Whether you’re obsessed with dance or play an instrument, love recording or illustrate graphic novels, dream of art installations or write your own music, there’s a school where you can pursue your artistic vision, explore your creativity, and learn from industry professionals. Whatever your creative passion... You can explore it at SOTA—the School of the Arts @ Central Gwinnett HS!
SOTA offers a unique “arts-centric” learning experience for Gwinnett County high school students, boasting the most fine arts courses in the district. Areas of concentration include Art and Design, Dance, Music Technology and Audio Production, Theatre, and Voice. Centrally located in Lawrenceville, this “school within a school” is designed for students who want to take their art to the next level, working with industry professionals and partnering with semi-professional, professional, and postsecondary arts organizations and programs for opportunities that students will not find anywhere else.
The arts school combines required academic coursework with expanded fine arts classes and arts-related internships and work experiences at a pre-professional and professional level. SOTA offers an audition-required Conservatory Program as well as a Fellows Program with focused elective courses in the arts.
Housed in a 31,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art facility, SOTA has a black box theatre for flexible staging and small-audience performances; visual arts classrooms and computer art lab; expanded band, orchestra, chorus, music technology, and recording studio facilities; dance studio space; unique and specialized private lesson and studio space; and expanded performance, rehearsal, and storage spaces. SOTA’s faculty is made up of creative industry professionals. Both full-time educators and adjunct fine arts experts lead seminars and other innovative instructional approaches to help build performance, business, technology, and communication skills needed for industry success.
Current 8th grade students from across the district may apply for the SOTA Conservatory Program (audition/portfolio required) and for the SOTA Fellows Program (no admissions criteria). Students who will be in grades 10-12 next school year may apply for the SOTA Fellows Program. (Transportation for Central Gwinnett Cluster students is provided. Students from other clusters must be eligible for permissive transfer and provide their own transportation.)
About the SOTA Conservatory Program
Conservatory students spend up to 20 hours per week in their arts program of study. A non-traditional schedule, with online and blended courses for academic coursework, allows students to spend more of their school day in expanded arts classes, internships, and work experiences in the arts. Areas of concentration at SOTA include Art and Design, Dance, Music Technology and Audio Production, Theatre, and Voice. Admittance to the Conservatory is determined through auditions, interviews, and juried presentations and performances. Rising 9th graders in the Central Gwinnett Cluster and from across the district may apply to be a part of the Conservatory. (Transfer students must be eligible for permissive transfer and provide their own transportation.)
About the SOTA Fellows Program
The Fellows Program at SOTA provides Central Gwinnett and transfer students with expanded elective course opportunities in creative writing, dance, music, theatre, and visual arts. Fellows spend a majority of their day in core academic classes while focusing their elective course work in the arts. While there is no admission criteria for the Fellows program, this experience is designed for students with a strong interest in the arts. The Fellows Program is open to students from across the district who will be in grades 9-12 for the 2022-23 school year. (Transfer students must be eligible for permissive transfer and provide their own transportation.)
Current 8th graders are invited to apply to SOTA for the 2022-23 school year by Nov. 17!
If you want to explore your creativity, SOTA is the place to be!
Attend an information session on Oct. 21 or Nov. 2. (Both sessions start at 6:30 p.m.) Plan to attend the Open House and Pre-audition Workshop for 8th graders and their families on Nov. 15, 6-7:30 p.m. The deadline to apply for the Conservatory is Nov. 17. Invitation-only auditions will be held Dec. 2-4 at SOTA.
Find audition requirements, an overview, FAQs, and more at gcpsk12.org/SOTA.