Davis-Parks School of Arts creates inclusive arts program

MEDINA — Medina County's first inclusive arts program recently opened its doors, providing people a space to learn dance, theater, visual arts and music, all under one roof. Medina Centre for Dance Art founder and director Kelly Parks has spent more than 20 years cultivating a space for the arts in Medina County through dance and, in the last five years, theater. When given the chance to move to a bigger location, Parks expanded her business and created an inclusive arts center, now known as the Davis-Parks School of Arts. The school took over the 16,000-square-foot Simmons Brothers Construction headquarters at 780 W. Smith Road. "We have four state-of-the-art dance studios, we have a fitness room for exercise classes, we have a black box theater classroom," Parks said. "We have four music rooms and three art rooms." Davis-Parks School of Arts encompasses several programs, including the Medina Centre for Dance Art, the Rising Stars theater program, Kaleidoscope Arts Center and Melody Makers Music Program. While the dance and theater programs were already established, the launch of Davis-Parks School of Arts also brought in visual arts and music programs for students. The first classes for visual arts and music began in June. "It's always been a lifelong dream of mine to have a full school of arts," Parks said. "This building gave us the opportunity to do that." Parks said the Davis-Parks School of Arts is Medina County's only all-inclusive arts program, providing space for dance, theater, visual arts and music. In providing that space, she is excited for families to have one place where they can come and explore several types of art forms. "We want to be a facility that offers programming for all ages, all levels," Parks said. "We want to be the place where people come to make their creative passions come to life." With a few weeks under its belt in the new location, Davis-Parks School of Arts will hold a grand opening celebration on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. The day will include activities like karaoke, games, face painting and crafts. For more information about the event, visit tinyurl.com/49m7yykw. "It's just really going to be a big community celebration to come and tour our facility, learn about our programs and just have a good time," Parks said. To learn more about Davis-Parks School of Arts, visit davisparksarts.com. Contact reporter Sara Crawford at (330) 721-4063 or scrawford@medina-gazette.com.