|
News Releases 
Bush Foundation Funds Unprecedented CTC Initiative; Theatre will partner with early childhood development professionals 
For Immediate Release: May 23, 2007
Theatre and early childhood education will combine in a first-of-its-kind initiative at The Children's Theatre Company in Minneapolis. The program will draw on the expertise of early learning professionals and acclaimed national and international theater artists to create new plays and a theatre arts training curriculum for pre-school children.
"We believe there is a great opportunity to tap into the scientific and behavioral findings on how pre-school children learn and use that knowledge to guide the development of a curriculum that promotes early learning through the arts," said Peter Brosius, artistic director for CTC.
"The significant support from the Bush Foundation will also allow us to create new theatrical productions that stimulate, engage and challenge the senses and minds of the pre-school population," Brosius added.
The opportunity is made possible by a $400,000 grant from the Bush Foundation to plan the initiative. Planning will include convening theater artists and early learning experts locally, nationally and internationally to begin the conversation. During the life of the two-year grant, from April 2007 through March 2009, CTC will continue to develop and present plays for the very young and to offer theatre arts training for 4 and 5 year-olds.
"To the best of our knowledge, the proposed work is the first of its kind in the U.S. and is evidence of The Children's Theatre Company's role as a leader in the field," said Anita M. Pampusch, president of the foundation. "For Bush, the program represents an attempt to combine our interest in young children with our commitment to strong cultural institutions."
The three convenings will result in the commissioning, developing and evaluating of new classes and productions.
CTC intends to share what it learns with other early childhood and theater organizations, a fact noted by Bush in awarding the grant. "We expect that for CTC the pre-school programming will increase its service to a new audience in the region and could become a national model," said Pampusch. "For Bush, we may be able to disseminate our learning to other grant makers in the fields of arts and early childhood education."
The Children's Theatre's building expansion and the creation of a second performance stage, the Cargill Stage, is creating opportunities to reach broader audiences, including teens and pre-schoolers. In fact, CTC opened its building expansion in the fall 2005 with the American premiere of The Cat's Journey, a shadow-puppet production Dockteatern Tittut, Stockholm's pioneering company in early childhood theatre.
The current season includes a play for preschoolers, The Green Sheep. In this internationally acclaimed production, the audience sits together on a patch of green grass while the action takes place on every side. Babies and toddlers join actors and puppets in the search among sheep of every color for the elusive Green Sheep. The Green Sheep will play on the Cargill Stage May 8 - June 3, 2007. CTC also has piloted a theatre arts training class for three- to five-year-olds, Creative Storytelling. Beginning in fall 2004 with six students, the number of offerings were tripled in the 2005-06 season to meet demand. Ten classes for four- and five-year-olds and five classes for six- and seven-year-olds are being offered in the current school year.
* * *
CTC will host a breakfast to announce the initiative on Friday, May 25, 2007 from 7:30 to 9:00 am. Notable breakfast attendees include representatives from the Center for Early Education and Development (CEED) at the University of Minnesota; the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, which has conducted research on the economic impact of early learning; The Minnesota Early Learning Foundation, which researches cost effective ways to prepare at-risk children for school and the workforce; Ready 4K, a grassroots campaign committed to an early childhood public policy agenda; Success by Six, Greater Twin Cities United Way, the nation's largest network of early childhood coalitions; and First Children's Finance (FCF), building the business skills of child care and early education professionals. Key individual attendees include Mayor R.T. Rybak and Lisa Cariveau, the Early Education Project Coordinator for the City of Saint Paul.
Back to News & Reviews
|
