HartBeat Receives Grant from Endowment for the Arts

 The National Endowment for the Arts has awardEd Hartford's own HartBeat Ensemble a generous grant as part of its LITA (Learning in the Arts) program.

The $17,000 grant will allow the professional theater company to add an extra week of afterschool instruction in playwriting, stagecraft, and production to each session of its usual 4-week Youth Play Institute. 

The NEA describes Learning in the Arts for Children and Youth as "funding for projects that help children and youth acquire knowledge and understanding of and skills in the arts. Projects must provide participatory learning and engage students with skilled artists, teachers, and excellent art."  The NEA has recognized that HartBeat Ensemble's Youth Play Institute is a stellar example of using the art of hands-on, participatory, on-your-feet play creation as a gateway to an appreciation of quality theater, community engagement, student-to-student communication, and self-expression.  The additional time that students will have in the Youth Play Institute will foster deeper relationships between students of varying backgrounds and a more detailed study of the theater arts.

Cindy Martinez, a member of HartBeat Ensemble and the organization's community liasion, says "YPI cast and crew find connections with each other within the first week. They quickly grasp the concept of ensemble creation and pull together to create a piece they feel strongly about, while confidently applying the skills they learned along the way."

HartBeat Ensemble's Youth Play Institute brings together urban and suburban youth for an intensive play creation process taught by working theater professionals. By teaching youth to communicate with each other through theater, the project breaks down racial and economic stereotypes and exposes participants to new friends, collaborators, and audiences.  Past plays that have been created through YPI have been about youth violence, the media's influence on youth, social stratification in schools and commonalities in family dynamics. Each session culminates in a free, public performance of the group's one-act play.  HartBeat conducts three YPI sessions each school year.  Participating districts include Hartford, Farmington, Glastonbury, West Hartford and the CT Technical High School System.

The next session of YPI will be a collaboration between A.I. Prince Technical High School and Glastonbury High School.  The subject matter of the play will be entirely determined by students throughout the program, who will then write, produce, and perform the play together.  The free performance will be held on Thursday, October 28th at 7:00 PM at Prince Tech.

YPI is funded by the CT State Department of Education Interdistrict Cooperative Grant program. Additional support has been provided by the Fisher Foundation, the Fund for Greater Hartford, the J. Walton Bissell Foundation and the George Ensworth Memorial Trust.

The mission of HartBeat Ensemble is to create original, professional theater based on stories from the people of our community.  Through Mainstage plays, Open-Air performances, and Education programs, HartBeat Ensemble makes theater accessible beyond the barriers of class, race, and gender.
 
For more information please visit www.hartbeatensemble.org or call (860) 548-9144.

To post a comment, you must register and login.