Art Project

The goal of the Summer Recreation Children's Musical Theater program is to increase the number of students participating in artistic endeavors, such as theater, and enjoy them as life-long endeavors. 1. We are supporting young children, who are not usually involved in musical productions in our community, with a high-quality production in which they can participate. 2. We hope to overcome barriers to access to high-quality arts activities by providing a production locally, rather than children and parents having to travel to a larger town to participate in such an activity. 3. By having children participate from Kindergarten or first grade on, we hope to instill in children a love and appreciation for the art of musical theatre and respect for the tremendous amount of work and also sense of accomplishment that results from participation. 4. We plan to support high-quality, age appropriate arts education for residents of all ages - beginning with the youngest. Students not only participate and follow directions, but are actually taught vocabulary, about stage direction, how to block a scene and much more. This will enhance their understanding of the art of musical theatre. The evaluation tool we have written up will be administered at the parent meeting when scripts and music are handed out shortly after auditions and before rehearsals start. A second survey will be given to students at the end of the production, and we will compare answers for growth and changes. The survey will be administered to all students, with parents helping their children in grades Kindergarten - three, fill out the survey. The reading level on this is approximately middle elementary to junior high level - so parents will need to read it to many younger children. Surveys will be tabulated at the end of the production to indicate the level of change and growth from beginning to end of the production. The questions on the survey about vocabulary are to show some of the things the children have learned while rehearsing the production mentioned in Goal 4. Asking questions about whether a child would participate if the production was not in our school district is in response to Goal 3 - Instilling the arts into the community and public life in our region. We will also look for community support through ticket sales and repeat ticket sales. These numbers can be used to judge how the community supports us through attending productions, but we will also look at parent support through the volunteerism that parents do to support the musical production, as well as how regularly the children attend the rehearsals.