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Results
“This has been an incredible opportunity to create connections across generations to strengthen identity and build community through our individual and shared stories.” - Elizabeth Pringle, Director
"One of the great joys of this program is seeing our similarities across generations. Yes, in some ways, there's a greater feeling of acceptance now than there was even 10 years ago, but the central theme that runs through all the pieces we created in this program is community and finding people who cherish you as you are." - Bryce Sulecki, Assistant Director
"It took a lot for me to walk into class that first day because I came to my truth later in life. I met beautiful people and heard their stories, and now I am so proud to be a part of this community that I will celebrate and fight to protect for the rest of my life." - Jamie, Queer Stories Student
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My Renaissance Weekend
Check out where our students, faculty, and alums are performing this month.
Honors Alumni: Kellie Santos-DeJesus is Veil in Imagination Stage's S.P.I.E.S. 2: Flight of the Hawk, October 29-November 20. Kara Turner performs as a fighting super in Washington National Opera's Il trovatore at The Kennedy Center, October 22 - November 7. Randall Kish is Vanya and Caroline Adams is Spike in St. Mark's Players' Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike from October 7-22. Kay Jay Olson (they/them) performs in Theatre Elision's Ghost Quartet in Twin Cities, Minnesota, through October 8 and recently premiered the demo album for their new musical, Inner Demons.
Faculty member Tonya Beckman is Lovesick Lady in Taffety Punk Theatre Company's OUR BLACK DEATH through October 8 at Capitol Hill Arts Workshop. Annette Mooney is Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury (and Smeraldina in a condensed version of The King Stag and in the title role in a scene from Phaedra) at the Maryland Renaissance Festival (Saturdays and Sundays through October 23). Jeremy Skidmore, directs RhinoLeap Productions/Sante Fe Playhouse's An Iliad from October 29- November 10.
If you're a Theatre Lab student, alum or faculty member and have a performance coming up, let us know.
Learn how to give voice to under-heard people and create art.
Two training opportunities:
Life Stories® Institute, October 13-16
On-demand Life Stories® Institute training
Across the river from Ottawa, Ontario is the Canadian city of Gatineau, where seven people of differing origins – Senegalese, Moroccan, French, Lebanese, Greek, Canadian-Québécois – came together on the night of April 27, 2022 to perform personal stories with confidence. The group was led by Denis Chouinard, who previously served as a counselor for the Canadian Embassy in Washington, DC and who graduated from The Theatre Lab’s Life Stories® Institute (LSI) in 2020. Using drama activities, teaching skills, and practical advice from his LSI training, Denis recruited performers, held rehearsals, and put on a show.
Denis said, "We rediscovered the love of those close to us. And I saw that the theme of trust was coming back. Trust in ourselves, trust in our family, trust in our choices."
That same month, nearly 600 miles away, two Life Stories® teaching artists guided students at Benjamin Banneker Academic High School through exercises to enact memories from their childhood on stage and envision new futures. And online, families from across the United States with the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors gathered on Zoom with Life Stories teachers to play improv games – enabling family members to live in the present moment and find humor, joy, and connection.
These three programs and countless more are possible because of the graduates of the Life Stories® Institute. Life Stories is The Theatre Lab's pioneering, tuition-free outreach program that provides life-changing opportunities for dramatic self-expression to hundreds of youth and adults each year, and the Life Stories Institute (LSI) trains people to facilitate these programs in their own communities.
Our upcoming Life Stories Institute, a four-day intensive, held online from October 13-16, 2022, teaches techniques and structures for helping people to share their real-life experiences through original works of dramatic art, and features personalized instruction and applied learning. No experience in either acting or social services is required.
Students will connect with a small group of peers, apply their skills in engaging activities, take part in Q&A panels with Life Stories teachers working in the field, and finally develop a lesson plan that they will demo with their peers for feedback and reflection. At the end of the four days, each student will have their own personalized framework that can be used to launch an initial program. The Institute includes unlimited access to the on-demand LSI online course, which students are asked to complete before attending the synchronized sessions.
Any adult can take part in the self-paced online LSI curriculum, available via Udemy. In the online course, students will learn the main ideas and techniques underlying the synchronized training, including theatre games and exercises, best practices for creating sustainable projects, how to engage a community to take advantage of a new program, and tactics for financing and maintaining offerings. With 2.5 hours of video content, 12 articles, and 8 downloadable resources available to explore with unlimited access, on-demand LSI students will gain a solid foundation of the Life Stories methodology.
The potential Life Stories programs are limitless. In the most recent LSI training, student vocational backgrounds included yoga teacher, musician, high school educator, actor, and journalist. And since inception, LSI graduates have included therapists, retirees, philanthropists, educational administrators, members of the clergy, visual artists, tech workers, international travelers, activists, veterans, parents, and more.
To learn more about the Life Stories Institute, visit our website, or contact us with any questions.
