Despite the new, grand changes, the Lehigh Valley Charter HS for the Arts has kept up with its usually packed winter schedule. With various concerts, performances and poetry readings, Charter Arts’ students are happy to bring their talents to the winter festivities in Southside Bethlehem.

November ushered in the holiday season with the annual Dance Soup performances and the theatre department’s production of The Laramie Project. Not to mention, the continuation of the InVision Photo Festival event featuring the work of Theo Anderson, which was hosted by the visual art department, and the Chamber Ensemble and “An Evening of Guitar” performances by the music departments, as well.

December marked another first for Charter Arts. On Dec. 3, the literary arts department hosted a Poetry Slam at Godfrey Daniels. Although poetry slams are not unfamiliar to Charter Arts, this was the first one to feature literary arts majors. The following evening, a Poetry Slam hosted by members of the Writing Club and featuring students of all majors was held in the Commons Café, which coincided with the visual art department’s winter art exhibit. This provided a night of art and writing, the perfect combination for a First Friday in December at Charter Arts.

The rest of December is filled with performances by both the vocal and instrumental departments. The vocal department kicks this off with a Holiday Concert by the Gospel Choir on the Dec. 9. The Winter Concert Series will be held Dec. 14-17, featuring the vocal concert on Dec. 14 and 15 and the instrumental concert on Dec. 16 and 17. Finally, finishing off the series, on the Dec. 20 there will be an instrumental show at the SteelStacks.

When we all return from break, Charter Arts will kick off the new year with the theatre department’s production of “The Taming of the Shrew,” opening Jan. 22 and various more concerts by the music departments. For more information on times, venues and tickets, feel free to visit the school website at charterarts.org. For recaps, reviews, and more on the performances by the students themselves, be sure to check out our student-run newspaper blog at theperformer.wordpress.com. This winter will be filled with holiday fun at Charter Arts, so be sure to check it out!