Segerstrom Center Receives $100,000 Grant for DISNEY MUSICALS IN SCHOOL Program

Segerstrom Center for the Arts has been awarded a $100,000 grant from Disney to help bring the Disney Musicals in Schools program to Orange County. The Center was one of only two arts organizations in the nation and the only one in California selected this year to collaborate with Disney Musicals in Schools. The program is an outreach initiative developed by Disney Theatrical Group to create ongoing theater programs in local elementary schools. The Center will select four Orange County public elementary schools to participate in 2014. The grant funds two years of programming ? four schools will be selected this year, and another four next year. The after-school programs are completely free to participating schools. Disney Musicals in Schools helps to keep the arts in schools and utilizes the unique world of musical theater to build positive relationships between students, faculty, staff, parents and the community. Students work in teams to develop or restore self-confidence, strengthen communication and collaboration skills all while learning and enjoying the process of creating a Disney musical theater production.

The four selected schools will participate in a 17-week musical theater residency. Segerstrom Center and Disney Theatrical Group will train and assign Center teaching artists in the after-school sessions. At no cost to them, the schools will receive performance rights, educational support materials and guidance from the teaching artists. The teaching artists' roles are to help produce the chosen Disney musical by working with educators to create a sustainable theater program in the participating schools. The programs will culminate in 30-minute Disney musicals at each school site. At a later date, Segerstrom Center will host a Student Share Celebration, where each school will have the extraordinary opportunity to perform a selection from its show on the Center's stage for an audience of fellow students, family members and neighbors.

Applications are now being taken for the 2014 program. Any public elementary school in an Orange County district may apply. For more information and to apply, please visit SCFTA.org/DisneyMusicals, call (714) 556-2122 ext. 4310 or email ArtsTeach@SCFTA.org. The application deadline is May 12, 2014.

Segerstrom Center President Terrence W. Dwyer said, "The Center is grateful to Disney Theatrical Group for this program and to Disney for this generous grant. We have enjoyed a long relationship with Disney Theatrical Group, bringing its wonderful Broadway productions to our audiences and through Disney underwriting, which as recently as this year helped us serve local Title One schools in meaningful and impactful ways. Through Disney Musicals in Schools, we both will be able to increase our service and contributions to the community by helping to motivate young people in their studies and extracurricular pursuits and passions while introducing them to the enjoyment and magic of musical theater."

Disney Musicals in Schools was launched in response to Disney Theatrical Group's concern that low-income students in urban, public schools were not afforded equitable access to the arts. After successfully offering the program in New York City schools, Disney Theatrical Group began partnering with organizations in other communities around the United States.

Disney KIDS musicals, created in partnership with Music Theatre International (MTI), are about 30 minutes in length and have been adapted from the classic Disney films, Sleeping Beauty, 101 Dalmatians, Aladdin, The Aristocats, Cinderella, The Jungle Book and Winnie the Pooh.

Disney Theatrical Group (DTG) operates under the direction of Thomas Schumacher and is among the world's most successful commercial theater enterprises, bringing live entertainment events to a global annual audience of more than 19 million people in more than 50 countries. Under the Disney Theatrical Productions banner, the group produces and licenses Broadway musicals around the world, including Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King, Elton John & Tim Rice's Aida, TARZAN®, Mary Poppins, a co-production with Cameron Mackintosh, and The Little Mermaid. DTG opened two critically acclaimed productions on Broadway in 2012, receiving seven Tony Awards between them: Newsies, now in its third year at the Nederlander Theatre and Peter and the Starcatcher, which enjoyed a two year New York run. Other successful stage musical ventures have included King David in concert, the national tour of On the Record, several touring versions of Disney's High School Musical and Der Glöckner Von Notre Dame in Berlin. DTG has collaborated with the country's leading regional theaters to develop new stage titles including Mary Zimmerman's adaptation of The Jungle Book and The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Its new Broadway musical Aladdin recently opened on Broadway to great critical acclaim.

Disney Theatrical Group also delivers live shows globally through its license to Feld Entertainment, producer of Disney on Ice and Disney Live! For over 30 years, Disney on Ice and Disney Live! have brought beloved Disney stories and characters annually to more than 12 million guests in nearly 50 countries worldwide through productions such as Toy Story 3, Dare to Dream, Rockin' Ever After and Disney Junior Live on Tour! Pirate & Princess Adventure. In addition, DTG licenses musical titles for local, school and community theater productions through Music Theatre International.

Music Theatre International (MTI) is one of the world's leading theatrical licensing agencies, granting schools as well as amateur and professional theaters from around the world the rights to perform the largest selections of great musicals from Broadway and beyond. MTI works directly with the composers, lyricists and book writers of these shows to provide official scripts, musical materials and dynamic theatrical resources to more than 60,000 theatrical organizations in the U.S. and in over 60 countries worldwide.

MTI is particularly dedicated to the idea of theater as education and has created special collections for younger performers. The MTI Broadway Junior Collection® includes "JR." titles, 60-minute musicals for performance by middle school children and "KIDS" titles, 30-minute musicals for performance by elementary school children. MTI School Editions™ are musicals that have been annotated for performance by high school students, and the Theatre for Young Audiences (TYA) Collection are 70-minute musicals designed for adults to perform for children.

Segerstrom Center for the Arts is unique as both an acclaimed arts institution and as a multi-disciplinary cultural campus. It is committed to supporting artistic excellence on all of its stages, offering unsurpassed experiences, and engaging the entire community in new and exciting ways through the unique power of live performance and a diverse array of inspiring programs.

Previously called the Orange County Performing Arts Center, Segerstrom Center traces its roots back to the late 1960s when a dedicated group of community leaders decided Orange County should have its own world-class performing arts venue.

As Orange County's largest non-profit arts organization, Segerstrom Center for the Arts owns and operates the 3,000-seat Segerstrom Hall and intimate 250-seat Founders Hall, which opened in 1986, and the 2,000-seat Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall, which opened in 2006 and also houses the 500-seat Samueli Theater, the Lawrence and Kristina Dodge Education Center's studio performance space and Boeing Education Lab. A spacious arts plaza anchors Segerstrom Center for Arts and is home to numerous free performances throughout the year as part of Segerstrom Center for the Arts' ongoing Free for All series.

The Center presents a broad range of programming each season for audiences of all ages from throughout Orange County and beyond, including international ballet and dance, national tours of top Broadway shows, intimate performances of jazz and cabaret, contemporary artists, classical music performed by renowned chamber orchestras and ensembles, family-friendly programming, free performances open to the public from outdoor movie screenings to dancing on the plaza and many other special events. It offers many education programs designed to inspire young people through the arts. These programs reach hundreds of thousands of students of all ages with vital arts-in-education programs, enhancing their studies and enriching their lives well into the future.

In addition to the presenting and producing institution Segerstrom Center for the Arts, the 14-acre campus also embraces the facilities of two independent acclaimed organizations: Tony Award®-winning South Coast Repertory and a site designated as the future home of the Orange County Museum of Art.

Segerstrom Center for the Arts is also proud to serve as the artistic home to three of the region's major performing arts organizations: Pacific Symphony, the Philharmonic Society of Orange County and the Pacific Chorale, who contribute greatly to the artistic life of the region with annual seasons at Segerstrom Center for the Arts.

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