Photos: First Look At The 4th Annual LIVE IN THE ORANGE Campaign Benefiting Arts Education

The Broadway community recently came together for the fourth annual “Live in the Orange” photoshoot in support of arts education programming in NYC public schools. Featuring stunning portraits by Michael Hull Photography and coordinated by Broadway for Arts Education, Broadway Plus, and the Museum of Broadway, these incredible Broadway performers and organizations teamed up with the Arts in Education Round Table’s “It Starts With The Arts” campaign to amplify their advocacy!

From the classroom to the boardroom and everywhere in between, the mantra “Live in the Orange” (LITO) helps remind us to define, respect, and challenge our boundaries. Just as there are many different shades of orange, there are many different ways in which people show up to any situation or challenge. Awareness of this helps us better understand our relationship with ourselves, our relationships with others, and our relationships with the systems in which we coexist. Having a color-coded shorthand to express complex emotional and social states of being helps our community maintain a culture of nurturing, of experimentation, of trust, and of joy! Try it out yourself and do a scan of your relationships, your work responsibilities, and how you show up in society.

Broadway for Arts Education (BAE) has been "Living in the Orange" transforming school cultures through engaging and relevant arts education programs in New York City since 2017. In this most recent school year (22-23), BAE facilitated year-long arts education residencies in 7 schools, averaging more than 60 dance, music, theater, poetry, and podcasting classes every week, led by an amazing team of teaching artists working with 350+ students both during the school day and after school. Students produced short films and TV scenes, wrote and published a poetry anthology, performed in a musical and a spoken-word assembly, won a dance competition, performed at Lincoln Center, earned technical skills, self-advocacy skills, community-care skills, and so much more!

Unfortunately, programs like these are a rarity in New York City.

It comes as no surprise that arts education programs are usually the first to fall victim to budget cuts, and that the demand for arts education programming always outweighs the supply. But, in a post-lockdown education environment, courses like dance, music, theater, and art that help young people develop the social and emotional skills needed to address and heal from trauma are more important than ever. Especially for low-income and marginalized communities. Broadway for Arts Education, alongside Arts in Education Round Table, is proud to be providing these resources and advocating more funding to be invested into this necessary, healing programming.

Arts in Education Roundtable: “Dance, music, theater, visual arts, and media arts provide evidence-based solutions for engaging the whole child. Arts education nurtures social-emotional wellness, improves academic outcomes in the classroom, prepares students to enter the workforce, and increases parent involvement and attendance rates. Yet today these opportunities are available to only some of NYC’s 1 million students. As NYC Public Schools recover from the pandemic and reimagine the student experience, the City must establish a realistic, equitable foundation for arts instruction in every school to support pathways to a bright, bold future for all.”

Take action with us, and contact your representative using Arts in Education Roundtable’s one-click tool!

Photo Credit: Michael Hull Photography