page_title: School for Creative and Performing Arts
section_title: Old Woodward and national attention (1976–1990)
hierarchical_section_title: School for Creative and Performing Arts / History / Old Woodward and national attention (1976–1990)
caption_attribution_description: English: Roscoe (Rocky) Carroll as Jigger and Liz Scribner as Mrs. Mullin in the February 1980 production of Carousel at Cincinnati School for Creative and Performing Arts (SCPA).
context_page_description: The School for Creative and Performing Arts is a magnet arts school in Cincinnati in the US state of Ohio, and part of the Cincinnati Public Schools. SCPA was founded in 1973 as one of the first magnet schools in Cincinnati and became the first school in the country to combine a full range of arts studies with a complete college-preparatory academic program for elementary through high school students. Of the approximately 350 arts schools in the United States, SCPA is one of the oldest and has been cited as a model for both racial integration and for arts programs in over 100 cities.
  SCPA had three different homes in its first four years, including a makeshift campus in the Mount Adams neighborhood and another in Roselawn. In 1976, it occupied the Old Woodward High School building, on the site of one of the oldest public schools in the country. The school rose to national prominence in the 1980s, but was nearly closed in the 1990s following a series of scandals, leadership struggles, and an arson fire which destroyed the auditorium.
context_section_description: SCPA's new home was in the heart of Pendleton district in Over-the-Rhine. One of the largest German-American neighborhoods in the United States in the 19th century and a famed entertainment district at that time, Over-the-Rhine had declined into an impoverished and crime-ridden enclave for migrant Appalachians in the 20th century. By 1970, a combination of white flight and the destruction of surrounding slums had transformed the area into Cincinnati's most infamous ghetto. It is one of the largest, most intact urban historic districts in the United States and the most dangerous neighborhood in Cincinnati. The school, with its 650 students, moved into this historic but blighted neighborhood, and its Old Woodward School building at 1310 Sycamore Street.
  Woodward was one of the oldest public schools in the country, founded as the Woodward Free Grammar School in 1831; it was named for William Woodward, a local tanner who donated the land to provide, in his words, "facilities to educate the children of persons who could not afford the expense of private schooling". The building was replaced once in 1855, and again in 1907 when President William Howard Taft, who graduated from Woodward in 1874, laid the cornerstone of the current building; it opened in 1910. The site is linked to the Underground Railroad, an informal network of secret routes and safe houses used by 19th-century black slaves in the United States; Levi Coffin (known as "The President of the Underground Railroad") had a home there from 1856 to 1863. The five-story brick, stone, and terra cotta building is approximately 225,000 sq ft (20,900 m²). Designed by Gustav Brach, it was considered "an architectural gem" in its time, with some of the most modern facilities of its day, including flush toilets, central heating, and two swimming pools. It is graced with 12 rare Rookwood Pottery drinking fountains from the early 1900s, gifts of the Art League, founded in 1895, which raised dues from students who would then vote on works of art to buy for the school. The building is part of the Over-the-Rhine National Register Historic District, which encompasses 362.5 acres (146.7 ha) of the original German community and adjoins the Sycamore – 13th Street Historic District, which reflects the significant architecture associated with middle and late 19th century Greek Revival, Queen Anne, and Italianate styles.
  Woodward High School moved to a new facility in Bond Hill in 1953, and the building became Abigail Cutter Junior High School (also known as Cutter), named for William Woodward's wife. SCPA occupied the fourth floor in 1976, and the entire building in 1977, displacing the Cutter students to other public schools. It graduated its first class in 1979, becoming the first elementary through grade twelve arts program in the country. The first so-called "survivors", who began in fourth grade, graduated in 1982.
  SCPA continued to attract national attention, and as a local TV special reported, "educators from all over the country flock[ed] to Cincinnati to see how, and why, it works." In 1981, SCPA was invited to perform The Wiz at the National Theatre in Washington, DC, the "Theatre of the Presidents" and oldest major touring house in the country, becoming the first non-professional group to perform there since it opened in 1835. SCPA student Roscoe (Rocky) Carroll won the 1981 National Endowment for the Arts Talent Search in drama and became a Presidential Scholar in the Arts. The school received the Blue Ribbon School of the United States Department of Education in 1984 and the National Secondary School Merit Award in 1985. By 1985, it had been credited as the model for arts schools in 100 cities in the US, Europe, and Asia, and had been cited in textbooks as a model of excellence in school integration.
  The school relied heavily on donations, which made up over ten percent of the total budget. The Friends of SCPA (commonly known as The Friends), a nonprofit organization led by parents and members of the business and arts communities, had been a vital source of funding since th
caption: Chicago Hope and NCIS star Rocky Carroll appears in Carousel in 1980.
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