At Alcuin, we aim to provide our students with unique opportunities that will guide their learning in unconventional ways — ways that inspire them to follow their passions. Recently, some of our students had the exciting opportunity to visit a one-of-a-kind arts festival, hosted right around the corner in Dallas.

Each spring, the Independent Schools Association of the Southwest (ISAS) gathers Upper School arts students from across the region at a single host campus for a multi-day celebration. This event is not a competition, but rather, a shared experience of creating, ideating, and learning alongside peers from other schools. This year, 39 schools participated in the Southwest region, and among the participants were 28 Alcuin students, working across a range of mediums like film, 2-D and 3-D visual art, one act plays, and music. For the duration of the festival, students move freely between concurrent sessions happening across the host campus, allowing them to experience other mediums they may not participate in their daily routines.

The ISAS Arts Festival was designed from its beginning as a celebration rather than a ranking, but the magnitude of students involved is completely unique. For this multi-day event, thousands of students join, traveling from many different states across the Southwest. 

All students have the opportunity to hear professional artists offer critiques, but with no prizes awarded and no schools compared. The quote, "Comparison is the thief of joy," is commonly attributed to Theodore Roosevelt, and with comparison out of the way, this festival makes room for the joy in creating. This becomes an environment where students can take risks, try something new, and watch what other schools are doing with a kind of open curiosity that competitive settings rarely allow. For our students, it's a chance for them to network and receive feedback from professionals in a constructive and engaging way, free from comparison and full of passion.