The SIS Arts Department is motivated by the belief that individual creativity is an essential, central and vital part of education. To this end we embrace enthusiasm and excellence, independent thinking, and inclusive participation. In addition to the curricular opportunities offered, the many clubs available give students freedom to explore their own Arts interests. Whatever their age or ability, there is always space for the student to explore and extend projects independently. Students and teachers alike find joy and fulfilment in the very process of learning.

Performance

The Department produces an eclectic range of performances: exhibitions, whole-school shows, studio work, concerts and recitals. SIS has become justly renowned for ambitious shows providing a unique and authentic experience for all. Every two years the hugely popular rock concert,  “SOTOROX” is staged and more than 100 students have the opportunity to perform. Students from SIS have recently put on  the musicals Bugsy Malone, Return to the Forbidden Planet, Grease, Guys and Dolls and Annie. This year will see the musical Seussical staged at the Teatro Juan Luis Galiardo in San Roque

Across every year of the MYP, students experience timetabled Art, Music and Drama. In the Diploma years, Theatre, Music and Visual Arts are available at Standard and Higher Levels, as part of the IB Diploma Programme or as an extra certificate.

Middle Years Programme

All MYP Arts classes give focus to, indeed celebrate, the actual process of creativity as well as the end product. We aim to develop students’ ability to express their ideas, their personalities, their interpretation of the world and the sense of pride that comes with mastering skills and producing unique work.

Diploma

The DP Theatre course involves a wide-ranging study of many aspects of theatre including theorists like Boal, Brook and Artaud; world theatre traditions like Bunraku, Balinese Dance Theatre and Commedia dell'Arte; and practical skills such as set design, directing and scriptwriting. The course is supplemented by regular theatre visits locally and abroad.  In DP Visual Arts, we offer a course that is partly generated by the students but in which candidates are never left to feel the challenges are solely their own. One of the keys to the success of the SIS Visual Arts course lies with its fostering of reflection, research, inspiration, practice and, as is the case in all Art forms at SIS, creativity.

Music

Music also thrives at SIS, offering a wide array of opportunities for performance and experiential learning throughout the school. Private lessons with professional musicians are available in Classical Piano, Jazz Piano, Voice, Clarinet, Saxophone, Flute, Guitar, Bass Guitar, Drums and Violin. Sotogrande Choir tours local shopping centres and radio stations over the Christmas period to raise funds for children’s hospitals and charities locally and globally. Recent open-air performances at the Marbella Arts Festival were enthusiastically received. There are also a variety of residential trips like "Song-writing with Arthur Brown", a weekend in the stunning hills of Velez Malaga.

Exciting new Arts outreach projects are planned this year to support the school´s work in Morocco, Pakistan and Uganda. All Arts work aims to challenge stereotypes and preconceptions, to free the imagination and to encourage productive co-operation. The Arts Department firmly believes in the power of the Arts to transform lives and society. SIS Arts aim to create a common language for humanity that transcends local, national, cultural, political and geographical boundaries.