Overview
Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts is a public high school in New York City. Its campus is at 100 Amsterdam Avenue, New York, NY 10023, on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, across the street from Lincoln Center [1][2]. The New York State Education Department (NYSED) lists the school under the legal name “Fiorello H LaGuardia High School of Music, Art and Performing Arts” [3].
LaGuardia is an audition-admission arts high school. According to its own published profile, entrance is based on an “extremely competitive audition process,” and applicants must also show evidence of academic achievement; students are not assigned to the school by a neighborhood attendance zone [2]. The same profile states that the school serves students from all five boroughs of New York City [2]. Students pursue two parallel paths of study: conservatory-level, pre-professional training in an arts studio and college-preparatory academics [2]. The school serves grades 9 through 12.
This profile summarizes what the school, state records, and the school’s own published documents state, and identifies where information is dated, self-reported, or not available in the sources reviewed.
Location and School Identity
The school’s published contact information lists 100 Amsterdam Avenue, New York, NY 10023, with a main telephone number of (212) 496-0700 [1]. The principal identified in both the school’s profile and NYSED records is Deepak Marwah [1][3]. The school reports a CEEB/ACT code of 333685, an identifier used in college admissions and testing records [2].
State records provide additional identifiers that help distinguish this school from similarly named institutions: BEDS code 310300011485 and institution ID 800000046743 [3]. The official website is https://www.laguardiahs.org [3].
Two distinctions are worth keeping in mind when reading records about this school. First, the physical location in Manhattan does not by itself establish eligibility to attend. Admission is by audition and academic review rather than by residence in a catchment area, and the school reports drawing students from every borough [2]. Second, because the school’s name references Mayor Fiorello H. LaGuardia, identifiers such as the BEDS code, the NYSED institution ID, or the CEEB/ACT code are the most reliable way to confirm that a given record or data set refers to this school and not to another institution [2][3].
Grades and Academic Programs
LaGuardia describes a dual curriculum in which students complete conservatory-level pre-professional arts training alongside college-preparatory academic coursework [2]. The school day is described in the school’s profile as more than eight hours long, which the profile notes makes it one of the longer school days among New York City public schools [2].
Each admitted student is placed in one of six arts studios: Dance, Drama, Fine Arts, Technical Theatre, Instrumental Music, or Vocal Music [2]. The 2023–2024 school profile reports the following distribution of students across those studios:
| Studio | Share of students |
|---|---|
| Vocal Music | 24.5% |
| Instrumental Music | 23.6% |
| Fine Arts | 22.7% |
| Technical Theatre | 11.6% |
| Dance | 10.7% |
| Drama | 6.8% |
These percentages come from the school’s own profile for 2023–2024 and describe the share of students in each studio at that time. They should not be treated as current-year figures, and they should not be applied to enrollment counts reported for other years. The listed shares total slightly less than 100%, consistent with rounding in the original document [2].
The profile states that students are admitted into a single studio, but it does not describe whether or how students may change studios after enrollment [2]. The sources reviewed for this profile also do not enumerate specific course titles, advanced or honors coursework, graduation requirements, or the detailed curriculum of each studio. Families seeking program specifics should consult the school directly through its official website [1].
Enrollment and School Data
NYSED reports a total enrollment of 2,253 students at the school for the 2024–25 school year [3]. This is a state-reported, school-level figure tied to a specific reporting period; it is not a district total and should not be compared directly with figures from other years without noting the difference in reporting period.
The school’s 2023–2024 profile, which is a self-published document, describes LaGuardia as the second-largest high school in the Borough of Manhattan and as falling within the top 1% of New York State schools for overall student body size [2]. Those characterizations come from the school’s own profile and were not independently verified in the sources reviewed for this profile.
The same 2023–2024 profile states that 98% of the school’s graduates are designated as College and Career Ready by the New York City Department of Education [2]. “College and Career Ready” is a New York City Department of Education designation rather than a graduation rate, and the profile does not specify the graduating cohort or the year to which the percentage refers. It should therefore be read as the school reported it, for the period covered by that profile, and not as a current or independently verified measure [2].
NYSED’s school page lists the school’s support model as “Local Support and Improvement” [3]. Enrollment, attendance, student-teacher ratio, and graduation-rate values were not all captured in the evidence reviewed here. Where a value is not reported in this profile, readers should consult the NYSED school page for the most recent school-level data and its reporting period [3].
Admissions and Enrollment
Admission to LaGuardia is based on a competitive audition, and applicants must also present evidence of academic achievement, according to the school’s 2023–2024 profile [2]. For the class of 2024, that profile states that final grades and New York State test scores were considered as part of the process [2].
Because admission is audition-based rather than geographically assigned, living near the campus in Manhattan does not confer eligibility to attend, and the school reports serving students from all five boroughs [2]. The sources reviewed do not describe a separate neighborhood or district attendance boundary for the school.
Admissions procedures, audition requirements, and deadlines are set by the school and by New York City Public Schools and can change from year to year. The retrieved sources describe the process as it stood for the class of 2024 and do not document current application dates, audition formats, or required materials [2]. Readers should confirm current requirements with the school’s official website and with New York City Public Schools before applying [1].
History and Community Context
According to the school’s 2023–2024 profile, the High School of Music and Art was founded in 1936 by Mayor Fiorello H. LaGuardia and is described there as the first school of its kind in the world for students to develop their interest in music and fine arts [2]. The High School of Performing Arts emerged in 1948 and prepared students for professional careers in dance, music, and drama [2]. The two schools joined in 1961, and in 1984 they relocated to the current campus across the street from Lincoln Center [2].
These milestones are drawn from the school’s own profile. The sources reviewed for this profile did not include an independent historical account of the school’s founding, merger, or relocation, so the dates above should be understood as the school’s own account [2].
How to Verify Current Information
School programs, admissions rules, and leadership can change. Readers should confirm details at the source:
- The school’s official website, https://www.laguardiahs.org, for current programs, audition and application information, and staff contacts; the school’s main telephone line is (212) 496-0700 [1][3].
- The New York State Education Department’s school page, which lists institution ID 800000046743 and BEDS code 310300011485, for state-reported enrollment and other school-level data by reporting year [3].
- New York City Public Schools for citywide high school admissions processes and deadlines [2].
The sources reviewed for this profile did not document specific student support services, accessibility accommodations, language-support programs, or transportation arrangements at the school. Families who need that information should contact the school directly rather than assume a service is or is not available [1].