Much attention is paid to student athletes — a school’s reputation is often built on their winning seasons. But there is another group of high achievers whose accomplishments are often overlooked — those students who aspire to be the next Bach, Monet, Martha Graham, Annie Leibovitz, Spike Lee, Yo–Yo Ma or Meryl Streep, the scholar–artists who are driven to excel in the arts. WLIW21 New York Public Television’s new production Spotlight: Long Island’s Scholar Artists explores the groundbreaking program established by Roger Tilles and the Long Island Arts Alliance in cooperation with Newsday to recognize these exceptional young men and woman and give them the same community recognition as their athletic peers, with profiles of some of the recipients of the 2008 Long Island Arts Alliance (LIAA) Scholar–Artist awards. Long Island resident and WLIW21 on–air personality Laura Savini hosts the one–hour special.

Spotlight: Long Island’s Scholar Artists includes interviews with LIAA founder Roger Tilles; Dr. John Gallagher, Chair of the Scholar–Artist Educators Committee; Dale Lewis, a member of the LIAA Board of Directors and Director of the Scholar–Artist program; and 11 of the 40 scholar–artists acknowledged in the 2007–08 and 2008–09 school years. The special also invites viewers along to experience a “day–in–the–life” of the typical scholar–artist, busy Harborfields High School senior Karen Chalif, recognized in December 2008, who plays the cello, attends several AP classes, plays second base for the varsity softball team and works lighting for the theatre department.

The Long Island Arts Alliance is a membership organization comprised of the region’s not–for–profit arts institutions. It was formed to encourage and enhance community participation in the arts. It also serves as an advocate for arts education in Long Island schools. The LIAA Scholar–Artist award, now in its second year, highlights two students a month during the school year, one from Nassau and one from Suffolk, chosen from five disciplines: visual arts, music, theater, dance and media arts. Students are selected by a committee of arts educators headed by Dr. John Gallagher, Director of Fine Arts, Longwood Central School District, and Dale Lewis, Executive Director, Usdan Center for the Creative and Performing Arts. The committee is comprised of directors of music, art, fine arts, media arts, heads of BOCES arts programs and school superintendents. Qualifying students for the LIAA Scholar–Artist awards must have an unweighted average of 90, a recommendation from an academic teacher, as well as a recommendation from an artistic teacher. The first LIAA Scholar-Artists Awards were presented Sunday, April 6, 2008 in a ceremony at the Tilles Center for the Performing Arts and each month’s students are featured in Newsday profiles. The LIAA Scholar–Artist program is funded by the Roslyn Savings Foundation.

Students featured (in alphabetical order):

Katie Atkinson
Painter/Sculptor
Northport High School
November 2008

Heather Burian
Singer/Dancer
Syosset High School
October 2007

Karen Chalif
Cellist
Harborfields High School
December 2008

Brie-Anna Desidero
Dancer
West Islip High School
March 2008

Adrienne Drenckhahn
Painter
Lindenhurst High School
May 2008

Gabrielle Flores
Singer
Lindenhurst High School
February 2008

Daniel Kim
Violin
Syosset High School
February 2009

Sharon Kitzis
Flutist
Half Hallow Hills High School West
2008 Award of Excellence

Jane Long
Pen and Ink
Syosset High School
September 2008

Marissa Schildt
Photographer
Longwood High School
June 2008

Sam Schoenberg
Composer/Conductor
Baldwin Senior High School
November 2008