By Lamont E. Clegg
For the News-Gazette

What does sound look like? What does art sound like?

One-hundred-sixty-seven students from around Osceola County explored the answers to these questions July 5-16 at Horizon Middle School in Kissimmee during the Juilliard-Osceola County Summer Arts Intensive. The students, ranging from fifth grade through 2010 high school graduates, were participating in Sound Stages: The Art of Noise.

The program was the brainchild of Evan Todd, a former student at the Osceola County School for the Arts, and currently about to begin his fourth year as a drama student at The Juilliard School, which is housed at the Lincoln Center in New York City.

Todd had been involved with Juilliard outreach programs in past years, traveling to Utah and to Africa. He reached a point, he said, where he asked himself why he wasn’t doing outreach in his own hometown.

So, armed with 10 teaching artists from Juilliard, he brought a little of that famous school for arts to Osceola County.

Working with Todd was Nina Cochran, the drama teacher at Horizon Middle School, and one of Todd’s former teachers. She gathered other arts teachers from across the county to round out the staff for this summer’s intensive program.

When they were working out the details of this program, Cochran said she knew she wanted to make sure it was a collaborative effort between Juilliard and the Osceola County School District.

“I didn’t want Juilliard to land and just be Juilliard; I wanted Juilliard to meet Osceola halfway,” she said.

Another thing Todd and Cochran wanted was to make the program accessible to as many Osceola County arts students as possible. The students were studying poetry, acting, dance and movement, visual art, choral music, instrumental music, technical theatre, scenic design and improvisation.

Those students continually stressed how much they were learning and how much they were enjoying the program.

Laura Silva, a rising sophomore technical theatre major at the School for the Arts, during the program said she was learning a great deal about building, in particular about building round scenery.

“I’ve also learned about filming because I have never done anything before having to do with video,” she said. “I’m learning about angles, shooting, etc. And I love the program, so far.”

Horizon Middle School eighth-grader Melinda Chang and Osceola High School 10th-grader Chelsea Schneider also were learning about video. They were part of the student team constructing a documentary of this Juilliard-Osceola County collaboration. The students went from class to class filming various activities. The product will not only be a reminder of the two-week program, but will be used as a promotional tool to help secure funding for the future of the program.

But, according to Chang and Schneider, the importance of being a part of this program was much more than creating a promotional video.

Chang, who is active in the Art Club, Drama and the Technology Students Association at Horizon, said “being able to be around so many age groups and share with them” was a definite benefit of being in the program.

“I think that is something I’ll never forget,” she said.

Schneider also is involved with the Technology Students Association at the school, and is also a writer.

“You get to collaborate with people you would never dream about working with, from elementary school students to high school students,” she said.

Kendall Wallace, Gateway High School senior and acting student, said he was having a great time in the Juilliard-Osceola project.

“This is the best idea ever! I love these guys and they teach me so much,” he said.

Elisabeth Clevenger also was a member of the acting class with Kendall. She said they were learning techniques for cold readings and for actual performances.

“They are teaching us how to use our bodies with the words in our scripts,” she said.

Clevenger also reflected on the more universal aspects of her participation in the project.

“Even if I don’t go into acting, it helps with skills you need in everyday life, like giving speeches in front of a group of people,” she said.

A sophomore at Osceola High School, Clevenger said she wasn’t active in the arts last year at her school, but being a part of the Juilliard program has inspired her to join the Drama Club in the upcoming year.

Debbie Fahmie, fine and performing arts resource teacher for the School District, said the program is “transformational.”

“I have seen amazing transformations in the students and the teaching artists,” she said. “I leave here with tears everyday listening to the testimonies of the Juilliard artists after working with our students.”