New World School of The Arts - History

History

The New World School of the Arts is the successor school to the north and south campuses of the Performing and Visual Arts Center (PAVAC). PAVAC pioneered the model in Miami Dade county of dual enrollment programs for talented high school students in the Visual and Performing Arts by combining an academic program at a Miami-Dade high school with art classes at either the north or south campuses of MDCC.

The PAVAC program was begun by Marcy Sarmiento around 1975 as a magnet program at Miami Northwestern High School. At that time, the Miami-Dade County Public Schools, then known as Dade Public Schools, pursued a strategy of creating specialized programs in predominately black schools in order to achieve racial balance through voluntary busing of non-black students.

Kendell Bently-Baker, inspired by the academic success of that program, and attempting to take greater advantage of the facilities and faculty of Miami Dade College (MDC), then known as Miami Dade Community College, proposed the creation of a dual-enrollment school of the arts: morning academics were to be at the student's home high school; in the afternoon students were to be bussed to one of the two MDCC campuses for classes in art or the performing arts. On high school graduation, the student received a diploma from the home high school and college credits for the art classes, awarded through MDC.

In the summer of 1982 county auditions were held for 10-th through 12-th graders, and in the fall of 1982 two dual enrollment PAVAC's opened, one at the North Campus of MDCC, "PAVAC North", headed by Kendell Bently-Baker, the other at the South Campus of MDCC (now called the Kendall Campus), "PAVAC South", headed by Richard Janaro and Margaret Pelton. Marcy Samiento continuing as DCPS coordinator. At that time, many Miami-Dade high schools served only 10-th through 12-th grade.

The first PAVAC dual-enrollment graduates were in 1983. The Miami Northwestern High School program continued as before the creation of PAVAC, and is currently among the PVA (Performing and Visual Arts) Magnet programs in the Miami-Dade County School system.

In 1984, Marcy Sarmiento, Kandell Bentley-Baker and Richard Janaro were asked to plan a successor school to PAVAC. They studied other arts schools in the country, visiting LaGuardia High School, Juilliard and the North Carolina School of the Arts. A bill creating the "South Florida School of the Arts" passed the Florida House of Representatives on May 30, 1984. Soon afterwards, the New World name was chosen as part of larger plans for urban and cultural development which included the eponymous New World Symphony Orchestra, and the avoid confusion with the Florida School of the Arts. The Florida Legislature enacted the "New World School of the Arts Act" in 1986.

The NWSA opened its doors in the fall of 1987. The continuing students at PAVAC's North and South transitioned into NWSA, as did many of PAVAC's faculty. NWSA issued its first high school diploma in 1988 to the former PAVAC students. NWSA enrolled its first freshman college students in 1988. In order to award a BFA, partnered with Florida International University (FIU). On January 12, 1994 University of Florida replaced FIU in this partnership. The first graduating class of the college was in 1992.

Later the high school expanded to include 9th grade.