DA wins Grammy recognition
The Music Department at Douglas Anderson School of the Arts has been selected as one of the top three high school music programs in the country by the Grammy Foundation. DA was selected as a 2016 Gold Signature School, and will receive a $3,500 grant from the Foundation to benefit the school’s music department.
Dennis Marks, a Grammy representative who is an assistant music professor at the University of North Florida and director of the elite UNF jazz band, presented the award during a ceremony April 26, preceding DA’s spring jazz concert. According to Ace Martin, DA’s music department chair and jazz director, it is the 10th time the arts magnet school has received a Grammy award, the most of any school in the country besides Las Vegas Academy. In the past, DA has been recognized twice as a National Grammy Signature School, three times as a Gold Grammy Signature School, and five times as a Grammy Signature School.
“This nationwide recognition illustrates the high level of music and intensive arts study provided at Douglas Anderson,” said DCPS school board member Ashley Smith Juarez. “It is a tribute to the teachers and students who work so diligently, and understand the lasting benefits of a musical education.”
The award honors the entire music program at Douglas Anderson: instrument, vocal, piano, guitar, electronic music, recording arts and intensive study of musical theory. The school previously won the National Signature Award in 2010 and 2012.
“We are always focused on achieving excellence both in performance and curriculum,” said Martin, “and it is quite an honor for our students and faculty to be recognized on a national level.”