"Congratulations to our Literary team for placing second in the Area 2A competition this weekend!" is announced over the loud speaker during morning announcements. A senior shifts in his desk, scoffs and laughs, "I didn't even know we had a Literary team..."
Little is known of this outstanding group of students who diligently work, study, and rehearse from August to May every school year to bring about theatre education and awareness of the arts to our school and community.
This group of performing arts students work to counterpoise the school's inability to provide students with any arts education pathways during the day, by participating in various after school activities and events, including one act plays, literary events, and drama camps.
Many of these students are academic forerunners and even athletic enthusiasts, while others are seeking inclusion and emotional support through the arts. Yet, all are accepting of others and embrace each others individuality and strengths. Little is known of the significant influence this unique group has had on their school and now, it is time to gear them up for the stage.
My Project
ECS Performing Arts students have been diligently working to bring quality theatre productions to our rural community and school over the past ten years. This extra-curricular school program is essential, as this is the only opportunity within our rural, low socioeconomic county for students interested in the arts to explore their talents and build their skills in performing arts and theatre education. However, working in a historic auditorium with outdated audio and lighting equipment has limited the effectiveness and overall impact of the performances. Bigger stage opportunities call for a brighter stage presence!
The group has grown in both size and capability, enabling students to start producing well known musicals; however, working under outdated stage lights, the director and actors are limited in stage blocking opportunities and adding special lighting features to the productions.
Not to mention, our lighting coordinator is limited to exploring the world of stage lighting through two on-off switches.
With the addition of two battery led par lights, the crew members would have more opportunity to explore the effect of colored stage lighting. This lighting system would also be portable, furthermore, allowing the group to travel, ultimately making the shows more accessible to more audiences.
Because the program is extracurricular, the program receives no funding from district accounts. All production costs are covered by the group's fundraising efforts and donations collected from the community. Our community is small, and local businesses are very limited, making high profit fundraising a major challenge. Because this is such a large cost project, DonorsChoose donations would be essential in making this goal a reality for our students.
DonorsChoose is the most trusted classroom funding site for teachers.
As a teacher-founded nonprofit, we're trusted by thousands of teachers and supporters across the country. This classroom request for funding was created by Mrs. Hamm and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
