Texas Performing Arts Expands Education Program

Beginning with the 2024-2025 school year more than 16,000 K-12 students in Central Texas will attend their first-ever Broadway School Show and additional school day performances as Texas Performing Arts (TPA) Austin’s largest arts organization will educate and inspire even more students through live performance. This is great news for achieving greater awareness of the rich array of performing arts available to us in the Austin area.

TPA is Austin’s leading arts organization dedicated to transforming lives through creativity, learning, and live performance recently introduced this bold new expansion of its education and engagement programs for K-12 students. Beginning with the 2024-2025 school year, TPA will more than quadruple the number of K-12 students it reaches annually. In the year ahead, TPA will present its first-ever daytime school performance of a nationally touring Broadway show, welcome every 5th grader in the Austin Independent School District to a theatre performance, and offer additional school-day performances of acclaimed touring artists.Remember that first show you saw that sparked a whole new experience and opened up a new world of possibilities for you? TPA is now making that experience available to kids throughout AISD.

As part of the University of Texas at Austin, creating artistic opportunities for students of all
ages is central to TPA’s mission. Since its founding in 1981, TPA’s education and engagement programs have connected world-class artists to students and the broader community through workshops, discussions, creative performances for families and young audiences, and shows specifically designed for area schools and teachers. Each season, TPA offers free school-day performances by renowned artists that include bus transportation and curriculum guides aligned with State education standards.

“Bass Concert Hall filled with 3,000 students experiencing theater, dance or live music for what might be their first time is a moment unlike any other,” said Bob Bursey, TPA’s Executive Artistic Director. “The artists we present tell us that these are some of the most memorable performances they have ever given,” he said. “Our vision is for every student in our community to have the opportunity to be educated and inspired by live performance. If we imagine Bass Concert Hall as the largest classroom in our city, we have a chance to make that happen thanks to our supporters and the incredible teachers in our community.”

For the 2024-25 school year, TPA plans to serve more than 16,000 K-12 students, marking a
substantial increase in arts opportunities for Central Texas students. Expanded programs will include:

Broadway School Show: For the first time, 3,000 students will attend a daytime
performance of a touring Broadway show presented specifically for a school audience
when the acclaimed Broadway musical Peter Pan visits Broadway in Austin this
December.

Theater for Fifth Graders: All 5,500 5th grade students in the Austin Independent School
District, including all 53 Title I schools, will have an opportunity to attend a performance
of El Otro Oz, an acclaimed musical for school audiences inspired by The Wizard of Oz.
TPA will present an additional performance of the production to welcome another
2,000 students from surrounding school districts, private schools, and the homeschool
Community.

School-Day Performances of Music and Dance: TPA will offer five school-day
performances by visiting artists in the 2024-25 Texas Performing Arts Season. Featured
artists include Montreal-based DJ and musician Kid Koala, Grammy-nominated a capella group Sweet Honey in the Rock, and Los Angeles’s Versa-Style Street Dance Company for 5,000 students.

Broadway in the Classroom: TPA will provide 500 free tickets to Broadway in Austin
performances for groups of elementary through college students whose classroom
studies connect with the themes of the production, featuring shows such as COME FROM AWAY and LES MISERABLES.

Behind-the-Scenes and Before the Show: 300 students and young audience members
will learn about the performing arts through backstage tours and pre-performance
activities throughout the year.

Since 2021, TPA’s K-12 education programs have expanded year-over-year in response to
increasing requests from educators in the community. In the 2023-24 school year, TPA served 3,800 K-12 students through school day performances by artists such as the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, school group backstage tours, and student group tickets to attend Broadway shows including SIX and WICKED.

Educators interested in learning more about connecting their students with TPA’s educational programs may contact education@texasperformingarts.org for additional information.

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