Theatre Horizon Receives Grant For Professional Video To Benefit Autism Drama Program

Theatre Horizon is pleased to announce it has received a 2019 video grant from The PHILO Project.

Since 2014, The PHILO Project has produced over 80 videos for smaller Philadelphia area nonprofit organizations. The Philadelphia-based PHILO produces professionally shot, produced and edited videos for fundraising, public awareness, crowd funding, social networking, and volunteer recruitment; all to help its clients tell their stories to the region and the world.

PHILO provides these quality custom videos to qualifying nonprofits free of charge.

Support from PHILO will help Theatre Horizon's Autism Drama Program reach, support, and help children with autism learn social skills, play drama games, strengthen communication, and make friends.

Connecting children with theatre artists is central to Theatre Horizon's mission, with education programs that nurture each child's unique voice. Theatre Horizon reaches over 1,000 students each year through their in-house and outreach programs, as well as their pioneering and unique Autism Drama Program, which uses theatre to inspire imagination and social development in individuals on the spectrum.

Autism spectrum disorders are a set of neurodevelopmental disabilities that fundamentally alter individuals' abilities to interact and communicate. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, ASDs are believed to affect nearly 1 in 68 children and perhaps as many as 5 million adults in the U.S. When asked about promising autism therapies, the Autism Society of America's Greater Philadelphia chapter noted drama therapy as an example. Theatre Horizon remains the only organization in our region to offer this unique Autism Drama Program.

"We are so excited to be working with The PHILO Project on a video for our Autism Drama Program," says Theatre Horizon's Executive Director Jennifer Pratt Johnson. "As much as we can talk to people about our program, it's more useful to being able to show them. We want to offer special needs families as authentic an experience as possible so they can see for themselves what it is like to come and be transformed by our classes, and this video will really help us in those efforts."

"We love this program," says PHILO Project Founder & Creative Director, Gerald Kolpan. "We're delighted to help Theatre Horizon reach new students and share this special program with the community."

The video will be shot in the spring of 2019 and will be available on multiple platforms. The video is scheduled to begin running on Theatre Horizon's website in June.

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