Music plays a unique and important role in the lives of students. Through the act of performing, composing, listening to, and analyzing music, students are given the opportunity to have aesthetic experiences and express emotions in verbal and nonverbal ways. This in turn helps students to understand their own emotions and the emotions of other human beings.

A diverse and varied repertoire of music guides students to understand the past and present history of specific cultures, and to draw meaningful connections to their own lives. Music is also a unique tool that allows students to connect deeply with other subjects. Through the study of music students can grow and develop their ability to problem-solve, gain discipline, develop creativity, and look at situations from many different perspectives. A strong music program provides students with diverse meaningful opportunities to foster a life-long love of learning.

Theatre is life, and, not in a dramatic way such as “the theatre is my life.” Without being able to grasp the foundation of real human emotions and experiences and creativity, theatre does not exist. Every human benefits from theatrical training. Theatrical instruction improves life skills such as speech, emotional expression, relationships, and recognizing one’s personal creativity. Students realize themselves by laughing, relating to others, and finding their voice through simple theatre games.

Performance theatre has deep roots in history; beginning with the art of storytelling and morphing into what we know and love as live theatre today. Students grow through understanding three major aspects of theatre. The history of theatre gives students a better respect for its origins; working with different styles of theatre (such as Greek performance) gives students the feelings of the history in their bodies; all of this is wrapped up in a strong focus of the Stanislavski System with flavors of Meisner in training. Students should be provided with access to various different acting styles- even if they feel they are uncomfortable or “crazy”. Experimenting is how we grow and learn what works for us as an individual person, and, in turn, a performer.

The visual arts have a special role in supporting NESA’s STEAM-based curriculum. Choosing to enroll in an arts-focused institution is an important, potentially life – changing decision – one that can lead to learning how to use visual tools to be become a strong communicator and leader. At NESA we believe that introducing the serious study of visual arts to the innovative learner will help develop a specialized skill set important in solving the problems of today’s world.

Students in NESA’s visual arts courses will explore complex problems and respond by thinking strategically, communicating clearly, and building on basic skills to create, understand and critique unique visual solutions. Our instructors concentrate on helping students acquire a hands-on understanding of the components of visual literacy including two-dimensional composition, color, line, shape, value and typography - skills necessary to gain fluency in the visual world.

Dance is experiential. The physical and emotional frequency of a body in motion challenges, encourages, and inspires creativity. This challenges the body to push beyond its ‘comfort zone,’ motivates risk-taking in a safe learning environment, and inspires fearless, passionate creativity.

At NESA, we create a laboratory, experiential learning encounter that nurtures student growth for personal excellence and artistic integrity with joy!

With its STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, ARTS, and Mathematics) centered education, NESA emphasizes blending each student’s creative passion with their analytic and logical skills. Master teachers guide creativity and connectivity across all subject areas, teaching students to think critically and holistically, leading them to solve problems with imagination and agility.