Wharton Center for Performing Arts has been awarded a $100,000 grant from Disney to bring the Disney Musicals in Schools program to Michigan.
Wharton Center is one of only four arts organizations in the nation and the only one in the state selected this year to collaborate with Disney Musicals in Schools. The program is an outreach initiative developed by Disney Theatrical Group to create sustainable theater programs in under-resourced elementary schools.
Wharton Center chose four public elementary schools from eligible applicants for the 2015-16 academic year. The selected schools are Lewton Elementary and Post Oak Elementary, both in Lansing, and Doyle Ryder Elementary and Holmes STEM Academy in Flint. The after-school program is free to these participating schools.
Each of the schools will take part in a 17-week musical theater residency. Wharton Center and Disney Theatrical Group have trained and assigned Wharton Center teaching artists, who will conduct the after-school sessions.
Performance rights, educational support materials and guidance from the teaching artists will be provided at no cost to the schools. The teaching artists’ roles are to help produce the chosen Disney musical by working with educators to create a sustainable theater program in these schools.
On May 31, Wharton Center will host a Student Share Celebration, where each school will have the opportunity to perform a selection from its show in Wharton Center’s Cobb Great Hall stage for an audience of fellow students, family members and friends.
Because the $100,000 grant will support two years of programming, another four schools will be selected next year. Disney Musicals in Schools helps keep arts programs in schools and utilizes the unique world of musical theater to build positive relationships among students, faculty, staff, parents and the community.
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.