Victoria School of the Arts

Each year, a selection of work is performed at the school in the Eva O. Howard Theatre. Usually, two larger productions (one musical, one play) are featured as "Main Stage" shows. These plays or musicals are the largest events in the arts season at Victoria School. Large casts and week-long runs allow students to perform on the main stage in big productions, and satisfy the course requirements for either Theatre Performance 15, 25 and 35 or Musical Theatre 15, 25 and 35.[24]

In-timetable theatre courses are also offered: Drama 10, 20 and 30 are available to students with little to no dramatic experience, while Advanced Acting 15, 25 and 35 require an initial audition or a program recommendation. At the junior high level, Drama 7, 8 and 9 are also offered as options.[24][25]

Each performance has different grade-level restrictions, with one per year typically being open to senior high (grades 10–12) students and one open to secondary (grades 7–12) students, with occasional performances only open to junior high (grades 7–9) students or students in grades 4–12.

Students are chosen for roles through a group audition process held in September every year in which every show in the season is cast. The cast lists for every ensemble throughout the year are posted in the last week of September.

Students are also able to gain experience in Technical Theatre by participating in the Main Stage Shows, with opportunities in lighting, sound, set, costume and makeup design, along with opportunities to act as Stage Manager and Assistant Stage Manager.

Note: plays without a link may be devised creations.

Victoria School offers unique courses in the study of Design, Digital Arts, and New Media. Courses available at Victoria at the senior high level include Applied Graphic Arts 15, 25 and 35, Photography 15, 25 and 35, Audio 15, 25 and 35, Animation 25 and 35, and Film & Media Arts 15, 25 and 35. Animation courses require Applied Graphic Arts 15 as a prerequisite. In addition, Visual Communications 7, 8 and 9 are also options available for junior high students.[24][25]

The Visual Arts department offers Art (IB) 10, 20 and 30 and Ceramics 15, 25 and 35 to senior high students in-timetable, while Drawing 15, 25 and 35, and Painting 15, 25 and 35 are also available out of timetable. Junior high students can choose Art 7, 8 and 9 as options.[24][25]

Music options at Victoria School include General Music 10, Choral Music 10, 20 and 30, Instrumental Music 10, 20 and 30 and Guitar 10, 20 and 30 in-timetable. Concert Choir 10, 20 and 30, Vocal Jazz 15, 25 and 35 and Instrumental Jazz 15, 25 and 35 are all available to students after a successful audition. Junior high students have the option to take Instrumental Music 7, 8 and 9, and Choral Music 7, 8 and 9.[24][25]

A variety of dance courses are offered to senior high students, ranging from introductory to advanced levels. Dance 15 (3Y) is designed as a starting course for students without prior dance experience, which allows the student to take Contemporary Dance 25 and 25, and Dance 25 and 35 IB. Dance (6Y) 15, 25, and 35, Dance Techniques 15, 25, and 35, Dance Performance 15, 25 and 35, and Performing Arts 15, 25 and 35 are also options for students with previous experience and/or auditions. In junior high, Dance 7, 8 and 9 are offered as introductory dance courses.[24][25]

Victoria School offers Culinary Arts 10, 20 and 30 to students in senior high interested in learning about food preparation. These courses will be offered starting in the 2021–2022 school year, coinciding with the opening of the renovated Victoria Cafeteria on the north end of the school. Students enrolled in this program will cook and bake food for the new Victoria Café, and will be eligible to write an equivalency exam to challenge the first year apprenticeship requirements at NAIT.[24]

Victoria is also offering a new program at the senior high level focused on building skills related to entrepreneurship. Hospitality Management 10, 20 and 30 are offered focusing on planning, customer service and marketing.[24]

Courses on business and finance are also offered, including Financial Management 10, 20 and 30 which focus on personal financial literacy skills such as taxation, credit and investments. Business and Innovation 10, 20 and 30 teach students about planning and executing business ventures.[24][26]

The Victoria Foundation for the Arts, established in 1996, offers a variety of scholarships and awards to teachers and students of Victoria School of the Arts each year. $1 million over 385 scholarships and awards have been presented to students since its inception through 2019. Additionally, the foundation funds student master classes and upgrades to the Eva O. Howard Theatre, and provides $5000 annually to the musical Main Stage production.[27][28]

The foundation is run by the Victoria School Foundation Board, and operates an endowment fund through donations, with over 80 donors of $1000 or more.[29] Major donors can be seen on plaques outside of the Eva O. Howard Theatre.

