Iowa Conservatory wins arts accreditation

IOWA CITY — The Iowa Conservatory in Iowa City has won accreditation as a performing arts and visual arts high school.

ICON, which opened in 2023, won regional accreditation in performing arts and visual arts from Cognia, a global nonprofit that provides accreditation and improvement services to more than 40,000 institutions worldwide.

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The accreditation milestone “solidifies ICON’s standing as a premier destination for high school students seeking a focused project-based” learning approach to develop their artistic future, according to Leslie Nolte, the school’s founder and artistic director.

“This accreditation will allow us to attract international students as well as families from across the nation,” she said. “We are so grateful to our supporters who believed in this project since it was a dream. The success of our early graduates and this designation prove that we have built something special here in Iowa City.”

The conservatory, 123 N. Linn St., is also recognized by the state of Iowa as an independently accredited non-public school.

The school prepares students specifically for careers in the arts — music, theater, dance, visual arts, design and production. It has 14 students — both commuters and those who live in apartments with residential advisers.

Students have access to the performance spaces at James Theater, 213 N. Gilbert St., and the school also offers a gap year for post high school 18-year-olds. ICON’s four graduates all have been accepted to colleges around the country.

Accreditation

Nolte said she looked at the nine accrediting agencies available in Iowa and chose Cognia because “it’s learner-centered with a growth mindset, and we don’t hire for traditional roles. This allows us to expand our faculty outside of traditional teaching pathways, such as coming from the professional (arts) world with experience.”

Beth Brown, the conservatory’s dean of students, agreed that Cognia “was a better fit.”

“As a Benefits Corporation (B-Corp) from the beginning, we are for-profit to benefit the community, which means meeting high social and environmental performance standards. We are an investor-backed school with a financial advisory board, and we depend on tuition.”

For accreditation, Cognia required an intensive self-assessment, in-person site visits, stakeholder interviews and ongoing mentorship from Cognia.

“This recognition validates the exceptional work of our faculty and staff,” Brown said. “We are committed to continuous improvement and providing transformative opportunities for our student artists.”

ICON is now accepting applications for the fall semester. More information is available at iowaconservatory.org or by calling Nolte at (319) 631-4614 or emailing her at leslie.nolte@iowaconservatory.org.