study how movement, voice production and a freeing of the inhibitions of the mind and body in improvisation classes can enhance performance." The Grand Arts Theatre curriculum includes Acting 1–4, Movement, Improvisation 1 & 2, Voice and Diction 1 & 2, Directing, Audition Technique, Career Management, and Stagecraft. Visual Arts Academy Students take classes in Principles of Drawing, Ceramics, Painting, Video Production, Digital Design, Photo, and Life Drawing. Various AP Art classes are offered year-round. Notable alumni Doja Cat Lydia Night Marcel Ruiz Mason Alexander Park Ashton Sanders History When the school opened on September 9, 2009, it was known as Central Los Angeles High School #9. Suzanne Blake was its first principal. In June 2011, the school board renamed the school in honor of former school district superintendent Ramón C. Cortines. As of 2014, it has been unofficially called Grand Arts High School. The school has been featured in several commercials, films, and photo shoots. In 2015, the school released a music video called "Dream It! Do It!", directed and choreographed by Debbie Allen. The video was produced and conceived by the school's principal, Kim Bruno. "Dream It! Do It!" featured Grand Arts and Debbie Allen Dance Academy students showcasing the importance of the arts in the Los Angeles community. Kenneth Martinez, the school's first founding Administrator, rose to become Principal in 2015 until 2019. Norman Isaacs, the school's former principal, resigned in protest over what he termed inadequate funding for the school. Past productions at Grand Arts include the Dance Academy's yearly spring dance concert, annual musicales by the Music Academy, Hairspray, Once on This Island, In The Heights, Joe Turner's Come and Gone, Noises Off, The Glass Menagerie, Steel Magnolias, Twilight: Los Angeles 1992, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Hello Dolly, Guys and Dolls, Dreamgirls, Peter Pan, and the school's inaugural production of La Llorona (an Aztec version of Medea). In addition to the wide range season, five visual art exhibitions are produced by the Visual Arts Academy each school year. Demographics According to U.S. News & World Report, 89% of Ramón C. Cortines' student body is "of color," with 77% of the student body coming from economically disadvantaged households, determined by student eligibility for California's reduced-price meal program. Facilities The school occupies a block in downtown Los Angeles at the north end of the city's "Grand Avenue Cultural Corridor," which also includes the Disney Concert