TV: Leap's Alice Krieger On Inspiration Behind Fidelity FutureStage

Alice Krieger, Leap Associate Executive Director, gives you the inspiration and creative history behind the Fidelity FutureStage program in this video segment.

Leap (Learning through an Expanded Arts Program), a local partner of the Fidelity FutureStage program, is a non-profit educational service organization committed to improving the quality of public education through a hands-on, arts-based approach to learning. For the past 31 years, Leap has brought professional artists and educational experts to under-served students in the New York metropolitan area and continues to develop and deliver customized programs to schools, cultural institutions and community based organizations.

By training teachers and working with students, Leap's goal is to improve academic performance, cultivate creativity and empower all students to reach their full potential. Leap Executive Director Ila Lane Gross and Associate Executive Director Alice Krieger founded Leap in 1977, after working as educators in NYC, and have expanded Leap from a small, volunteer program in four Manhattan schools to a trusted, quality arts-in-education organization that currently reaches over 300 schools.

Fidelity FutureStage enables over 600 NYC students from 10 different public schools to get a real view into the world of Broadway theater. Students learn firsthand from industry professionals about acting, playwriting, directing and all the behind-the-scenes production. They also attend Broadway shows and each student writes a 10-minute play. Ultimately, one play from each school is chosen and performed by the students at New World Stages this June.