Sidcot New York City Residential 2023
Over the Spring half term a group of 60 students made the journey to New York City for an Art, Business and Drama residential visit. The group had three subject itineraries each with a different focus. The mild weather and crisp blue New York skies framed our exploration of the length and breadth of the city, taking an impressive range of sites and landmarks.
Below some of the students share a snapshot of their itineraries and a few of the highlights from the week.
The Art Department
A diary written by Leonie Wassermann, L6
- Day 1
After arrival we all settled at our hotel located right at Times Square. This was amazing as we only had to walk a short distance until we were surrounded the bright and colorful billboards. To start the trip we visited the Empire State Building, and even got the chance to view the city from the very top terrace. Once we got back to the ground floor we went to an amazing American diner that was Forest Gump themed, to eat really yummy American burgers. This was a highlight!
- Day 2
We began our insightful journey on this day by exploring Central Park, as Art students we were given sketchbook journals for the trip, giving us the chance to create lots of sketches while we were at the park. We enjoyed watching a singer/ guitarist playing Beatles songs at the John Lennon Imagine Memorial Circle, this was very inspiring, some of the students had the confidence to go up and sing with the local singer which was memorable for us all. After this experience we walked along the streets of New York to the famous MoMA museum. We spent a lot of time here, observing, absorbing and gathering inspiration for our projects. This museum was filled with amazingly diverse work, helping us build ideas and references. For dinner we went to China Town, the meal was delicious. The most exciting part of the day, was the ending as we watched the basketball game, Brooklyn Nets vs Chicago Bulls. This was so amazing, we had such a good view!
- Day 3
This day was extremely eventful! Our day was kickstarted with a ferry ride past the Statue of Liberty, also giving us the opportunity to view the Manhattan skyline as a whole. Lots of the students created great sketches of the buildings. It was also great fun when some of us went to the bottom deck to recreate the Spider-Man poses as this is the ferry from the movie. Later we took the subway over the bridge into Queens and made our way to the museum PS1 which contains contemporary international art as well as a fantastic installation by world renowned artist and Quaker; James Turrell. Continuing on, we visited the International Center of Photography, this gave the Art students as well as Photographers opportunities to view a fantastic collection of photographic portraiture. To eat we finished off at Essex Food Market, which is a food hall with a range of different world cuisines. Finally we ended this amazing day with some shopping in the SoHo area.
- Day 4
After breakfast we hopped on the subway (by this point we are experts!) to visit the Met Museum of Art. We saw so many famous pieces of Art here, including Van Gogh, Picasso, Monet, it was incredible! We had time to explore the sections we were most interested in as the museum is monumental in size. Next we went to the Guggenheim Museum, significant for its spiral shaped architecture. This was a good experience, just walking up the spiral while looking at art was an unusual way to view an exhibition. Once done, we headed off the tourist trail up to Harlem which is an area where a lot of the famous singers like Aretha Franklin grew up. We took part in a gallery trail and saw a range of really exciting murals and street art. We had dinner at Sylvias Soul Food which is a historic and iconic landmark in the heart of Harlem.
- Day 5
On our final day, we visited the important site of the 9-11 memorial museum. This helped us understand what actually happened on this tragic day in history. Once we had collected ourselves from this intense and emotional experience, we headed to our lunch destination at the famous Chelsea market. This is a really well-known food court or the food bloggers. The food here was so great, the best of every cuisine you can imagine. Next we continued on to explore the Whitney Museum which also contained an impressive collection of really great artworks. Finally we took a walk along the highline walkway back towards the hotel where we had some shopping time in Times Square. Sadly we had to take the bus back to the airport that evening. This trip was so extraordinary.
Overall the best moments cannot be chosen easily as every single moment was so valuable and special, however the most precious moments experienced were those that happened on the second day when we met the local singer named Jules by imagine circle, this was such a memorable moment! There was a local jogger that stopped and danced with us as well. This is such a small moment but such a highlight for all of us. It’s always the little things in life that count most I guess.