Photo credit: Denis Chouinard
" ["post_title"]=> string(71) "Bring Other People’s Stories to Life with Your Creativity and Passion" ["post_excerpt"]=> string(0) "" ["post_status"]=> string(7) "publish" ["comment_status"]=> string(4) "open" ["ping_status"]=> string(4) "open" ["post_password"]=> string(0) "" ["post_name"]=> string(72) "your-creativity-and-passion-can-help-bring-other-peoples-stories-to-life" ["to_ping"]=> string(0) "" ["pinged"]=> string(0) "" ["post_modified"]=> string(19) "2022-09-01 22:29:17" ["post_modified_gmt"]=> string(19) "2022-09-02 02:29:17" ["post_content_filtered"]=> string(0) "" ["post_parent"]=> int(0) ["guid"]=> string(31) "https://theatrelab.org/?p=54997" ["menu_order"]=> int(0) ["post_type"]=> string(4) "post" ["post_mime_type"]=> string(0) "" ["comment_count"]=> string(1) "0" ["filter"]=> string(3) "raw" } [4]=> object(WP_Post)#14885 (24) { ["ID"]=> int(53830) ["post_author"]=> string(1) "2" ["post_date"]=> string(19) "2022-07-26 16:30:33" ["post_date_gmt"]=> string(19) "2022-07-26 20:30:33" ["post_content"]=> string(3222) "Editor’s Note: This feature is part of the 30 Stories for 30 Years series. Learn more.
Photo Caption: (L to R) writer and Theatre Lab alum Josh Halloway, comedian Jimmy Kimmel, actor Josh Holloway (Lost, Yellowstone); photo by Randy Holmes.
Josh Halloway attended the Summer Acting Institute for Teens in 1997.
Can you tell us about your work with Jimmy Kimmel and how you came to be doing it?
I have been a writer/producer on Jimmy Kimmel Live! for the past ten years. I work on the monologue and putting the pieces of that monologue together every day with Jimmy. We start very early (ideas are due at 8:50 AM!) and we keep revising right up until showtime, adding any late breaking stories. I got the job by submitting a short packet of jokes/sketch ideas (which is how you get hired on late-night shows). Basically, I experienced a lot of rejection for a lot of years, and just when I was on the verge of giving up, I got lucky that Jimmy took a chance on me.
Do you have any memories to share of Theatre Lab classes or productions?
So many fond memories… I will never forget the two scenes I did at the Summer Institute for Teens (from “Inherit The Wind” and “Italian-American Reconciliation”). It was the first time I ever did “adult” material and I remember how deep and emotionally connected everyone was to the work. Buzz and Deb trusted us to access what was needed for these scenes and gave us the tools to make choices grounded in reality. The work we did in that class took us places on stage that most of us (certainly not me) had never been before. That program opened a door for me to think seriously and critically about material.
Can you think of any ways your Theatre Lab experiences contributed to your later life?
Theatre Lab was such a formative experience on my development as an actor – even though ultimately, I shifted into writing. The Theatre Lab gave me a respect for the craft and process, a willingness to take chances that expand my comfort zone, and to be a truly giving, accepting collaborator. Over the years, I’ve tried to keep that spirit of collaboration and trust in the process alive in everything I do – on stage and off.
If there is anything else that you’d like to share that isn't covered by these questions, feel free to add it!
Like so many other students over the years, I owe a debt of gratitude to Theatre Lab. And more specifically, to Buzz and Deb. They have guided and inspired generations of artists, myself included. Having a safe space to learn and grow and feel seen as a young aspiring artist was invaluable. They are the best teachers you could ever ask for – pushing you and nurturing you at the same time. Congrats on 30 years – and here’s to 30 more!
" ["post_title"]=> string(38) "Josh Halloway: 30 Stories for 30 Years" ["post_excerpt"]=> string(0) "" ["post_status"]=> string(7) "publish" ["comment_status"]=> string(4) "open" ["ping_status"]=> string(4) "open" ["post_password"]=> string(0) "" ["post_name"]=> string(37) "josh-halloway-30-stories-for-30-years" ["to_ping"]=> string(0) "" ["pinged"]=> string(0) "" ["post_modified"]=> string(19) "2022-07-29 12:52:14" ["post_modified_gmt"]=> string(19) "2022-07-29 16:52:14" ["post_content_filtered"]=> string(0) "" ["post_parent"]=> int(0) ["guid"]=> string(31) "https://theatrelab.org/?p=53830" ["menu_order"]=> int(0) ["post_type"]=> string(4) "post" ["post_mime_type"]=> string(0) "" ["comment_count"]=> string(1) "0" ["filter"]=> string(3) "raw" } [5]=> object(WP_Post)#14884 (24) { ["ID"]=> int(53798) ["post_author"]=> string(1) "2" ["post_date"]=> string(19) "2022-07-26 12:39:17" ["post_date_gmt"]=> string(19) "2022-07-26 16:39:17" ["post_content"]=> string(12656) "The city’s largest arts education organizations unite to address the effects of the pandemic on marginalized youth and repair a disrupted workforce pipeline in DC's creative economy.
