Show Me Arts Academy's SPREADING THE LOVE Youth Tour Launches in St. Louis

Show Me Arts Academy presents the SPREADING THE LOVE Youth Tour 2016 with kick-off performances in St. Louis at the Fair St. Louis today, July 2nd, and at the Missouri History Museum on July 6th.

The tour will travel for one week, with stops scheduled in Washington, D.C.; Edison, New Jersey; and New York City.

These youth performers will also engage in service learning throughout the tour including participating in a school supply drive, volunteering at a children's hospital, and with veterans, which will also provide opportunities to learn through engagement with new cultures.

Leading up to the St. Louis departure on July 10th, they will perform July 2nd in the Fair St. Louis parade. They have the honor of being this year's finale performance. The parade will air July 4th with a regular viewership of 20 million people. This kick-off performance, as well as performing July 6th at 6pm at the Missouri History Museum, gives St. Louis the opportunity to celebrate our youth performers prior to departing.

The group consists of 20 young people between the ages of 10-19. Covering all demographics, throughout the St. Louis metropolitan area, including Ferguson, the youth participants, will be accompanied by parents, chaperones, and a videographer to document the experience.

In Washington D.C., the group will tour the Capitol, meet with elected representatives, and visit the Smithsonian Museum. They will also perform and assist in a school supply drive and participate in a youth summit at the Charles Sumner School Museum and Archives in D.C.

Then the tour travels to New Jersey on July 14th where it will perform at The Wardlaw-Hartridge School in Edison, New Jersey. Then the tour will head to New York City where they will visit Manhattan, Brooklyn, Harlem, The Bronx, sing on the Brooklyn Bridge, do service work, and perform before they head back to St. Louis on July 17th. On July 30th, they will perform at the Jacoby Arts Center at 7p.m. in Alton, Illinois.

The mission of Show Me Arts Academy (SMAA) is to provide a life-long appreciation for the arts. We do that through multi-cultural artistic development to under-served youth, ages 5-18, under the guidance of trained professionals. Through exposure, encouragement, and structure, in a creative learning environment, they foster a sense of self-discipline, increased confidence, and integrity.

SMAA was established by Marty K. Casey, a little more than a year ago, due to the civil unrest in Ferguson, which highlighted very serious concerns for the overall welfare of youth in the St. Louis area. Marty K. Casey states, "When you make the Arts Accessible to children, you make children accessible to success..."

Wanting to become a part of the solution, Marty held the organization's first public event, November 28, 2014, at the Regional Arts Commission. Since, SMAA has had the good fortune to serve in several different locations across the metropolitan area: Tandy Community Center in the historic Ville neighborhood (kick-off and 1 day intensive); Dellwood Recreational Center (8 week summer program); Boys & Girls Club-Adam Park site (8 week program); 2 concurrent sessions at Mathews-Dickey, servicing a total of over 1000+ children to date.

Below, check out the youth in rehearsal!

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