The Drama Department
From Joshua:
Brooklyn Bridge, Stage Combat lessons, The Empire State Building, The Met, Hard Rock Cafe, Hades Town, Grimblewitch, China Town, Chicago, Radio City Music Hall. Drama students (of which I am one) joined Business and Art students on a five day trip across the pond, and in my opinion, it was fantastic. We slept in 'The Manhattan', a grand establishment just off Times Square, where we rested and breakfasted, before rushing out day after day into the loud, buzzing, bright and alien streets of an American city. I, like many drama students, was able to see two Broadway shows, one of which had half of us singing snippets of epic lyrics for the rest of the trip (even Mr Hewer!). We also had the opportunity to perform a “Mrs Resuggan special” to two Quaker schools and from the cheers and stamping feet, I think it went quite well... I even had the chance to jump off a stage and into a slightly terrified audience of 8th graders (Y9's), which may or may not be one of the highlights of my very short performative career. Having spent three weeks in intense rehearsals, we were all very happy to finally showcase our hard work to a large audience and hopefully it went some way to strengthening the friendships that have been slowly growing with the Brooklyn Friends and Mary McDowell Friends Schools.
I would be lying if I said it wasn't exhausting. Jet-lag and a 5 hour time difference, coupled with late nights, and packed days left everyone a little on the tired side, but the whole trip had such energy. I'd like to think I have formed a few new friendships, strengthened existing ones and got to know a few of the staff a lot better as well. New York was tiring and airports are no-one’s favourite place, but I loved every minute, we did so much and saw so much. I have so many memories and about 200 photos and the T-shirt to prove it.
From Jasmine:
After three and a half weeks, we had finally arrived. Having put in almost 40 hours of preparation, it felt truly surreal to land in New York. Friday included a performance to Brooklyn Friends School, followed by another to our friends at Mary McDowell School, who'd been kind enough to visit us at the end of last year. The response from the first school was amazing; Brooklyn Friends School went wild after our performance of Grimblewitch, and showed us a new American tradition of stamping on the floor as well as applauding, being on the receiving end of that was amazing. TomTom, ever the celebrity had gained himself an impressive fan-club by the time we left, (helped immensely by a back-flip in the lobby). We were told before the trip that we would make long-lasting friendships, and feel like a huge family by the end (after all, Drama is thicker than water). Admittedly, I thought at first that this was a bit cliché, but was proved completely wrong. I made amazing friendships that I hope will continue long after this trip, and I don't think I can ever look at my drama teachers in quite the same way ever again.
One of my favourite parts of the trip would have to be going to Brooklyn Bridge for sunrise - even though it meant getting up at 6 am in order to reach the bridge in time. We probably looked like a bunch of mad people, as Mr Hewer led us all in sun salutations at around 7 in the morning on the bridge. We had a tour of Radio City, and the rehearsal studios of the Rockettes, which led to some interesting attempts at doing the iconic Rockettes high-kick line, with varying degrees of success. Five of us all of have matching t-shirts, stating that "I survived my trip to NYC", however due to differing talent for haggling, the prices we paid varied greatly. While a lot of our time was pre-planned activities, we also had quite a bit of free time, and got to explore all of the hustle and bustle of New York City. A few of us found out the hard way - after waking up in the night - the New York does deserve the name of the city that never sleeps. While it was exhausting, it was an amazing trip, and I had so much fun.
Business / Economics
The accounting/business studies/economics contingent joined the other groups for various activities but had also had some subject specific adventures! We had a tour of Wall St, where we learned some of the history of the beautiful buildings as well as how trading actually works. We got to try a trading game where we had some surprising winners! We’re pictured here with the famous bull just around the corner from the New York stock exchange.
We also visited the UN headquarters, a massive 20 acre site on the banks of the Hudson river. Here, our guide explained the evolution of the organisation and its global significance. We had a tour of the impressive building and got to visit the general assembly (pictured), a room where every human on the planet has representation.
All in all, it was a fantastic opportunity for our students to experience New York with a business flavour!