Frank Sinatra School of the Arts


The Frank Sinatra School of the Arts is a performing arts high school in Astoria, Queens as part of the New York City Department of Education. The school, founded by Tony Bennett, is a major arts high school in New York City offering high school diplomas in six arts majors including fine art, dance, vocal and instrumental music, drama, and film. Each studio has its own dedicated teachers, classrooms, ensembles, and performances/exhibitions where students may showcase their work to the public. All students must audition for admission. Students in every Studio/Major are also allowed to audition for the Musical Theatre elective class, who in the past have put on performances such as The King and I, Anything Goes, The Secret Garden, Carousel, Footloose the musical, Little Shop of Horrors, Jonathan Larson's RENT, Aida, The Music Man, Ragtime, The Phantom of the Opera and Hairspray. Students can also apply for the Stage Craft class that teaches the students to work as crew for theatre productions and technical theatre.
The school has a population of approximately 853 students. Student to teacher ratio is 18:1.
The school holds one of the highest graduation rates of New York City public high schools. In 2009, 96% of the senior class graduated with 97% enrolled for college. The class of 2009 additionally completed 17,000 hours of community service while at FSSA. Recently the class of 2013 has completed 20,000 hours of community service and has won as a whole approximately $120,000 worth of scholarship money. The school had two students win the Posse foundation scholarship in the class of 2013.

History

The Frank Sinatra School of the Arts, also known as FSSA, was founded in 2001 by singer and painter Tony Bennett along with his wife Susan Benedetto, and is named for American musician and actor Frank Sinatra. The school was funded through a non-profit organization called Exploring the Arts. FSSA started out in the DeVry building over at LaGuardia Community College then moved to the C building. It is now located in its own state of the art building.