CATS continues 30-year tradition with organization changes
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June 19, 2009 |
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Arlington, TX, 6/19/2009
- Creative Arts Theatre & School has begun a wave of changes to create an
organization that can survive and thrive in the economic downturn and build for
a brighter future for the coming recovery.
Staff changes include
layoffs of a number of long-term staff personnel, as well as reduction in staff
hours. The goal is to continue the
tradition of summer classes and workshops, while the Board re-tools the
organization for Fall. And the building has
been put on the market for possible buyers or leasers.
"CATS would not exist
if these people had not acted on their strong vision years ago," stated Charlie
Bowles, Board President and acting Executive Director. "And it would not have persisted through 30-years
of economic change if they had not kept the vision alive all those years. The tradition of teaching stage skills
remains strong."
"It's important to
give children a practical hands-on experience of how to communicate on-stage,
and the opportunity to shine," says Kim Howard, Director of Education. "We want our students to be comfortable
on-stage, in front of audiences, as well as in front of their peers.
The organization has
two primary missions: First, we develop the potential of young people from
diverse backgrounds through performing arts training and performance
opportunities. Second, CATS is devoted
to enriching and inspiring youth by igniting within them an enduring passion
for the arts. CATS offers classes
and workshops year-around to youth through age 18 in the triple-threat skills
of acting, musical theater, and dance, skills required to participate in
theater arts as college students or professionals. But, CATS provides an even more important
skill to children who take classes - a self-confidence in communicating and
expressing their ideas to peers, teachers, and audiences of all sizes.
Howard adds, "Whether
a child goes on to a theater career or not, CATS has succeeded when a child
moves into the world with confidence and the skills to tell their story."
CATS has trained over
12,000 children to be comfortable on-stage, many of whom have acted in front of
over 250,000 people who saw their shows. Most of those audiences were children
seeing live theater.
One feature of CATS
is unique to community theater schools.
"CATS always uses our kids as actors and tech crew in our shows,"
reported Kathey Ward, CATS Artistic Director.
"We use a few adult actors who act to support our kids on-stage, but
kids do most of the roles and crew work in most of the productions. Our kids get lots of opportunity to practice
their skills. It's the thing that most parents claim as the main reason for
choosing CATS."
The economic downturn
has hit arts and theater communities hard and CATS is no exception. Years of strong economic conditions, with
large donations, sponsorships, and grants have given way to sparse funding
opportunities in smaller amounts for more-focused projects. But costs for buildings, staff and operating
expenses grow unchecked. CATS had to
face the reality that it must cut costs to continue it's 30-year tradition of
providing theater arts training to the youth.
"We've had to
separate CATS from our building and put it up for sale," cites Bowles. "And we've had to separate some key people
who made this vision work, people who gave their hearts and souls to the Vision.
But the CATS tradition can thrive in any location if we sell the building. The tradition is the Vision and the children."
CATS will release its
educational schedule and 31st year of children's theater productions
by the end of June. And the Fall 2009
programs will roll-back prices and make changes to the schedules to allow more
children to experience the excitement of live theater.
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