Fine Arts & Career and Technical Education

The Fine Arts & Career Technical Education (CTE) Department of District 113 provides students with a comprehensive and dynamic array of learning experiences designed to nurture creativity, critical thinking, technical skill development, and real-world readiness. Through a broad portfolio of courses in the visual and performing arts, media, business, technology, engineering, architecture, design, family and consumer sciences, and other career-focused disciplines, students engage in meaningful pathways that prepare them for college, careers, and lifelong learning.

Our Fine Arts programs—including Dance, Music (Band, Choir, Orchestra, Guitar, Music Theory), Theatre, and Visual Arts (Drawing, Painting, Ceramics, Sculpture, Photography, Digital Art)—encourage students to develop artistic voice, aesthetic understanding, and interdisciplinary thinking. Students explore performance, creative expression, artistic processes, critique, cultural literacy, and arts-based problem solving across beginning, intermediate, and advanced levels.

Our Career and Technical Education programs offer students hands-on engagement with Business, Culinary Arts, Education & Early Childhood Development, Architecture, Engineering, Woods/Construction, Graphic Design, TV/Film/Broadcasting, and other STEM and industry-related courses. These courses cultivate transferable skills in communication, design thinking, innovation, financial literacy, management, and technical application using industry-standard tools and practices.

District 113 is committed to providing students with multiple points of entry and authentic learning opportunities, including career pathways, industry credentials, dual credit options, work-based learning, internships, capstone projects, and collaboration with local community partners. Across all disciplines, students develop the essential competencies needed for success in a rapidly evolving global landscape.

Guided by the District’s values of Achievement, Access, and Belonging, the Fine Arts & Career and Technical Education Department ensures that every student has the opportunity to discover their strengths, pursue their passions, and engage in rigorous, inclusive, and future-oriented learning experiences.