About the Cooper Living Arts Series

The Blue Ridge Mountains get their name from the haze emitted by trees to protect themselves from excessive heat, and everyone from George Washington and Thomas Jefferson to 16 million annual visitors have found inspiration in looking out over their expanse. 

Asheville’s arts scene was borne out of this phenomenon, and it gave rise to performers or writers with ties to the region such as Thomas Wolfe, Roberta Flack, Nina Simone, Carl Sandburg, and Bob Moog. 

Creativity springs from these mountains as naturally as the streams that flow alongside countless miles of wooded trails. 

The Cooper Living Arts Series came about with the 2022-23 academic year as a natural extension of what the boys have experienced over the years at Christ School with such a great multitude of art galleries, concert venues, playhouses, and theaters in their vicinity. 

The namesakes of the Cooper Living Arts Series, alumnus Edwin Cooper ’81, P’19, P’23 and his wife, Andrea P’19, P’23, believe that the arts can evoke positive emotions and growth, especially in boys, a belief that has its roots in Edwin’s time as a Christ School student. He still talks glowingly about a 1978 on-campus performance by The Duke’s Men of Yale a cappella group as well as Christ School’s Opera Club, which saw one big production a year in cities such as Atlanta, New York, and Washington, D.C.