11 days. 3 cities. An infinite amount of opportunities.
Junior Thespian Festival 2015
I began my travels on Wednesday March 18th, when I flew to Nashville to attend the Junior Thespian Festival 2015.
This year's theme was "Find Your Passion" and after spending 3 action-packed days with middle school theatre lovers-- I found mine, and then some! After putting the finishing touches on the Ensworth High School's campus on Wednesday, the three other ITO and I went to dinner with some of the EdTA staff as well as Hunter Bell. Hunter was one of the featured guests at this year's event, and gave an inspiring keynote on Friday about conquering your fears.
Thursday was the first day of the festival, and the energy I witnessed reminded me of the moment I first fell in love with theatre. Before the evening's main-stage production, the ITO were able to teach the delegates how to "Advocate Your Passion". A highlight of that event is that there was a troupe from Florida who fund-raised $8,000 on their own so that there entire troupe could attend--what an achievement! On Thursday night we got to see a fantastic performance of "The Addams Family" by Viking Middle School Troupe #88093.
"Find Your Passion Friday" kicked off with the ITO leading some energizing movement activities! After Hunter's keynote we watched a great performance of "Hoodie" by Owensboro Middle School Troupe #89126. Tracie Kunzika and I taught a few sessions of how to support a Junior Troupe, and we had some great discussions with parents and teachers. Afterwards the ITO lead a "Improv Your Passion" activity during I.E's and needless to say it was hysterical watching the students perform. After a fabulous performance of "ths phne 2.0: the next generation" by The Champion School, Troupe #89129 it was time to dance and shake it off at the dance!
Saturday was the last day of the festival, and the ITO started it off with "So You Think You're A Junior Thespian?", a series of trivia activities revolving around the festival's activities. After an energetic performance of "Guys and Dolls Jr." by Our Lady of the Valley School, Troupe #88732 it was time to close out the festival.
Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed being apart of the Junior Thespian Festival. Personally, I found my passion for theatre while in middle school and I am eager to see what adventure is next for those students.
A HUGE thank you to Craig Branch, and the entire EdTA staff for making this event possible.
Arts Advocacy Day 2015
I boarded the plane on Sunday morning and made my way to Capitol Hill for Arts Advocacy Day 2015.
This was my second time in our nation's capitol, but this time I had a mission: advocate for arts education. The arts have been a major part of my life since the day I was born. I always have had a creative component, and was able to develop that the moment I found theatre in middle school. The arts have taught me skills such as: conflict resolution, problem solving, and how to think creatively.
After exploring the city on Sunday, the 21 EdTA delegates met at La Tomate for a kickoff dinner. It was wonderful being able to eat with this year's Democracyworks winner, Grace Alt, who wrote a phenomenal essay about the impact of creativity in our society.
Americans for the Arts sponsored the event, and Monday was training day. Nearly 600 delegates from 48 states, novice and experienced, heard from various speakers about different areas we could focus on in our hill visits. For example we learned that the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) distributes 40%, approximately $46 million of the FY 2014, of its funding to the state art's councils. Every district in the United States benefits from an NEA grant. Locally, Nebraska has received $904,790 from NEA grants in 2013.
Randy Cohen, the Vice President of Research and Policy at AFTA, gave an excellent presentation about different facts and figures we could use to make our case. For example the state of Nebraska has 3,558 arts related businesses that employ 14,351 people. Nationally, the arts support over 4.1 million jobs and $22.3 billion in local and government revenue.
If you have not already I encourage you to sign up for a free Americans for the Arts account and check out the your Creative Industries report so that you can make your case to your legislators!
Monday night I went to the Kennedy Center to listen to Norman Lear give his keynote address about the impact of the arts throughout his life. It was inspiring to be in a room full of influential leaders such as NEA Chairwoman Jane Chu, and other political leaders.
At 8:30 on Tuesday morning I had the privilege to meet directly with Senator Deb Fischer to discuss the importance of arts education in Nebraska. She was very receptive to the issues I presented, and is hoping to be in Lincoln this summer so she can attend the International Thespian Festival! Afterwards I attended the Congressional Arts Kickoff Breakfast, and off to the Hill I went! My next appointment was with a staffer from Senator Ben Sasse's staff, and then I concluded my day by meeting with Congressman Brad Ashford.
Thank you to Jim Palmarini for coordinating the 3 day event!
Overall my experience on Capitol Hill was exhilarating. It was a powerful feeling to see the impact of arts advocates around the country.
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Florida State Thespian Festival 2015
From Capitol Hill to the beaches of Tampa, I ended my 11 day journey with EdTA with 8,000 thespians at the 25th annual Florida State Thespian Festival!
The festival began on Wednesday morning at the Straz Center for performing arts. Florida is the largest high school theatre festival in the world and is entirely student run. Lindsay Painter, the state director, and her student work crew have been planning this event since September. The students are in charge of all the festival operations such as registration, trolley duty, and working the various main stage shows. I was impressed with their capability to manage a 4 day festival, as well as their hospitality towards me. I was immediately thrown into the day-to-day operations and enjoyed going from one event to the next!
Some highlights of the festival were watching incredibly talented performances of "The Three Penny Opera" and "Pippin". The Florida Festival is similar to the International Festival, because the main stage shows are adjudicated across their 15 districts. The production quality of each show mirrored the performances you would see on the Lied Center stage.
I connected with Phillip Goodchild, an active member on this Community, and got to teach my leadership workshop to his students. The session went really well and I loved learning from them!
Finally, Florida Thespians raised $50,000 for BC/EFA!! They are the largest contributor to BC/EFA in the International Thespian Society, and the majority of their funds are raised by the 200+ troupes that attend.
Overall the 25th Annual Theatre Games were definitely in Florida's favor. I hope to see them hitting their mark in Lincoln this summer!
It was an honor to represent the International Thespian Society last week. I would like to thank my fellow incredible ITO: Alyssa Jewell, Liz Coin, Rachel Gatewood, Tracie Kunzika, and Danysha Lamadieu for making dramatic impacts throughout the country. Last, and certainly not least, I would like to thank Diane Carr for accompanying me on the 11 day journey--you are my hero.
Onward to Lincoln!