Professional Development in the Arts 35

Philosophy and Rationale

This course is intended for any student who wishes to extend and demonstrate their understandings and growth as a student in the Fine Arts. This course will also be accessible to students who wish to obtain a Fine and Performing Arts certificate at the end of grade 12 and who have met the requirements outlined in the Calgary Board of Education’s Fine and Performing Arts Certificate.

Professional Development in the Arts 35 allows students to purposefully reflect upon learning experiences in the Fine Arts disciplines as a cross-disciplinary group. They will explore how they see themselves as artists, why they want to become professionals in their disciplines, and become more aware of the process involved in preparing for the marketing and business aspect of being a professional artist in art, music, drama, dance, design or film.

This course is designed to help students realistically balance their personal interests and abilities in looking at what it means to work as a professional artist through research and connecting with artists in the community. It is important to create evidence of this growth and personal identity as an artist. This will be done through documenting their understandings of self through a variety of portfolios.

General Learner Outcomes

  1. Students will explore their journey as an artist in their chosen discipline(s) through personal and shared reflection, demonstrating their voice and personal style.
  2. Students will independently investigate the working life of professional artists through research and community connections.
  3. Students will present evidence of their unique attributes as an aspiring professional in the arts leading to a post-secondary placement and/or the world of work.
  4. Students will publicly showcase themselves as artists through the assemblage and adjudicated presentation of a body of work.

Each CBE High School can be contacted for more information about this course.