Olmsted Performing Arts Announces Partnership with The City Mission

Olmsted Performing Arts (OPA) in Olmsted Falls will continue to offer free classes for underprivileged children living at Laura's Home Women's Crisis Center, a ministry of The City Mission of Cleveland, Ohio.

During the upcoming winter months OPA will provide 2-hour sessions of gymnastics, dance, theatre, music and art to groups of children at Laura's Home, located in the Westpark neighborhood of Cleveland. The first scheduled session for this quarter is September 29. The groups will also receive tickets to see the upcoming OPA productions of "Wizard of Oz" in November and "The Nutcracker" in December, so they can enjoy professional stage productions, for perhaps the first time, and hopefully have a continued interest in the arts and human creativity.

"Laura's Home is a fantastic program that serves thousands of women and children in need around Greater Cleveland," says Barbie Chapin, Olmsted Performing Arts director of education. "We support their mission, so this is our way of giving back.

Laura's Home is a program of The City Mission, a nonprofit organization that serves men, women and children at their point of crisis by progressing them toward stability, employment and independent housing. You can find more information about them at http://www.thecitymission.org or by calling 216.431.3510.

Groups from City Mission and Laura's Home visited OPA in July for classes and to attend the OPA Youth Stage production of "Once Upon A Mattress."

OPA has a commitment to the Greater Cleveland area to help nurture and grow the culture and society, so OPA makes programs available, free of cost, to community groups when possible, Chapin says.

Olmsted Performing Arts is a nonprofit arts center with talented staff and volunteers, as well as resources and space to help provide educational and artistic endeavors for the children served by the Mission and Laura's Home, says Chapin. "We know that there are many people, especially children, who do not have the opportunity to be exposed to a program such as ours and we want to share!"

Any child who brings a sealed/new personal hygiene item to the Olmsted Performing Arts Center (OPAC) - 6941 Columbia Rd. in Olmsted Falls, OH - can participate in a free dance class on December 22 or a free theatre class on December 30. All collected items will be donated to The City Mission/Laura's home.

For more information on OPA, including an entire class list and the schedule of upcoming stage productions at the center, visit OPA online at http://www.olmstedperformingarts.com or call the OPA offices at (440) 235-6722.

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