The DC Arts Education Alliance announces the formation of the Arts Institute for Creative Advancement, a year-long education and apprenticeship program in technical theater to launch in January 2023, in which participants will be paid to learn and work. Seventeen of the largest arts education organizations in the city, led by The Theatre Lab School of the Dramatic Arts, Life Pieces to Masterpieces, Sitar Arts Center, and the Capitol Hill Arts Workshop, have teamed up to train young people who are disconnected from or under-engaged in school and work to enter DC’s creative economy. Through an intensive education and apprenticeship program in technical theater, youth ages 18 to 24 will be prepared for careers as offstage theater professionals whose roles include lighting and audio engineering, set construction, scenic painting, rigging, and stage management.
The Institute seeks to address two pressing challenges faced by our city: 1) the barriers to a meaningful career path for youth from DC communities hardest hit by the pandemic, and 2) the labor crisis in the DC theater and entertainment industries caused by a lack of skilled technical production workers in the area. Applications for the Institute are currently open with an October 1 deadline, and the inaugural class of 20 students will begin in January.
The Share Fund, one of Washington’s most generous supporters of both professional theater and youth development, has provided a $500,000 matching grant for the first two years of the Arts Institute for Creative Advancement, and Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) announced this month that she secured $250,000 in Community Project Funding for the pilot year in the House’s fiscal year 2023 appropriations bills. In addition, the DC Arts Education Alliance is working to make the Arts Institute for Creative Advancement the city’s first official apprenticeship sponsor in the arts under the Department of Employment Services.
The Arts Institute for Creative Advancement will not only be tuition-free but students will be paid for their training time, removing one of the most pernicious barriers to career skills development. Participants will not have to maintain full-time jobs in order to survive while pursuing a rigorous training program.
Built into the Institute curriculum, and unique for a workforce development program, is arts-based socio-emotional training and support drawn from the DC Arts Education Alliance partners’ vast experience of working with youth whose opportunities have been limited by systemic racism, poverty, and educational challenges. Alliance organizations collectively serve over 15,000 students annually and employ more than 450 teaching artists and more than 125 full- and part- time staff across all eight wards.
“This program is unique in its design to attend to the whole student,” according to Amy Moore, Executive Director of the Capitol Hill Arts Workshop, the Alliance organization serving as the fiscal sponsor of the Institute. “The collaborative programming brings the best of what local arts education organizations have to the table and establishes a clear, comprehensive and sustainable path to employment for students who have not had an opportunity to grow professionally in one of the most vibrant industries in the city.”
There is an immediate and critical need within the DC community for youth to receive opportunities for social and emotional healing, reconnecting with community, and re-engaging with meaningful work and study following pandemic-related disruptions in school, family, and community. COVID-19 erased ten years’ progress in reducing the number of youth disconnected from school or employment in a matter of months. Collective impact strategies, especially those focusing on the “whole child,” have proven highly effective in working with disconnected youth.
“We are thrilled to center this high quality and unique workforce development opportunity within a very intentional, homegrown cultural environment that fosters human development and advances justice, equity, diversity and inclusion,” says Mary Brown, Founder and Executive Director of Life Pieces To Masterpieces, the Ward 7 organization leading the social-emotional support system embedded in the Arts Institute for Creative Advancement. “Our Color Me Community curriculum has, for 26 years, successfully formed the basis of our programming with children, youth, and families. By bringing together arts education organizations from here in Washington, DC, each bringing our unique strengths, we are sharing in this powerful mission, and can bring a new social-emotional perspective to apprenticeship programs.”
The Institute has been embraced by Washington’s professional theater community as a solution to a critical problem in the local entertainment industry.
“The Arts Institute for Creative Advancement is a workforce development program that will address a crisis faced by nearly every professional theater in the District: a shortage of production workers who have the skills to support DC’s theatrical productions,” says Theater J Managing Director David Lloyd Olson. “If unaddressed, this labor shortage will cripple DC’s nationally-renowned theater industry. The Institute will be a boon to DC’s thriving creative economy.”
Theatre Washington, the service organization for the region’s vibrant theater community, applauds the effort as a “citywide training program to reawaken the necessary and vital connections between students and the arts. And most importantly, connect them with workforce development pathways that they may not otherwise know exist in their communities,” says Amy Austin, CEO and President.
The Institute offers participants more than 1,000 paid hours of skill development and on-the-job training in the arts, resulting in nationally recognized certifications in Lighting and Electrics, Audio Engineering, and Rigging. The Institute is looking for young adults with a strong desire to learn a trade that has both physical and creative components and requires a high degree of commitment. The program is open to individuals age 18+ who did not complete high school, as well as those who have diplomas, GEDs, and some (limited) post-secondary experience; no prior experience or education in theater is required.
