OTHER GIFTS CREATING IMPACT
Donors funded a September 2024 trip of Interlochen Arts Academy animation students to the Ottawa International Animation Festival, an annual five-day gathering of practitioners, students, and avid fans of animation from across the globe. As our Academy’s animation program continues to enjoy rapid growth in the breadth and sophistication of its curricular offerings, off-campus educational trips like these are a vital opportunity for our students, helping them to “rub shoulders” with professional artists and absorb fresh perspectives on what’s possible in their future careers.
Support from Interlochen Arts Camp alumna Roberta Gordon (IAC 53, 55) has established a Piano Touring Fund that revives a once-cherished component of piano instruction at the Academy: piano tours. Led by Dr. Kara Huber, the Marjorie Wood Drackett Piano Chair, Academy piano students traveled to nearby Kalamazoo, Michigan, to take part in the prestigious Gilmore Piano Festival. Students connected with the festival’s education staff, learned from a piano technician, attended a concert by internationally renowned pianist Yuja Wang, and performed at multiple local venues. In 2025, they’re on the road again, this time for a performance at New York’s storied Carnegie Hall. A generous donor gift is the foundation for a spring 2025 New York City premiere of a student-driven theatrical production inspired by the works of William Shakespeare. MUSE: A Shakespeare Mayhem Musical is an original theatrical work that combines student-composed music with an original storyline and dialogue crafted in collaboration between Interlochen Arts Academy faculty and theatre students. It debuted at Interlochen in spring 2024 to resounding success; in March 2025, Academy actors took MUSE to a Lincoln Center stage.
Going on a piano tour to the Gilmore Festival
was so fun! We got to see Yuja Wang, who I
thought I would never see in concert. I recently
performed in Collage, which was the largest
performance I have done in my whole life! I
am so thankful for being able to attend such
a fantastic school and having such awesome
opportunities because of donors like you.
— Kieran A. (IAC 23, IAA 23-24), Classical Piano
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