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Success Academy Charter Schools' 8th Annual Festival of Performing Arts

Posted March 21, 2024

On Wednesday, March 20, 2024, Success Academy Charter Schools hosted its 8th Annual Festival of Performing Arts. Held at the prestigious United Palace in Washington Heights, it was a night of song, dance, music, and theater performances by over 450 K-12 scholars across SA's network of schools.

The festival featured over 22 acts, including multi-school hip hop dance companies, a guitar ensemble, and a K-12 choir.

Ethan Galindo, a fifth grader at Success Academy Hamilton Heights Middle School, could barely hold in his excitement about the event.

“The amount of people, the monumental status of this stage in New York — it’s what I’m proud of,” said Galindo, who performed a solo in the finale of the festival.

Joseph Powell, Success’ Head of Scholar Talent and the organizer of the event discussed the importance of last night’s event to the students. 

"It's not just about math, science, and history. It's really about that whole scholar experience,” said Powell. “We know that the arts teaches them a lot -- discipline, not just joy, but rigor, being on time, community and team."  Despite his passion for performing, however, Galindo said he never lets show business get in the way of school. “I love the way Success [Academy] balances us. We have the highest academic standards and we have these extracurriculars…you’re bound to be great here.” Success Academy is the largest network of charter schools in New York City with ten schools in Harlem alone. The majority of the over 20,000 students at Success are children of color from low-income households in disadvantaged neighborhoods. To date, 100% of Success' graduates have been accepted to college.

For more information visit www.successacademies.org.