The program will be housed at The Theatre Lab, Washington’s largest theater school and the Alliance organization responsible for teaching the technical theater curriculum. “We’re thrilled to be creating and implementing a curriculum in theater production that will be accessible to young adults who have faced obstacles in traditional learning environments,” says Deb Gottesman, Co-Executive Director of The Theatre Lab. “And, at the same time, we look forward to doing our part to diversify a high-wage, high-demand field that is currently more than 80% white.”
Demand for the program is expected to be strong, in part because it was created to serve needs directly identified by young people who are already involved in the grassroots Alliance organizations. “Consistently we hear from our youth, through our annual evaluations, that the skills they develop in Sitar’s programs prepare them to move forward in post-secondary education and career pathways” says Maureen Dwyer, Executive Director of the Sitar Arts Center, the organization providing the Institute’s 21st century work readiness curriculum.
The Members of the DC Arts Education Alliance, who are providing training, mentorship, and/or apprenticeship opportunities for the Arts Institute for Creative Advancement include the following:
Capitol Hill Arts Workshop, Children’s Chorus of Washington, CityDance, Critical Exposure, Dance Institute of Washington, DC Youth Orchestra Program, Free Minds Book Club & Writing Workshop, Levine Music, The MusicianShip, Life Pieces To Masterpieces, Project Create, Sitar Arts Center, The Theatre Lab School of the Dramatic Arts, Young Playwrights’ Theater, The Viva School, Words Beats & Life, and 826DC.
About the DC Arts Education Alliance
Initially formed in spring 2020 with the focus of elevating arts education efforts in the District, the Alliance subsequently worked to amplify the critical need for arts education during the pandemic. The eight founding organizations – Capitol Hill Arts Workshop, CityDance, DC Youth Orchestra Program, Free Minds Book Club & Writing Workshop, Levine Music, Life Pieces To Masterpieces, Sitar Arts Center, and The Theatre Lab School of the Dramatic Arts – are anchor institutions in their communities that have each been working in the District an average of 30+ years and are deeply committed to students and community. During the pandemic, all Alliance organizations ensured students were able to stay engaged during a time of deep social isolation by continuing student programming uninterrupted—through successful models that were virtual, in-person, and hybrid. Coming together has offered members of the Alliance opportunities to exchange best practices, share messaging, and collaborate on programming.
In April 2021, nine additional arts education organizations joined the alliance– 826DC, Children’s Chorus of Washington, Critical Exposure, Dance Institute of Washington, Project Create, The Musicianship, Words Beats & Life, The Viva School, and Young Playwrights Theater (YPT). The 17 Alliance organizations collectively serve 15,000+ students annually and employ more than 450 teaching artists and more than 125 full- and part-time staff. All organizations receive support from the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities.
" ["post_title"]=> string(107) "DC Arts Education Alliance announces $750,000 program to train disconnected youth to be theater technicians" ["post_excerpt"]=> string(0) "" ["post_status"]=> string(7) "publish" ["comment_status"]=> string(4) "open" ["ping_status"]=> string(4) "open" ["post_password"]=> string(0) "" ["post_name"]=> string(105) "dc-arts-education-alliance-announces-750000-program-to-train-disconnected-youth-to-be-theater-technicians" ["to_ping"]=> string(0) "" ["pinged"]=> string(0) "" ["post_modified"]=> string(19) "2022-07-26 13:45:49" ["post_modified_gmt"]=> string(19) "2022-07-26 17:45:49" ["post_content_filtered"]=> string(0) "" ["post_parent"]=> int(0) ["guid"]=> string(31) "https://theatrelab.org/?p=53798" ["menu_order"]=> int(0) ["post_type"]=> string(4) "post" ["post_mime_type"]=> string(0) "" ["comment_count"]=> string(1) "0" ["filter"]=> string(3) "raw" } [6]=> object(WP_Post)#14883 (24) { ["ID"]=> int(53819) ["post_author"]=> string(1) "2" ["post_date"]=> string(19) "2022-07-26 10:11:49" ["post_date_gmt"]=> string(19) "2022-07-26 14:11:49" ["post_content"]=> string(11567) "The city’s largest arts education organizations unite to address the effects of the pandemic on marginalized youth and repair a disrupted workforce pipeline in DC’s creative economy
The DC Arts Education Alliance today announces the formation of the Arts Institute for Creative Advancement, a year-long education and apprenticeship program in technical theater to launch in January 2023, in which participants will be paid to learn and work. Seventeen of the largest arts education organizations in the city, led by The Theatre Lab School of the Dramatic Arts, Life Pieces To Masterpieces, Sitar Arts Center, and the Capitol Hill Arts Workshop, have teamed up to train young people who are disconnected from or under-engaged in school and work to enter DC’s creative economy. Through an intensive education and apprenticeship program in technical theater, youth ages 18-24 will be prepared for careers as offstage theater professionals whose roles include lighting and audio engineering, set construction, scenic painting, rigging, and stage management.
