Where Are They Now: CHS Alumni Arts Edition

This story appears in the Canton Citizen’s 25th annual Salute to the Fine Arts, a special insert in the June 2 print edition.

From the art studios to the rehearsal spaces to the video editing rooms of Canton High School, scores of young artists have discovered their passions and nurtured their talents during their time as students there.

Dan Sheehy

Indeed, some of the community’s very best and brightest got their start in the visual or performing arts programs at CHS, and the current class is no exception, with some of the best musicians and artists bound for the likes of Harvard, Princeton, Brown, and USC, to name a few.

Meanwhile, a number of recent graduates are thriving in pursuit of their dreams at the college level, while others have turned their love for the arts into productive and rewarding careers.

At Boston’s Emerson College, two former CHS classmates are making their mark in the worlds of video production and media. Daniel Sheehy and Angelina Salcedo are both wrapping up their junior years and both appear to be on the fast track in their respective fields.

Angelina Salcedo

Sheehy, who was the architect and creator of the first CHS “lip dub” video, took a quantum leap this past year when he was named one of four executive producers of the 35th annual EVVY Awards — the largest student-produced live awards show in the nation.

In addition to his work on the EVVYs, Sheehy was also the director of production for Emerson Channel Sports and has worked on a number of noteworthy projects, including the 2016 NHL Winter Classic and standup comedy specials on HBO and Comedy Central.

As for Salcedo, while her classmate was busy producing this year’s EVVYs, she was busy winning one, taking home the award for Outstanding News Program for Noticiero WEBN’s “Terror in Paris” coverage. Salcedo, who serves as news director for WEBN, also spent time as a political correspondent for the Boston Globe, and her story on Rand Paul during primary season was nominated for an EVVY in the Outstanding News Article category.

Jonathan Cortizo

A journalism major, Salcedo is following in the footsteps of her mother, Yadires Nova-Salcedo, the longtime host and producer of WBZ’s Saturday newsmagazine Centro.

Staying with the Emerson connection, Jonathan Cortizo ’07, another former CHS graduate and TV production alum, has put his degree in film production to good use in New York City, where he is pursuing his dream of building a thriving film and video production company.

Prior to transitioning to professional directing, Cortizo worked for several years as a camera assistant on several hit television shows, including the acclaimed CBS drama The Good Wife as well as Elementary, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Royal Pains, and AMC’s upcoming Feed the Beast.

Jason Daniels

Besides Cortizo, a number of other CHS graduates have built their careers behind the camera, including Bill Titus ’80, a longtime TV sports freelancer who continues to do camera work for all Red Sox and Bruins home games.

Titus previously worked for Canton Community TV, and now a fellow CHS alum, Jason Daniels ’95, has taken over the reins at a nearby station, Easton Community Access Television. A graduate of Rutgers, Daniels currently serves as ECAT’s executive producer. He has also been involved with several film festivals and is the founder and producer of the International 100 Second Film Festival, featuring films from all over the world.

Zach Levenson

Another 90s alumnus, Jim Buckley ’92, also ended up working on many short film projects and is now the vice president/director of broadcast production at Allen & Gerritsen, a Boston-based ad agency. Buckley’s original focus was fine art and illustration, which he studied at the New England School of Art & Design, but he shifted gears and went on to earn a degree in communications – film production from Fitchburg State University.

Buckley, it turns out, is not the only CHS alum to study film production at Fitchburg State. Zach Levenson ’12 is an aspiring filmmaker and received his degree less than two weeks ago. His film The Toymaker, which explores the bond between a Jewish toymaker and the son of a Nazi commander, was an official selection of the Boston International and SENE film festivals.

Kyla Galer

Meanwhile, on the other side of the camera, Kyla Galer, a 2011 CHS alumna and a UMass Amherst grad, recently landed her first big career break when she was hired as a reporter for KKTV 11 News in Colorado. Galer, who started her broadcast career doing the morning announcements at the Galvin Middle School, now finds herself working for a CBS affiliate covering major news, including the Colorado Springs Planned Parenthood shooting in November 2015.

Shifting to the world of fine arts and heading back east to Ghent, New York, one finds another CHS graduate who has built quite a career for herself in Nicole Hayes ’93. A graduate of Rhode Island School of Design with a BFA in ceramics, Hayes is currently the curator for the Fields Sculpture Park at Omi International Arts Center, featuring more than 80 works by internationally recognized contemporary and modern artists.

Nicole Hayes (center)

She previously worked for almost 10 years in New York City as the studio manager for renowned abstract painter Sean Scully. Hayes handled arrangements for international touring exhibitions — including a major retrospective exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art — as well as massive sculptural commissions and numerous publishing projects.

Also building her career in New York — but in a different art form — was fellow CHS alumna Christine Wyse, who graduated a year before Hayes and went on to earn a degree in English from Barnard College at Columbia University. Wyse got into casting in the late 90s in NYC and now owns and operates Christine Wyse Casting (formerly Tighe and Doyle) in Boston. The company has cast for several well-known TV and radio commercials, including the Dish “Hopper” campaign and Visa featuring Rob Gronkowski. They have also cast for films and television programs and have worked with some of the region’s most recognized producers and directors.

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Posted by Jay Turner on Jun 3 2016. Filed under Featured Content. Both comments and pings are currently closed.