruction for everyone with an interest in the arts regardless of age, talent and financial resources. NSA is a family and community-oriented school that has served over 50,000 individuals since its inception, and provides education for 750 students each week. The school serves children from age 3 months to senior citizen through long-term sequential training that often contributes to lifelong learning and professional careers in the arts. Many additional students have benefited from individualized instruction and became successful in other fields of endeavor. Through the emphasis of comprehensive arts education, all students are given opportunities to perform and exhibit in formal and informal settings. Specialized instruction is offered on all musical instruments, voice, music, dance (ballet, tap, jazz, modern, hip-hop, zumba, social dance), drama and the visual arts (drawing and painting, acrylic painting, clay hand-building, cartooning, jewelry design, digital photography, portfolio development). Ensemble training opportunities include dance workshops, string, wind, guitar, and percussion groups. Special programs are available for talented students and children of preschool age. Individuals with special needs and senior citizens are integrated into NSA programs. In addition to on-site training, the school also serves area preschools, public, charter and private schools as well as other organizations through special arrangement. The international faculty with degrees and advanced degrees from leading conservatories is chosen with a view toward professional competence and ability to work effectively with children and adults. Teachers strongly identify with the mission of the school. Some have remained with NSA for many years. Newark School of the Arts supported in-part by the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, Department of State, and funds from the National Endowment for the Arts. The School received a 2016, 2017 and 2020 "Citation of Excellence" and is designated a "Major Presenting and Service Organization" by the New Jersey State Council on the Arts. Other major support comes from the City of Newark (CDBG/HUD), Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, The Prudential Foundation and Prudential Financial, Victoria Foundation, Turrell Fund, William Randolph Hearst Foundation, Inter-Atlantic Group, and Wells Fargo.
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