The Institute seeks to address two pressing challenges faced by our city: 1) the barriers to a meaningful career path for youth from DC communities hardest hit by the pandemic, and 2) the labor crisis in the DC theater and entertainment industries caused by a lack of skilled technical production workers in the area. Applications for the Institute are currently open with an October 1 deadline, and the inaugural class of 20 students will begin in January.
The Share Fund, one of Washington’s most generous supporters of both professional theater and youth development, has provided a $500,000 matching grant for the first two years of the Arts Institute for Creative Advancement, and Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) announced this month that she secured $250,000 in Community Project Funding for the pilot year in the House’s fiscal year 2023 appropriations bills. In addition, the DC Arts Education Alliance is working to make the Arts Institute for Creative Advancement the city’s first official apprenticeship sponsor in the arts under the Department of Employment Services.
The Arts Institute for Creative Advancement will not only be tuition-free, but students will be paid for their training time, removing one of the most pernicious barriers to career skills development. Participants will not have to maintain full-time jobs in order to survive while pursuing a rigorous training program.
Built into the Institute curriculum, and unique for a workforce development program, is arts-based socio-emotional training and support drawn from the DC Arts Education Alliance partners’ vast experience of working with youth whose opportunities have been limited by systemic racism, poverty, and educational challenges. Alliance organizations collectively serve over 15,000 students annually and employ more than 450 teaching artists and more than 125 full- and part- time staff across all eight wards.
“This program is unique in its design to attend to the whole student,” according to Amy Moore, Executive Director of the Capitol Hill Arts Workshop, the Alliance organization serving as the fiscal sponsor of the Institute. “The collaborative programming brings the best of what local arts education organizations have to the table and establishes a clear, comprehensive and sustainable path to employment for students who have not had an opportunity to grow professionally in one of the most vibrant industries in the city.”
There is an immediate and critical need within the D.C. community for youth to receive opportunities for social and emotional healing, reconnecting with community, and re-engaging with meaningful work and study following pandemic-related disruptions in school, family, and community. COVID-19 erased ten years’ progress in reducing the number of youth disconnected from school or employment in a matter of months.1/ Collective impact strategies, especially those focusing on the “whole child,” have proven highly effective in working with disconnected youth.2/
“We are thrilled to center this high quality and unique workforce development opportunity within a very intentional, homegrown cultural environment that fosters human development and advances justice, equity, diversity and inclusion,” says Mary Brown, Founder and Executive Director of Life Pieces To Masterpieces, the Ward 7 organization leading the social-emotional support system embedded in the Arts Institute for Creative Advancement. “Our Color Me Community curriculum has, for 26 years, successfully formed the basis of our programming with children, youth, and families. By bringing together arts education organizations from here in Washington, DC, each bringing our unique strengths, we are sharing in this powerful mission, and can bring a new social-emotional perspective to apprenticeship programs.”
The Institute has been embraced by Washington’s professional theater community as a solution to a critical problem in the local entertainment industry.
“The Arts Institute for Creative Advancement is a workforce development program that will address a crisis faced by nearly every professional theater in the District: a shortage of production workers who have the skills to support DC’s theatrical productions,” says Theater J Managing Director David Lloyd Olson. “If unaddressed, this labor shortage will cripple DC’s nationally-renowned theater industry. The Institute will be a boon to DC’s thriving creative economy.”
Theatre Washington, the service organization for the region’s vibrant theater community, applauds the effort as a “citywide training program to reawaken the necessary and vital connections between students and the arts. And most importantly, connect them with workforce development pathways that they may not otherwise know exist in their communities,” says Amy Austin, CEO and President.
The Institute offers participants more than 1,000 paid hours of skill development and on-the-job training in the arts, resulting in nationally recognized certifications in Lighting and Electrics, Audio Engineering, and Rigging. The Institute is looking for young adults with a strong desire to learn a trade that has both physical and creative components and requires a high degree of commitment. The program is open to individuals age 18+ who did not complete high school, as well as those who have diplomas, GEDs, and some (limited) post-secondary experience; no prior experience or education in theater is required.
The program will be housed at The Theatre Lab, Washington’s largest theater school and the Alliance organization responsible for teaching the technical theater curriculum. “We’re thrilled to be creating and implementing a curriculum in theater production that will be accessible to young adults who have faced obstacles in traditional learning environments,” says Deb Gottesman, Co-Executive Director of The Theatre Lab. “And, at the same time, we look forward to doing our part to diversify a high-wage, high-demand field that is currently more than 80% white.”
Demand for the program is expected to be strong, in part because it was created to serve needs directly identified by young people who are already involved in the grassroots Alliance organizations. “Consistently we hear from our youth, through our annual evaluations, that the skills they develop in Sitar’s programs prepare them to move forward in post-secondary education and career pathways” says Maureen Dwyer, Executive Director of the Sitar Arts Center, the organization providing the Institute’s 21st century work readiness curriculum.
