LaGuardia High School of Performing Arts

Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts
The exterior of LaGuardia, one block west of Lincoln Center
Address
Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts
100 Amsterdam Avenue New York, NY, USA
Information
Type	Public (exam school)
Established	1961
School district	10
Principal	Dr Lisa Mars
Staff	163
Grades	9–12
Enrollment	2730
Color(s)	Red and white
Website	laguardiahs.org

100 Amsterdam Avenue

Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts is a high school specializing in teaching visual arts and performing arts, situated near Lincoln Center in the Lincoln Square neighborhood of the Upper West Side, Manhattan, New York City, in the U.S. state of New York. Located at 100 Amsterdam Avenue between West 64th and 65th Streets, the school is operated by the New York City Department of Education, and resulted from the merger of the High School of Music & Art and the School of Performing Arts. The school has a dual mission of arts and academics, preparing students for a career in the arts or conservatory study as well as a pursuit of higher education.

Informally known as LaGuardia Arts, or LaGuardia High School, the school is the only one among the nine specialized high schools in New York City that receives special funding from the New York State legislature through the Hecht Calandra Act.

The school in 2013–2014 had 2,730 students and 163 staff members, with a teacher–student ratio of 1:15.

The High School of Music & Art was founded by Fiorello H. LaGuardia in 1936. As the mayor of New York City he wanted to establish a public school in which students could hone their talents in music, art and the performing arts. In 1948, a similar institution – the School of Performing Arts – was created in an effort to harness students’ talents in dance. The schools merged on paper in 1961 and were to be combined in one building. However, this took many years and it was not until 1984 that they moved to a new concrete building adjacent to Lincoln Center designed by Eduardo Catalano. The Board of Education honored Mayor LaGuardia posthumously by naming the new building after him. Prior to the building's completion in 1985, Music & Art – colloquially known as "The Castle on the Hill" – was located on Convent Avenue and 135th Street in what has since become part of City College (CCNY)'s South Campus; the building is home to A. Philip Randolph High School. Performing Arts was located in midtown on 46th Street, both in Manhattan. Mayor La Guardia regarded Music & Art as the "most hopeful accomplishment" of his long administration as mayor.