Student Life
Arts at WISS
The arts build the empathy, confidence, and resilience that future leaders need — qualities no machine can replace.
Creativity at WISS
Creativity is not an elective.
The arts build the empathy, confidence, and resilience that future leaders need — qualities no machine can replace.
Creativity is not an elective at WISS — it is woven into the fabric of school life through dedicated art and music studios, performance spaces, school productions, visual arts exhibitions, and an after-school activities programme that gives every student a creative outlet.
What we offer
Space, time, and an audience.
Every student has somewhere to make work, someone to make it with, and a stage to show it on.
Art & music studios
Dedicated, well-equipped spaces where students work with specialist teachers throughout the school day.
Performance spaces
Purpose-built stages and rehearsal rooms that carry a production from first read-through to opening night.
School productions
Full-scale productions each year, with students on stage, backstage, and behind the design.
Visual arts exhibitions
Student work is exhibited across campus, so the arts are visible in daily school life rather than kept in a folder.
ISTA
International Schools Theatre Association.
Founded in 1978, the International Schools Theatre Association (ISTA) is a UK charity that runs over 200 annual performing arts events worldwide.
The ISTA Performing Arts Academy, based at the Western International School of Shanghai, is ISTA's first of two Performing Arts Academies worldwide. Backed by a star-studded and award-winning board of patrons, the programme brings together students aged 11–18 from across Shanghai to collaborate, combine their talents, and create their own work.
Curious about the arts at WISS?
Come and see a rehearsal, a studio, or an exhibition — and talk to the teachers who run them.