The Members of the DC Arts Education Alliance, who are providing training, mentorship, and/or apprenticeship opportunities for the Arts Institute for Creative Advancement include the following:
Capitol Hill Arts Workshop, Children’s Chorus of Washington, CityDance, Critical Exposure, Dance Institute of Washington, DC Youth Orchestra Program, Free Minds Book Club & Writing Workshop, Levine Music, The MusicianShip, Life Pieces To Masterpieces, Project Create, Sitar Arts Center, The Theatre Lab School of the Dramatic Arts, Young Playwrights’ Theater, The Viva School, Words Beats & Life, and 826DC.
For more information about the program visit www.dcartsedalliance.org/arts-institute or contact deb@theatrelab.org.
About the DC Arts Education Alliance
Initially formed in spring 2020 with the focus of elevating arts education efforts in the District, the Alliance subsequently worked to amplify the critical need for arts education during the pandemic. The eight founding organizations – Capitol Hill Arts Workshop, CityDance, DC Youth Orchestra Program, Free Minds Book Club & Writing Workshop, Levine Music, Life Pieces To Masterpieces, Sitar Arts Center, and The Theatre Lab School of the Dramatic Arts – are anchor institutions in their communities that have each been working in the District an average of 30+ years and are deeply committed to students and community. During the pandemic, all Alliance organizations ensured students were able to stay engaged during a time of deep social isolation by continuing student programming uninterrupted—through successful models that were virtual, in-person, and hybrid. Coming together has offered members of the Alliance opportunities to exchange best practices, share messaging, and collaborate on Programming.
In April 2021, nine additional arts education organizations joined the alliance– 826DC, Children’s Chorus of Washington, Critical Exposure, Dance Institute of Washington, Project Create, The Musicianship, Words Beats & Life, The Viva School, and Young Playwrights Theater (YPT). The 17 Alliance organizations collectively serve 15,000+ students annually and employ more than 450 teaching artists and more than 125 full- and part-time staff. All organizations receive support from the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities.
(Source: Arts Institute for Creative Advancement Press Release)
" ["post_title"]=> string(148) "The DC Arts Education Alliance Announces $750,000 in Funding for a Groundbreaking Program to Train Disconnected Youth to Work as Theater Technicians" ["post_excerpt"]=> string(0) "" ["post_status"]=> string(7) "publish" ["comment_status"]=> string(4) "open" ["ping_status"]=> string(4) "open" ["post_password"]=> string(0) "" ["post_name"]=> string(146) "the-dc-arts-education-alliance-announces-750000-in-funding-for-a-groundbreaking-program-to-train-disconnected-youth-to-work-as-theater-technicians" ["to_ping"]=> string(0) "" ["pinged"]=> string(0) "" ["post_modified"]=> string(19) "2022-08-04 11:17:49" ["post_modified_gmt"]=> string(19) "2022-08-04 15:17:49" ["post_content_filtered"]=> string(0) "" ["post_parent"]=> int(0) ["guid"]=> string(31) "https://theatrelab.org/?p=53819" ["menu_order"]=> int(0) ["post_type"]=> string(4) "post" ["post_mime_type"]=> string(0) "" ["comment_count"]=> string(1) "0" ["filter"]=> string(3) "raw" } [7]=> object(WP_Post)#14882 (24) { ["ID"]=> int(53816) ["post_author"]=> string(1) "2" ["post_date"]=> string(19) "2022-07-25 13:23:11" ["post_date_gmt"]=> string(19) "2022-07-25 17:23:11" ["post_content"]=> string(2721) "Allow Me To Introduce: The Arts Institute for Creative Advancement is a new yearlong educational meets apprenticeship program that will train young people in technical theater. Young adults, ages 18–24, who are struggling to engage with school or work are invited to apply for the intensive program, which will prepare them for offstage theater careers such as lighting and audio engineering, set construction, scenic painting, rigging, and stage management.
Led by the Theatre Lab School of the Dramatic Arts, Life Pieces To Masterpieces, Sitar Arts Center, and the Capitol Hill Arts Workshop, along with more than a dozen other local arts education organizations, the program was created by the DC Arts Education Alliance to provide career path options to youth from local communities hardest hit by the pandemic. It also seeks to address the city’s shortage of skilled technical production workers, which is currently impacting the local theater industry among others. With a $500,000 matching grant for the first two years of the institute from the Share Fund and an additional $250,000 in Community Project Funding for the pilot year in the House’s fiscal year 2023 appropriations bills (as secured by D.C. delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton), the program has $750,000 in funding for its first year. “If unaddressed, this labor shortage will cripple D.C.’s nationally renowned theater industry,” says Theater J Managing Director David Lloyd Olson in the press release. “The Institute will be a boon to DC’s thriving creative economy.”
