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DocuSign Envelope ID: 324CD765-DCA3-42C5-B339-89CADOBBF40E <br /> performance included brief stories about the history of tap dance and information about <br /> different styles of rhythmic dance. It was powerful for students to see kids their own age, <br /> including some current Phillips students, performing on stage. <br /> www.ricyte.orgimediatvideo <br /> The support for the arts is alive and well at Phillips Middle School. The PTSA provides <br /> additional financial support to the band, orchestra and arts programs. PTSA money is <br /> usec for much-needed items such as band instruments, music, stands and art supplies. <br /> The PTSA also organizes and promotes fund-raising activities for the school community <br /> in conjunction with the scheduled music performances by the band and orchestra to <br /> provide additional support for these successful programs. <br /> Visual Arts at Phillips this year focused on creating a gallery space in which framed <br /> student artwork hangs in a series of hallways. The framed work as well as other work on <br /> the walls was used as a springboard to communicate about art, media and techniques, <br /> subject matter, and choices that artists make The AVID (Advancement Via Individual <br /> Determination) Classes regularly use these works as writing prompts. The gallery is still <br /> a work in progress and will continue to expand and improve throughout the coming <br /> years. The other focus in the Visual Arts this year was to incorporate more technology <br /> use in the arts and to create digital art. The projects such as landscaping, perspective, <br /> portraiture, sculptures and pottery continue to be the crux at the art program at Phillips. <br /> This year, the "Visual Journal class" (part of the new TIT" enrichment sessions offered <br /> at Phillips)* went to downtown Chapel Hill and to the Ackland for a "Then and Now"tour <br /> where students look at the history of Chapel Hill and its art. <br /> This year the Phillips Orchestra program had 152 students in five classes, which met <br /> daily for 47 minutes. Stud lelits who cannot afford an instrument are provided a school <br /> instru ent purchased through donations or through SKAJAJA, a local organization that <br /> helps fund programs benefitting students in need. In February, Banda Magda, a <br /> multicultural music ensemble, joined the Phillips Orchestra for a three-day Artist in <br /> Residence program and performed a combined concert. Students were exposed to <br /> Grammy -ward-winning professional musicians and gained knowledge of a different <br /> style of music based on Latin groove rhythms. Additionally, this year's eighth-graders <br /> received straight superior ratings at the state orchestra contest. <br /> The Phillips band program director, Ashley Sample, joined the school in 2015, after our <br /> long-time director Jane Cutchin retired. The school could not b- more pleased with fVr. <br /> Sample and the work he has done to keep the band program thriving. The band <br /> program serves approximately 140 students this year, which is almost 25 percent of the <br /> student population. The bands perform public concerts anywhere from two to five till es <br /> per year. Phillips band students regularly compete at local and regional competitions <br /> and earn placement each year in the County, District and State Honor Bands. The band <br /> program regularly participates in the North Carolina Music Performance Adjudication <br /> where they have earned consistent Superior ratings since 1994, This year, the band <br />