Transforming Youth Through Theater!

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Emily Barocco
Transforming Youth Through Theater!
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Transforming Youth Through Theater!
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As Assistant Administrator at Stage to Stage Inc in New Orleans, LA, our feature program, the Crescent City Lights Youth Theater, transforms the lives of youth through theater training. Founded by our Executive/Artistic Director Julie Condy, CCLYT began in 1993 to address the lack of opportunities in the community for children and teens to receive quality performing arts training at an affordable or no cost to their families. CCLYT is a small program with a small budget and one of New Orleans's best kept secrets. CCLYT alums, who now number in the 100s, become successful high school students, university students & working adults in a variety of professions. There are many more kids we can reach. Our goal for 2012 is getting the word out about our program in the community while raising funds for program staff to make that happen which include teen staff assistants to the contract mentor/artists. Our staff is small now. (I am the only paid staff person. Ms. Condy works as a full-time volunteer.) Program instruction is done via contract artists who work project to project. Our goal is to expand our program staff so this important program can flourish reaching more children through theater programs developed in the community with quality adult mentors & provide meaningful jobs to teens. In the creation of new community programming, CCLYT staff has already indentified existing community organizations who would like to work with us. This programming would be on a sliding fee scale with nominal fees for low-income families. Mentor artist instructors would be assisted by CCLYT teens as part-time employees. We appreciate assistance and investment from outside sources. CCLYT knows that theater training changes lives. We see it again & again with our alumni who tell us that their lives would be so different if they didn’t have CCLYT as their training ground not only for theater but for their life & job skills. Invest in CCLYT! www.crescentcitylights.org
When I was a teenager, theater gave me goals and aspirations beyond my community. Having theater as a part of my life as a teen saved my spirit which spurred me on to try my hand at a theater school in New York City. CCLYT does that very thing for children starting with elementary school. We dramatically improve young lives, build better citizens and strengthen families. It’s been proven in studies that kids involved with performing arts programs like CCLYT exceed their peers in areas of academic growth, personal development & productivity in society. Crescent City Lights Youth Theater (CCLYT) was founded to fill the need for a low-cost theater program for children from all socio-economic levels in New Orleans. For children from families with no experience in the performing arts, CCLYT programming serves as an introduction to this aspect of the arts through a structured program which teaches the families how to be effective partners with their creative child. All children who audition have equal opportunity for quality stage time. Frequently in programs, those children with no experience are not given an opportunity. CCLYT seeks to even that playing field so that casting is based on how enthusiastic the cast member auditions, not on their prior experience. For creative children, the life experiences played out via an athletic team experience are lacking. CCLYT turns the team performing arts experience into life & job skills training, teaching the kids the skills needed to be successful in the performing arts. Through the rehearsal & multiple public performances of a musical written to be performed by children, CCLYT changes the life experiences of its young artists. We nurture the development of their artistic & life skills in a positive multi-cultural environment with instruction by professional artist/mentors. I sought out CCLYT when I moved to New Orleans as I want to help many kids transform their lives via theater! Let's start this spark!