With an inaugural class of 20 students, the tuition-free program will launch in January 2023 and all the participants will be paid to learn and work. Upon graduation, participants will receive nationally recognized certifications. The deadline to apply is Oct. 1, and the program is open to youth who did not complete high school, as well as those who have diplomas, GEDs, and some (limited) post-secondary experience; no prior experience in theater is required. “We’re thrilled to be creating and implementing a curriculum in theater production that will be accessible to young adults who have faced obstacles in traditional learning environments,” says Deb Gottesman, co-executive director of the Theatre Lab, which will house the program. “And, at the same time, we look forward to doing our part to diversify a high-wage, high-demand field that is currently more than 80% white.”
" ["post_title"]=> string(89) "Arts Roundup: A new apprenticeship program supports young adults and the theater industry" ["post_excerpt"]=> string(0) "" ["post_status"]=> string(7) "publish" ["comment_status"]=> string(4) "open" ["ping_status"]=> string(4) "open" ["post_password"]=> string(0) "" ["post_name"]=> string(88) "arts-roundup-a-new-apprenticeship-program-supports-young-adults-and-the-theater-industry" ["to_ping"]=> string(0) "" ["pinged"]=> string(0) "" ["post_modified"]=> string(19) "2022-07-26 13:30:34" ["post_modified_gmt"]=> string(19) "2022-07-26 17:30:34" ["post_content_filtered"]=> string(0) "" ["post_parent"]=> int(0) ["guid"]=> string(31) "https://theatrelab.org/?p=53816" ["menu_order"]=> int(0) ["post_type"]=> string(4) "post" ["post_mime_type"]=> string(0) "" ["comment_count"]=> string(1) "0" ["filter"]=> string(3) "raw" } [8]=> object(WP_Post)#14881 (24) { ["ID"]=> int(53082) ["post_author"]=> string(1) "2" ["post_date"]=> string(19) "2022-07-01 12:30:13" ["post_date_gmt"]=> string(19) "2022-07-01 16:30:13" ["post_content"]=> string(11440) "The DC Arts Education Alliance Announces $750,000 in Funding for a Groundbreaking Program to Train Disconnected Youth to Work as Theater Technicians
17 of the city's largest arts organizations unite to address the effects of the pandemic on marginalized youth and repair a disrupted workforce pipeline in DC’s creative economy
WASHINGTON (JULY 1, 2022) — The Theatre Lab School of the Dramatic Arts, Washington, DC’s largest and most comprehensive school for the dramatic arts, along with 16 arts partners, today announces the formation of the Arts Institute for Creative Advancement, a year-long education and apprenticeship program in technical theater to launch in January 2023, in which participants will be paid to learn and work.
The Institute seeks to address two pressing challenges faced by our city: 1) the barriers to a meaningful career path for youth ages 18-24 from DC communities hardest hit by the pandemic, and 2) the labor crisis in the DC theater and entertainment industries caused by a lack of skilled technical production workers in the area. Applications for the Institute will open July 15, 2022 and the inaugural class of 20 students will be notified in November.
The Share Fund, one of Washington’s most generous supporters of both professional theater and youth development, has provided a $500,000 matching grant for the first two years of the Arts Institute for Creative Advancement, and Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) announced this week that she secured $250,000 in Community Project Funding for the pilot year in the House’s fiscal year 2023 appropriations bills. In addition, the DC Arts Education Alliance is working to make the Arts Institute for Creative Advancement the city’s first official apprenticeship sponsor in the arts under the Department of Employment Services.
Seventeen of the largest arts education organizations in the city, led by The Theatre Lab, Life Pieces To Masterpieces, Sitar Arts Center, and Capitol Hill Arts Workshop, have teamed up to train young people who are disconnected from or under-engaged in school and work to enter DC's creative economy through a year-long education and apprenticeship program in technical theater, preparing them for careers as offstage theater professionals whose roles include lighting and audio engineering, set construction, scenic painting, rigging, and stage management. This intensive educational program will not only be tuition-free, but the students will also be paid for undertaking the training, removing one of the most pernicious barriers to career skills development, so participants will not have to maintain full-time jobs in order to survive while pursuing a rigorous training program.
Built into the Institute curriculum, and unique for a workforce development program, are arts-based socio-emotional training and support drawn from the DC Arts Education Alliance partners’ vast experience of working with youth whose opportunities have been limited by systemic racism, poverty, and educational challenges. Alliance organizations collectively serve over 15,000 students annually and employ more than 450 teaching artists and more than 125 full- and part- time staff across all eight wards.
“This program is unique in its design to attend to the whole student,” according to Amy Moore, Executive Director of the Capitol Hill Arts Workshop, the Alliance organization serving as the fiscal sponsor of the Institute. “The collaborative programming brings the best of what local arts education organizations have to the table and establishes a clear, comprehensive and sustainable path to employment for students who have not had an opportunity to grow professionally in one of the most vibrant industries in the city."
