Published: June 19, 2009 09:31 am      

McAlester students study with artists

Brooke Adcock, Bethany Andrews, and Mary Caluette are having the once-in-a-lifetime experience of studying with a Star Trek star, a U.S. poet laureate, and a Grammy Award-winner this summer. The McAlester High School students are attending the Oklahoma Summer Arts Institute at Quartz Mountain, a two-week residential academy providing intensive training for Oklahoma high school students in the visual, literary and performing arts.

“OSAI has completely given me a different respect for my (artistic) discipline and challenged me in new and difficult ways which stretch my ability,” OSAI chorus student Caluette said. “I’m so excited and thankful again for this marvelous opportunity.”

The McAlester students are part of an elite group of 268 students chosen for the prestigious program through competitive auditions out of a pool of over 1,300 applicants. OSAI students study a chosen discipline for at least six hours a day, and in the evenings attends a variety of performances, lectures, and demonstrations in all of the fine arts.

“OSAI has been a great experience for me,” OSAI modern dance student Adcock said.

At OSAI, McAlester students are learning from the nation's finest artists. For the past 33 years, many famous artists have taught at OSAI, including recipients of the Academy, Emmy, Grammy and Tony Awards. This year's faculty artists include actor John de Lancie, poet Billy Collins, and conductor Charles Bruffy.

Perhaps best known as the character "Q" on Star Trek: The Next Generation, de Lancie is also a seasoned film, television and stage actor whose credits include “The Hand that Rocks the Cradle,” “Taking Care of Business,” “Hill Street Blues,” “West Wing,” “Without a Trace,” “Judging Amy,” “The Closer,” “L.A. Law,” “The Practice,” “Touched by an Angel,” and many more.

Collins is a bestselling author and former two-term U.S. poet laureate, who has been called the greatest poet since Robert Frost.

Bruffy is a Grammy Award-winning choral conductor in demand across the United States.

“McAlester students are studying with world-renowned artists this year at the 2009 Summer Arts Institute,” said Julie Cohen, Oklahoma Arts Institute president. “This is an opportunity of a lifetime, and we’re thrilled to have McAlester represented at Quartz Mountain by these students.”

In conjunction with acceptance, McAlester students received full scholarships to OSAI.

McAlester students' scholarships were provided by the Oklahoma State Department of Education and the Clark and Wanda Bass Family Foundation Scholars Fund, with additional funding provided by the Oklahoma Arts Council and the Oklahoma State Department of Tourism and Recreation.

“I am very honored to have been accepted into the Oklahoma Summer Arts Institute,” said Andrews, an OSAI modern dance student.

OSAI culminates in ONSTAGE Weekend, June 26 and 27. The weekend consists of concerts, performances, film screenings and exhibitions where every OSAI student has a chance to display their work.

All events are free and open to the public, and a performance schedule is available at www.oaiquartz.org or 405-321-9000. McAlester is represented on the OSAI board of directors by Lucy F. Smith.

OSAI is administered by the Oklahoma Arts Institute, a private, non-profit organization established in 1977 with a vision to cultivate established and emerging artists and educators through art workshops, immersion and awareness.