The Arts
Communication and Media
The Communication and Media Program focuses on careers in the fields of broadcast media and journalism. Students receive hands-on experience using state-of-the-art equipment and study both print and broadcast. The Television/Video Production Program provides extensive hands-on training where students participate in television productions in fully equipped studios. Our students also write, produce, and edit for the JCPS Our Kids television show that airs on KET and Insight Cable. In Print Media, students receive hands-on experience in computer illustration, digital imaging, color theory, typographic design, and computer page design.
Visual Art
The Visual Art Program has a long history of excellence and is the largest art program in Kentucky. Students in the Studio Art Program are exposed to a broad spectrum of disciplines, such as wet dark room photography, printmaking, painting, sculpture, drawing, and digital imaging. Annually, our students earn tens ofthousands in college scholarships and art competition dollars. Ballard’s art students consistently outperform other local and regional schools in the Scholastics Art and Writing Competition, taking double-digit numbers of Gold and Silver Key Awards. Through high-quality visual arts experience, students not only develop as artists, they develop the thinking skills of the twenty-first century—creation, persistence, communication, collaboration, and reflection.
Check out our visual gallery!
Band
The Band Program is among the top in Jefferson County. Course offerings include Symphonic Band, Wind Ensemble, Jazz Ensemble, Color Guard, and Marching Band. Our band members earned Distinguished ratings at district and state levels; were finalists in the 2002, 2003, and 2004 Kentucky Music Educators Association (KMEA) State Marching Band Championships (the only Jefferson County Band to achieve this honor); and were 2006 Mid-States Band Association (MSBA) Class AA Champions. In addition, the Ballard Band Program consistently sends many students to KMEA All-County and All-State Bands. Visit our band's Web site: www.ballardband.org.
Choir
The Choral Program consists of a sequential, graded curriculum serving more than 300 students. The curriculum includes students in two Freshman Choirs, the Sophomore Choir, the Madrigal Singers, and the 130-voice Concert Choir, as well as Advanced Placement (AP) Music Theory. (Click here for the AP exam schedule.) Ballard consistently places the largest number of student musicians in the Kentucky All-State Choirs. Our Concert Choir has performed in many of the world’s premier concert venues, including the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., and New York’s Carnegie Hall.
Theatre
The Theatre Program is growing quickly. Only seven years old and already 140 students strong, the Theatre Program offers Beginning, Advanced, Stagecraft, and Ensemble Theatre courses. Curricular emphasis is on performance, technical theatre, and playwriting. Our students will participate in the Actors Theatre of Louisville Young Playwright’s Competition for the fourth year in a row. Previous years have garnered two winners and one honorable mention. This past summer, the theatre group traveled to Edinburgh, Scotland, representing Kentucky at the Edinburgh International Fringe Theatre Festival. Visit our Theatre Web site!
Orchestra
The Orchestra Program has a long history of excellence. Most recently, it was named a Gold Level “Program of Excellence” by the KMEA, and the Chamber Orchestra was selected to perform as a featured ensemble at the 2010 KMEA Convention. The program has grown to include three string orchestras, which have consistently received Distinguished ratings at the KMEA Orchestra Festival for the past 35 years. The orchestra program continues to place many students in both the All-County and All-State Festivals each year, in addition to winning numerous awards at national and international competitions and festivals. Click here for more information on our Orchestra classes!
