Arts Prefect, Rita Close, reflects on a successful Arts Soirée, celebrating our students' talents to round off a year in which many opportunities for the arts have been thwarted.

By Thursday evening, the suspense running through students and staff involved with the arts was palpable. The Arts Soirée is the culmination of everything those involved work towards throughout the year and as such, is not only an awards event, but also a celebration. I’m pleased to report that apart from some misinterpreted eye contact, it went off without any significant hitches.

Many awards were presented to students for excelling in their department of the arts, and 18 Arts Blues were presented to a very deserving group of people - if you wish to witness this or relive the experience, the livestream of the arts soirée will be available to view online. Despite all of this, the highlight of the evening - at least for myself, was to see the product of hours of dutiful practice by some of Columba’s most talented performers. From the carefully crafted oral presentations of written work by Elloise Cameron, Lily Frewen, Grace Johnston, and Olivia Charles, to the spectacular vocal solos by Rosie Auchinvole, Millie George, Charlotte Werner, and Imogen Harrison (who also performed an amazing dance within her number), a beautiful violin solo by Skyla Murray, and an awesome dance number by Monet Morrison. We are so lucky at this school to have so many amazing young artists who can share their talents with us - thank you to those performers for doing so.

The Arts Soirée also included the much anticipated release of Columba’s first ever Literature and Arts Journal: ‘Song of Wings’. As biased as I may be, I think it’s more than okay to trust my opinion when I say it was well worth the wait, I simply cannot express how awesome it is to see the work of so many gifted student authors professionally published.

Despite the unfortunate circumstances of this year - which is to say: everything getting cancelled - I believe that it has still been a successful year for the arts and much of that is thanks to not only the students who still worked very hard even in the face of adversity and crushing defeat - but also the dedicated staff at Columba who have endeavoured to recover as much artistic spirit this year as possible. Thanks especially to Mrs. Harris, Mrs. Casbolt, Ms. Berchinskas, Mrs. Duthie, Ms. Andrews, Mrs. Dixon, Miss. Hickmontt, Miss. Dalgety-Evans, Mr. Rutledge, Mr. Shaw, Mr. Hayden, Mr. Andrew Moore, and Mr. Saul Moore. While it may seem unnecessary to name half the staff at Columba, they have all contributed in many different ways and deserve to be recognised for being so incredibly supportive and encouraging throughout this year.

I’m honoured to have been a part of the Arts team at this school, especially this year, and although the day I am to leave is drawing ever closer, I cannot help but be excited for the future of Arts at Columba. Suffice to say, I will be leaving them in very capable hands.

A full video of the event is here.