Transforming Lives: An Overview Of Arts And Humanities Programs
In the spring of 1996, 20 teenagers from a low-income community in Pennsylvania will graduate from high school with 6 years of professional theater experience. Jessie is one of them.
She was in the sixth grade when The People's Light and Theater Company reached out to a group of students and made a commitment to stay involved with them until they graduated from high school. The Theater Company worked with students after school year-round. Staff provided transportation and, during the summer time, provided employment as well. This ensemble of teenagers, called "New Voices Ensemble," created plays together, as they wrote, improvised, rehearsed and performed.
Jessie was moody at first, sometimes walking out of rehearsals. Her family situation was extremely difficult, and she often had to supervise and attend to five younger brothers and sisters. Then, while working on A Midsummer Night's Dream, Jessie seemed instinctively to understand Shakespeare. It was a pivotal time; she gradually evolved from the one who "got involved in confrontations" into the mediator to which everyone turned when disagreements arose among Ensemble members. Over time, the Ensemble became like a family, but one "she didn't have to take care of, one that helped her to take care of herself." Though her own family situation continued to be fraught with stress, Jessie became one of the top students in the 12th grade. She now hopes to become a lawyer.1
Most youth participating in these programs live in large cities. They come from 36 states and the District of Columbia. These children represent every racial and ethnic group in the country and include school dropouts, teen parents, immigrants, refugees and gang members. Some live in juvenile detention centers, public housing projects, halfway houses
or homeless shelters. Others are simultaneously enrolled in prevention
programs for substance abuse, teen pregnancy, school dropout or juvenile delinquency.
Mostly, they are "just kids" who were born into economically disadvantaged families and/or resource-poor communities. And being just kids, they long for friendship, approval, protection, security, connectedness and things to do. However, often living in poor communities or stressed families, these youth sometimes grow up with little adult guidance, in fear of physical danger, with few stimulating
activities and with considerable uncertainty about their futures.
Stories like Jessie's are common among the programs profiled in this report. The 218 arts and humanities programs described in Chapter Six touch the lives of an estimated 88,600 youth each year. While they reach children of all ages, 92 percent of the programs work with teens. Seventy-two percent of the programs also serve 6 to 12-year-olds, and 24 percent assist preschoolers.