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New performing arts boarding school attracting ‘superstar’ educators, students to Iowa City
Iowa Conservatory opens in August with students from Iowa and beyond
Jul. 10, 2023 5:00 am, Updated: Jul. 10, 2023 9:36 am
IOWA CITY — Londyn Kirol is moving from New Jersey to take a chance on the Iowa Conservatory, a private performing arts high school opening this fall in Iowa City.
Kirol, 16, a rising senior, is a dancer with dreams of performing on Broadway some day. She was looking for a performing arts boarding school when her mom, Jill Kirol, came across the Iowa Conservatory — also known as ICON — on Facebook.
Jill Kirol said it’s “bittersweet” to send her daughter a thousand miles away to finish high school, but she believes it will give her the best chance to be accepted into a four-year college where she can major in fine arts and eventually become a professional performer.
“We tend to give people chances,” she said. “You have to start somewhere and (ICON’s) vision is incredible.”
The Iowa Conservatory, at 123 N. Linn St, is the first performing arts high schools to open in Iowa.
Its founder, Leslie Nolte, already has made a name for herself as a performing arts educator with Nolte Academy, a dance school in Coralville.
Last year, she opened The James Theater — former home of Riverside Theatre at 213 N. Gilbert St. in Iowa City — as a community performing arts center and now as a workshop site for the Iowa Conservatory.
Nolte said opening a performing arts boarding school has been her dream for more than a decade.
“I knew Iowa City would be the perfect community to house this,” Nolte said. “There’s no competition in Midwestern states for this type of school. You can go to the East Coast, West Coast, northernmost tip of Michigan, but Iowa City seemed geographically a perfect fit.”
About 35,000 students attend private boarding schools in the U.S. each year at campuses scattered nationwide, though most are on the East Coast, according to the Association of Boarding Schools.
Nolte’s daughter, now 22, began attending a performing arts boarding school in Houston, Texas, when she was 14. Nolte said there’s a perception — bolstered by movies and TV shows — that kids are sent to boarding school when the parents “don’t want them.”
“It’s much more about families determining what’s best for their child and supporting that,” Nolte said. “I certainly did not want to move a 14-year-old to Houston, when my whole life I assumed I would have her for another four more years, but her goals didn’t align with not doing it.”
How it will work
Students who board with Iowa Conservatory will get more than 25 hours a week of private and small group coaching sessions and coursework in the arts. To continue their academic education, students will enroll in the Iowa City Community School District’s online school.
The conservatory will have one guidance counselor/residential assistant for every eight students, Nolte said. They will help students do everything from getting to doctor’s appointments to shopping for groceries to “teach(ing) you to boil an egg — things you don’t think about when you send your kid off at a young age,” she said.
Students in the Iowa City area can enroll in the conservatory’s commuter program, designed for students who want to take academic classes in their home district. They will attend arts education classes at the conservatory in the afternoon.
Another option is ICON’s “gap year” experience, designed for students wanting to take another year to prepare for college or their career.
While at ICON, students can choose a major in dance, theater arts, music, visual arts or design and production. Upon graduation, students will receive a high school diploma and a certificate of performing and visual arts industry fundamentals with arts area specialization.
About 40 students will be a part of Iowa Conservatory’s inaugural year, Nolte said. She hopes to have 325 students enrolled five years from now. She expects about 50 percent of the students will be boarders.
Tuition is $22,000 a year; $11,000 a semester for an ICON gap year; and $3,600 a trimester for ICON commuters. Out-of-state residents will pay an additional $7,635 in academic tuition for the Iowa City school district’s online program.
While the cost could be “scary” for some families, Nolte said, she expects the experience will help students earn more college scholarships.
“One of our goals is you won’t pay as much or anything if we do our best job of preparing you for college,” she said.
‘Superstars’
The school is attracting students and “superstar” educators from across the country, Nolte said.
“I feel like we found some needles in a haystack of people who are experts in their field and also experienced educators,” Nolte said.
Lenni Stone is moving from Boston, Mass., to become chair of the Iowa Conservatory theater arts department.
She said she has been “so impressed” with the program since her first interview. Stone is a former New York City- and Boston-based actor, singer and dancer, and has taught at performing arts schools on the East Coast.
Jessie Frerich, the Iowa Conservatory’s director of admissions, said the school is the kind of place she would have “begged” her parents to go to when she was in high school.
Caylom Hull, 15, a rising freshman from Creston in southern Iowa, is a dancer. His family has been driving him to Des Moines several days a week so he can take lessons at a dance studio there.
Tessa Hull, Caylom’s mother, said she wants to support her children’s passions.
She learned about the Iowa Conservatory two years ago and is eager for her son to get the chance to “live and breathe dance” while also learning other aspects of performing, such as singing and set and costume design.
“We’re counting down the days,” she said.
Comments: (319) 398-8411; grace.king@thegazette.com
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