Victoria School of the Arts offers all of the standard Alberta Education courses, including English Language Arts, Social Studies, Indigenous Studies, Mathematics, Science, Physics, Chemistry and Biology.

English Language Arts, Social Studies, Mathematics and Biology also have IB streams, with most students opting for an IB Certificate rather than a full IB Diploma. Victoria is one of the only schools in Canada to offer the IB Career-Related Programme, which prepares students for the workplace through the in-depth study of careers in the arts. To meet the IB requirements for either the Career-Related Programme, or the full Diploma Programme, Global Perspectives on Professional Skills 25 and 35 (Career-Related) and Theory of Knowledge, Extended Essay and CAS (Diploma) are available either in-timetable or out of timetable.[24]

French and Spanish are available as second-language options to both junior and senior high students. The French program requires students to enter in seventh grade, while Spanish offers entry points in seventh and tenth grade. French is also offered in an IB stream. Cree is available at the senior high level.[24][25]

Leadership 15, 25 and 35 are available to senior high students who wish to join the Victoria School Leadership Team, which focuses on planning events, fundraising and supporting the school community. The Victoria Leadership Team plans the annual Terry Fox/Clubs Day, Halloween celebration, Helping Hampers donation campaign, and bi-annual VIESTA event.[24] The separate Student Arts Leadership Team is responsible for the planning and execution of arts-related events, such as performances, gallery openings and the bi-annual Festival of the Arts.

Victoria School offers the standard physical education courses from Alberta Education including Physical Education 10, 20 and 30. Recreational Leadership 15, 25 and 35 offer a more rigorous physical education framework. New in the 2021–2022 school year, Victoria offers Physical Education 10 with an emphasis on outdoor education.[24]

Career and Life Management is a course required to obtain an Alberta high school diploma, and is offered as a separate course or combined with Physical Education 10.[24]

In the early 2000s, the Victoria building, with sections dating back to 1947, was beginning to show its age and was slated for significant repair or replacement.[30] Infrastructure reports carried out in 2000 saw Victoria as the highest priority modernization project in the district, with particular emphasis placed on the lack of appropriate specialized arts spaces, along with mechanical systems and infrastructure reaching their end-of-life dates and concerns over the safety of the deteriorating building.[31] This project gained support from Alberta Infrastructure, Alberta Education and Edmonton Public Schools, which intended to transform the school into a specialized arts facility with state of the art spaces and equipment that would attract students from all over the province and beyond. Efforts to modernize the Victoria building began in 2004 with the demolition of the 140 wing, which provided space for new construction.[32]

Initially, many different modernization plans were presented which either advocated for renovations of the existing building, selective replacements of the existing building, or relocation and the construction a new school on an entirely new site. Some of the suggested sites for the new Victoria School included one adjacent to the present building on a large city-owned field coined 'Greenfield' and one on the demolished Heritage Mall site (now Century Park) on the south side of the city. Eventually, plans for relocation were scrapped due to budgetary constraints in favour of a partial reconstruction and modernization of the existing building.[33][34]

Starting in 2007, the school began the major modernization project that brought the school into the 21st century, including the completion of many new state of the art facilities. The new building was built on unoccupied space on the grounds to allow for phased demolition, and provided the school with an enclosed courtyard with a playground. Construction on the school finished in 2011. Two sections remain from the reconstruction; one was completely renovated and repurposed, while the other was left largely untouched and maintains the look and feel of the old building, which includes the Eva O. Howard Theatre.[15]

In 2021, Victoria announced its new Culinary Arts and Innovation and Entrepreneurship programs, and as a result, renovations on the North Cafeteria began, which will build a new kitchen and update the seating.[24]

As part of the 1990s revitalization project the 150 wing of the school was painted with a series of murals depicting trees. The wing became known as "The Tree Hallway" among students and staff, and was one of the many areas of the school with permanent art installations. Due to the reconstruction of the building in 2009, The Tree Hallway, along with many other murals and art in the old building, were demolished.[35] Permanent art installations are slowly finding their way into the new building.

The Eva O. Howard Theatre is a 685-seat proscenium theatre in the North 400 wing of the school. It was built in 1949, but has been updated extensively throughout the years, and is used frequently by students and members of the community. It includes dressing rooms, prop and costume storage, a set workshop, and a green room, most of which are located below the theatre in the basement.[13] It is named after Eva O. Howard, an English teacher at Victoria who developed one of the school's first theatre programs during the early 20th century.