There is an immediate and critical need within the D.C. community for youth to receive opportunities for social and emotional healing, reconnecting with community, and re-engaging with meaningful work and study following pandemic-related disruptions in school, family, and community. COVID-19 erased ten years’ progress in reducing the number of youth disconnected from school or employment in a matter of months.¹ Collective impact strategies, especially those focusing on the “whole child,” have proven highly effective in working with disconnected youth.²
“By bringing together arts education organizations from here in Washington, DC, each bringing our unique strengths, we are sharing in this powerful mission, and can bring a new culture of environment to apprenticeship programs," says Mary Brown, Founder and Executive Director of Life Pieces To Masterpieces, a non-profit that uses artistic expression to develop character and leadership, unlock potential, and prepare Black boys and young men to transform their lives and communities.
The Institute has been embraced by Washington’s professional theater community as a solution to a critical problem in the local entertainment industry.
“The Arts Institute for Creative Advancement is a workforce development program that will address a crisis faced by nearly every professional theater in the District: a shortage of production workers who have the skills to support DC’s theatrical productions,” says Theater J Managing Director David Lloyd Olson. “If unaddressed, this labor shortage will cripple DC’s nationally-renowned theater industry. The Institute will be a boon to DC’s thriving creative economy.”
Theatre Washington, the service organization for the region's vibrant theater community, applauds the effort as a “citywide training program to reawaken the necessary and vital connections between students and the arts. And most importantly, connect them with workforce development pathways that they may not otherwise know exist in their communities,” says Amy Austin, CEO and President.
With more than 1,000 hours of paid skills learning and on-the-job training resulting in nationally recognized certifications in Lighting and Electrics, Audio Engineering, and Rigging, the Institute is looking for young adults with a strong desire to learn a trade that has both physical and creative components and requires a high degree of commitment. The program is open to 18+ individuals who did not complete high school, as well as those who have diplomas, GEDs, and some (limited) post-secondary experience, and no prior theater experience or education is required.
“We’re thrilled to be creating and implementing a curriculum in technical theater that will be accessible to young adults who have faced obstacles in traditional learning environments,” says Deb Gottesman, Co-Executive Director of The Theatre Lab. “And, at the same time, we look forward to doing our part to diversify a high-wage, high-demand field that is currently more than 80% white.”
The Members of the DC Arts Education Alliance, who are providing training, mentorship, and/or apprenticeship opportunities for the Arts Institute for Creative Advancement include the following:
Capitol Hill Arts Workshop, Children’s Chorus of Washington, CityDance, Critical Exposure, Dance Institute of Washington, DC Youth Orchestra Program, Free Minds Book Club & Writing Workshop, Levine Music, The MusicianShip, Life Pieces To Masterpieces, Project Create, Sitar Arts Center, The Theatre Lab School of the Dramatic Arts, Young Playwrights’ Theatre, The Viva School, Words Beats & Life, and 826DC.
For more information about the program visit www.dcartsedalliance.org/arts-institute or contact deb@theatrelab.org.
The Theatre Lab is a returning member of the 2022/2023 class of the Catalogue for Philanthropy: Greater Washington, which recognizes the best nonprofits in the region and is celebrating its 30th anniversary in 2022. The Theatre Lab’s directors have received the prestigious Linowes Leadership Award from the Community Foundation for the National Capital Region for their efforts to improve the metropolitan community through accessible arts training. In addition, The Theatre Lab has been recognized with a Mayor's Art Award for Innovation in the Arts, and by the President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities as one of the 50 “top arts- and humanities-based programs in the country serving youth beyond school hours.” For more information, visit theatrelab.org.
####
Footnotes:
¹Measure of America of the Social Science Research Council
²National Roadmap for Opportunity Youth, a report by Civic Enterprises with support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, 2012.
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Niam recently completed second grade and graciously took part in an interview with The Theatre Lab's Director of Youth Programs, Terah Herman-Saldaña. Together, they talk about his experiences at the Summer Acting Camp for Kids last year and share what he's been up to since then. Check out the interview and hear from his mom, Seema, as well.
"At school when I stand up to tell the class something, I'm not as nervous as I usually would be."- Niam, on how acting in a play has affected his day to day life.
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“This has been an incredible opportunity to create connections across generations to strengthen identity and build community through our individual and shared stories.” - Elizabeth Pringle, Director
"One of the great joys of this program is seeing our similarities across generations. Yes, in some ways, there's a greater feeling of acceptance now than there was even 10 years ago, but the central theme that runs through all the pieces we created in this program is community and finding people who cherish you as you are." - Bryce Sulecki, Assistant Director
"It took a lot for me to walk into class that first day because I came to my truth later in life. I met beautiful people and heard their stories, and now I am so proud to be a part of this community that I will celebrate and fight to protect for the rest of my life." - Jamie, Queer Stories Student
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