News
SOPAC Education: ArtWorks
In July 2008, SOPAC Education launched ArtWorks. Designed as a student leadership program for middle and high school students, ArtWorks hosted twenty students from Columbia, Millburn and Cicely Tyson High Schools who participated in workshops on leadership, acting, stage design, budgeting, development, fundraising and marketing. Their final project was to create and produce a performance. On July 25, 2008, the inaugural students of ArtWorks presented BEAT, an original musical.
Read ArtWorks article in The New York Times
Read ArtWorks article in NJ Star Ledger
ARTWORKS, 2008-2009 School Year
ArtWorks is a teen leadership program developed by SOPAC for middle and high school students, aged 12 - 18. The year-long program consists of an intensive summer session, followed by after-school workshops and seminars in the fall and winter, and eventually culminating into a final production at SOPAC in the spring. The final production will be an original performance created by the students.
Students will work with SOPAC throughout the entire year in order to learn what it takes to create and refine their performance, work collaboratively to set and achieve goals, learn the business of the performing arts, sustain commitment to an organization and a product, and to take their work to the next level of success. In addition to working as the creators and performers of an original musical, students will serve as apprentices to learn about the work ‘behind the scenes’ at SOPAC.
ArtWorks offers students a unique experience in the performing arts:
- Students are taught leadership, conflict resolution, and professional communication skills, so they can successfully manage productions, work effectively within a group, present their initiatives to the larger community, and proactively create opportunities for their ensemble.
- ArtWorks students learn about the business, administrative, and production side of a performing arts center through internships with SOPAC department, including Marketing and Communications, Graphic Arts and Media, Development (Money and Business), Box Office/House Management/Customer Relations, Event Planning, Arts Administration, and Stagecraft/Technical Theater.
- ArtWorks students are encouraged to exercise their various talents and interests during their time at SOPAC. During one of our student-led productions a single student might work in multiple areas of the arts. ArtWorks is perfect for the student with a large and varied skill set or for the student with a focused area of interest.
- The students of ArtWorks create and produce original work evolving around current social issues that are of concern to the students. The goal of the Artworks students is to act as leaders to promote positive changes in society through the use of student talent, creativity, and passion.
Students interested in applying for the fall 2008 term of ArtWorks should contact Jennifer Isaacs, Education Coordinator, at jenny@sopacnow.org or 973.275.1114 x401.