Community Partnerships

At CCSA students are given ways to form meaningful, instructive relationships with members of other communities. We guide our children into situations where they are free to observe and to ask questions and to perform alongside experienced mentors – to begin, in other words, to inhabit these professional spaces and to discover the contributions they will make to them.

At every age, as our children grow more fully into their identities as scholars, as artists, and as citizens, we match their growth with opportunities appropriate to their abilities and passions. To do this in a way that meets our own standards of excellence we’ve built partnerships with institutions and organizations in Chester, Philadelphia, and surrounding neighborhoods.

The Pennsylvania Ballet

CCSA’s partnership with the Pennsylvania Ballet is intended to further develop students’ understanding of dance technique and the demands of the professional dance community. The partnership is designed to reach each grade level (lower elementary, upper elementary, middle and high school) scaffolding for the next experience with the PA Ballet on a yearly cycle.

Curriculum Guidance

PA Ballet writes curriculum guides for classroom/arts teachers to integrate the performance with school curriculum. Additionally, PA Ballet offers free vouchers to each performance for teachers and families to provide opportunities for personal experience and professional development to foster understanding and appreciation for ballet.

Philadelphia Museum of Art

We regularly implement digital resources created by the Education Division at the Philadelphia Museum of Art to supplement our core subject lesson plans. By designing lessons that integrate materials from the PMA’s world-renowned Permanent Collections and also its Special Exhibitions, CCSA’s teachers extend the classroom experience, bringing our students into close interaction with the works of great masters as well as with contemporary ideas.

Art On Location

We provide the opportunity for students to further their awareness of specific areas of visual art by visiting special exhibitions at the Museum and its subsidiaries.

Lantern Theater Company

The Lantern Theater Company enriches the CCSA Theatre program through on-campus instructional support. At CCSA, children study literature and plays that are in production at the Lantern, and have opportunity to see the performances in the full-scale theatre environment. The Lantern’s teaching artists come to CCSA to give master classes for our high school theatre majors, which include activities – such as monologizing their own material – designed to develop their passion for performance and oral communication.

Outward Bound

CCSA has engaged Outward Bound to incorporate into our middle and high school curricula their unique courses designed to build camaraderie and character. This programming includes Conflict Resolution Strategies, High Ropes Courses, Reflection Circles, Community Building Ground Games, and Expeditions over several days. In grades 8 and 9, older middle school students have three such Outward Bound experiences throughout the year. High school students in the tenth grade may take part in a multi-day Urban Expedition, where they are given specialist training that allows them to become assistant instructors to the middle school children.

The Links, Inc.

The Delaware Valley Chapter of The Links supports specific programming that provides exceptionally enriching experiences for CCSA scholars. The Links made it possible for high school students to receive copies of the book To the Mountaintop and to hear a lecture from the author, Charlayne Hunter-Gault, an African-American civil rights hero and journalist. Other programs have included performances by an African-American harpist and the Black Pearl Orchestra.

Kimmel Center

Through our partnership with the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia, students connect with people working across the professional arts spectrum, from performance, set design, and sound engineering to marketing and ticketing. We oversee the growth of our children not just as scholars but also as artists in the truly professional sense, and partner with the Kimmel to provide such production-oriented classes as, for example, jazz vocal music and music technology. We encourage CCSA scholars to audition for Kimmel Center theatre programs, including the ShowStoppers After-School Musical Theater Program.

Learn more about community programs at the Kimmel Center

Swarthmore Presbyterian Church

Swarthmore Presbyterian Church has been active in Chester for over two decades. CCSA partners with the church to realize student-designed Service Learning projects in the city of Chester, part of an elective study course whereby students work with experienced advisers to identify and undertake impactful community development projects.

SPC members continue to encourage in our children an early passion for reading, by forming part of the volunteer group of ‘Storytellers’ for our Reading Beach Club. The church has also provided a gallery space for an exhibition of student artwork that raised awareness of the school and its mission, and collected donations that support our programming.

Visit Swarthmore Presbyterian Church Outreach

Darlington Arts Center

For almost a decade CCSA has partnered with the Darlington Arts Center to provide exposure to the arts through performance opportunities, guest artists, and cultural field trips. The Chester Theater Arts Program brings music, dance, and drama training annually to one hundred students aged 5 to 18 living in the city of Chester. It meets every Saturday during the school year on the CCSA campus.