Denton ISD Fine Arts

Denton ISD has been honored with the 2021 Best Communities for Music Education designation from The NAMM Foundation for its outstanding commitment to music education. Now in its 22nd year, the Best Communities for Music Education designation is awarded to districts in the U.S. that demonstrate outstanding achievement in efforts to provide music access and education to all students. This year marks the 14th consecutive year Denton ISD has received this honor.

To qualify for the Best Communities designation, Denton ISD answered detailed questions about funding, graduation requirements, music class participation, instruction time, facilities, support for the music program and community music-making programs. Click here to learn more about this award and The NAMM Foundation.

To highlight how important our outstanding teachers are in creating one of the best districts for in the nation for Fine Arts, our Denton ISD Communications Department featured, Emilio Sanchez, Rodriguez Middle School Choir Director, in this video below.

Denton ISD's band, choir, and orchestra programs perform an annual assessment of their concert and sight-reading performances. Normally, these performances take place in a concert hall and are evaluated live by a panel of three UIL judges according to the UIL music rubrics for concert and sight-reading. However, this year, due to the COVID pandemic, the concert and sight-reading assessments were recorded on video and submitted to the judges for evaluation. This year bands, choirs, and orchestras had the option of submitting their performance videos into the UIL Region 2 Concert and Sight-reading Assessment in addition to a District-level Assessment.

In all, 70 bands, choirs, and orchestras in Denton ISD submitted a performance video in the district assessment and 63 of those earned a 1st Division rating in either concert or sight-reading. 41 of those ensembles received 1st Division ratings in both concert and sight-reading – equivalent to a UIL Sweepstakes. Results from the UIL Region 2 Assessment will be released to the directors by the end of April. Congratulations to all of our band, choir, and orchestra students and directors for their continued commitment to excellence even with the challenges presented by the pandemic.

The Greater Denton Arts Council (GDAC) is hosting a virtual exhibit of high school artwork to celebrate the students in grades 9 through 12 in Denton ISD's four high schools: Braswell, Denton, Guyer, and Ryan. Many thanks to GDAC and to our outstanding Denton ISD high school art teachers for putting this exhibit together.

Click the link to see the amazing artistic skill and creativity of Denton ISD's high school art students! https://dentonarts.com/high-school-art-show-2021/

May 20-27 will be our annual district-wide art show, "Outside the Box" hosted by the University of North Texas. More information will be shared on the Denton ISD Fine Arts Facebook page and website when this virtual exhibit opens May 20.


Ryan HS OAP	Ryan HS OAP	Guyer HS OAP

Ryan HS OAP

Guyer HS OAP

Denton ISD's high school theatre programs have been giving outstanding performances in the 2021 UIL One Act Play contests this season. In 6A competition, both Braswell HS and Guyer HS advanced from District to the Bi-District contest. Denton HS and Ryan HS both won awards in class 5A District and Ryan HS advanced to Bi-District.

Guyer and Ryan HS advanced to the Regional level contests for 6A and 5A, respectively. Ryan was named the Alternate to 5A State. Congratulations to the casts, crews, and directors of these outstanding theatre programs for their honors at the Regional level!

6A Region OAP Awards:

Guyer HS - An Experiment with an Air Pump

Best Performer: Ryley Patten as Susannah/Ellen
Outstanding Technician: Chris Lopez
All-Star Cast: Caroline Chraska as Isobel
Honorable Mention All-Star Cast: Colin Rizzo
Directors: Eleshia Crotwell and Chris Crotwell

5A Region OAP Awards:

Ryan HS - Proof

5A State OAP Alternate
All-Star Cast: Amoren Newton as Robert
All-Star Cast: Lauren Patton as Catherine
Directors: Jeannene Abney and Scott Thompson

High School Band, Choir, and Orchestra students from all over the state of Texas auditioned for TMEA All-Region and All-State using the new format of submitting recorded auditions online and navigating the challenges of taking private lessons virtually rather than in person. After advancing through multiple rounds of auditions Denton ISD had seven outstanding Denton ISD students that were selected for a TMEA All-State Band, Choir, and Orchestra. The DISD Board of Trustees recognized these outstanding students for this accomplishment at its March meeting.


Denton HS All-State Principal-Joel Hays, Band Director-Brian Wilson, Asst. Band Director-Jesse Woolery, All-State Jazz Tenor Sax-Matthew Garcia	Guyer HS All-State Asst. Choir Director-Tyler Fox, Choir Director-Katherine Engle, All-State Alto-Jasmine Labelle, All-State Bass-Luke Knittle, All-State String Bass-Christian Luevano, All-State Tenor-Aiden Daniels, Principal-Dr. Shaun Perry, Orchestra Director-Michelle Hanlon, Asst. Orchestra Director-Jeremy Atkins	Ryan HS All-State Band Director-Mary Brown, All-State Percussion-Alex Howell, Percussion Director-Dr. Akira Robles, Asst. Band Director-Juan Nunez, All-State Bass Trombone-Gabriel Williams (not pictured)

Denton HS All-State

Principal-Joel Hays, Band Director-Brian Wilson, Asst. Band Director-Jesse Woolery, All-State Jazz Tenor Sax-Matthew Garcia

Guyer HS All-State

Asst. Choir Director-Tyler Fox, Choir Director-Katherine Engle, All-State Alto-Jasmine Labelle, All-State Bass-Luke Knittle, All-State String Bass-Christian Luevano, All-State Tenor-Aiden Daniels, Principal-Dr. Shaun Perry, Orchestra Director-Michelle Hanlon, Asst. Orchestra Director-Jeremy Atkins

Ryan HS All-State

Band Director-Mary Brown, All-State Percussion-Alex Howell, Percussion Director-Dr. Akira Robles, Asst. Band Director-Juan Nunez, All-State Bass Trombone-Gabriel Williams (not pictured)