Northwest School of the Arts ready for school year after renovation

CHARLOTTE — Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools will become unique when school starts Tuesday.

The district will now have a magnet elementary, magnet middle, and magnet high school that are each dedicated to the arts. And there will be five school campuses that are either brand new or drastically renovated.

Northwest School of the Arts is one of those with a new life.

“Oh, there is no school like Northwest, anywhere in CMS, anywhere in the state, anywhere in the country,” said Principal Kathy Coffelt.

After voters approved bonds in 2017 and 2023, initial plans only called for renovations to a single visual arts building at the Northwest School of the Arts.

“Northwest was able to have a complete campus overhaul,” Coffelt said.

The $11.5 million project included a host of renovations and modifications meant to blend classical and contemporary art offerings.

“We’ve got a number of spaces that we’ve never had before that will draw students into digital media and the arts,” Coffelt said.

For the first time in the school’s 86-year history, it now has a recording studio.

“We’re going to be able to record original work,” assistant principal Andrew Lawler said.

Students pursuing photography will now be on the cutting edge.

“This is our state of the art, 20th century dark room,” Lawler said.

One of its two auditoriums, the Black Box Theatre, also underwent renovations.

“This is stuff that when they go to college and to some degree when they go in the professional world, they are gonna be already trained on,” Lawler said.

While Northwest has been transformed, some things remain the same.

“We’re maintaining the historical integrity of the front of the school, of the history of the school, of the foundation,” Coffelt said.

Construction at Northwest School of the Arts will wrap up next August.

Other campuses that are either brand new or newly renovated this year include: