Each fall, thousands of Hampton Roads students get first-hand arts experience

By AMY POULTER
THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
AUGUST 31, 2019

Patrick Mullins stands before the Wells Theatre stage in downtown Norfolk. In front of him, a dozen or so students from all over the region await his next command.

“All right, that’s great,” Mullins says, “but I want to see those waves come up just a little higher, OK?”

About a half dozen of the young actors hold large props painted with blue swirls to look like waves. As they walk across the stage, the others run around them, mimicking swimmers tossing about in the surf.

They are rehearsing the opening scene of William Shakespeare’s “The Tempest,” which is part of the Virginia Stage Company’s Public Works program. Before they perform for an audience, cast and crew will endure five weeks of rehearsals, up to five nights a week for several hours at a time.

On this particular Thursday, the students successfully ran through about 90 seconds of the scene in one hour of rehearsal time. Mullins, who also serves as a director for the Virginia Stage Company, called out cues as he visualized the scene in real-time.

The eager actors, many having their first real on-stage experience, quickly followed his orders.

Mullins said the Public Works initiative gives more than 100 residents from the seven cities a chance to take part in a theater production alongside industry professionals. Of those taking part in the play, about half are younger than 18.

Performances of “The Tempest” will wrap up on Sept. 1, just as the arts season begins to bloom. And while thousands of patrons enjoy the performances, tens of thousands of young people will be exposed to the arts through the outreach efforts of local groups.

From schools and other organizations whose very purpose is to reach young people — like dance studios and youth theater companies — to the many professional and volunteer arts groups that have made outreach part of their mission — far more than can be mentioned in one article — young people in Hampton Roads are getting up-close and possibly life-changing encounters with art.

Every year, the Virginia Arts Festival alone helps up to 36,000 students – from kindergarten through college – work with performing and fine arts professionals or attend free productions on stages across Hampton Roads, according to Christine Foust, the festival’s director of education and community engagement.

Since the arts festival was created 1997, those education-related numbers have grown consistently, Foust said. What was once a springtime-only festival has become so big that the education efforts now start every September and last through May.

“It was around the 2012 season that we decided to make that push to go more intensive throughout the school year,” she said. “We ask almost every artist that performs to spend some time in a classroom.”

And most do. Foust said they plan about 100 class visits each season.

As public school spending on arts programs shrinks, programs like these are vital, Foust said. Arts education opportunities have steadily dwindled since the 1980s, according to a study released this year by the Houston Education Research System and Rice University’s Kinder Institute for Urban Research.

Student outreach programs pick up the slack, the study said. Not only do participating students engage more and develop arts-based empathy, but on average, school-community partnerships with local arts organizations “significantly reduce the proportion of students receiving disciplinary infractions.”

Often, they’re learning about much more than performing arts. These opportunities can be a springboard to talking about cultural and societal issues.

“When musicians come in and perform, they’ll often discuss the stories behind their music with the kids. It can turn into such amazing discussions and all of a sudden, they’re engaging with the artists with huge topics like racism,” Foust said.

It’s all because artists are able to come into a casual environment where students feel comfortable and are more likely to open up, she said.

“These more intimate settings foster so much of the kids. This kind of early exposure to the arts really shows students the possibilities they have and opens so many doors.”

The Pilobolus dance troupe, working through the Virginia Arts Festival, gives a masterclass at the Governor’s School for the Arts in Norfolk. (Courtesy of Kelly Darrell)

Educational outreach is aimed at older students, too.

Local college and university students pursuing their own artistic passions can rub elbows with leading professionals in their field.

Mark Reimer, director of music at Christopher Newport University, said their program routinely partners with the Ferguson Center for the Arts to bring in artists to perform and hold masterclasses every year.

Reimer said getting the artists in the same room with students dispels the myth that great artists don’t have to put in hard work to be discovered.

“The biggest benefit is that students realize there is no magic involved,” he said. “Students often think that an agent just found this artist, and their career was just made. This kind of opportunity reinforces the idea that, with all of their hard work, they can find their own success.”

Getting to sit down with a professional, perform for them and get feedback can be life-changing, Reimer said.

Amanda Kight, a vocal performance major at CNU, recently participated in the Torggler Vocal Institute’s two-week residency program on campus, which includes students and community members ages 15 to 25. Kight was able to work with professionals like vocalist Twyla Robinson, who is a member of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and has performed with the London Symphony Orchestra, New York Philharmonic and dozens of world-class performance groups.

“These masterclasses allow me to get feedback,” Kight said. “I also get practice performing for an audience, which builds confidence and helps me practice stage presence. It’s amazing to see how a fresh opinion or a new approach can help a young artist improve in a matter of minutes.”

Even if they’re not performing arts majors, students and their families can take advantage of offerings, Ferguson Center Executive Director Bruce Bronstein said. Several times a year, free or discounted tickets to shows are offered to organizations that bring in families with young children who are not already participating in the arts.

The university and performing arts center collaboration provides opportunities that are unmatched on liberal arts campuses, Bronstein said. Specifically, in the past several years, New York City theater producers and musicians have workshopped their projects on campus.

“We’ll have a New York creative team – a director, music supervisor, lighting designer – down here building a show and using CNU students to flesh it out,” he said.

Students will work as assistant choreographers, directors and stage managers in addition to acting and playing in the orchestra.

“Frankly, these are opportunities that they don’t even have at Julliard,” Bronstein said.

John Toomey, a professor at Old Dominion University’s Diehn School of Music, said similar opportunities are accessible in Norfolk. In addition to teaching and performing with his own group, Toomey curates the Attucks Jazz Club concert series in partnership with the Virginia Arts Festival and Seven Venues.

The concert series started several years ago, offering four Saturday shows. The format changed in 2017 when the educational component of the series was developed.

When artists sign up to perform in the series, some will agree to give clinics at public schools and ODU before the concert, Toomey said. The clinics on ODU’s campus are open to the public and students alike.

“What’s really inspiring for our students is that they’re used to seeing their professors every day. They’re happy to work with us, sure, but there’s something different, someone brand new coming in and giving them feedback,” he said.

The experience can leave a lasting impression.

Brooke Ward is studying music education at ODU. She also plays piano and performs with vocal and jazz ensembles.

When concert pianist Conrad Tao visited Newport News a few years ago, she was able to perform for him. Tao had been touring playing a Rachmaninoff concerto, and she just happened to be working on a prelude by the same Russian composer.

“Afterward, he sat with me and gave me so many pointers and tips on how to move forward and make my phrasing better,” she said. “It was incredibly shaping and formative for what I knew about the piece of music.”

The experience helped take her end product to the next level. An opportunity to perform “Carmina Burana” with the Virginia Symphony Orchestra was an equal boost to her education.

“There was so much camaraderie between the students and the symphony members. It made everything so much bigger and so exciting.”

When photographer Glen McClure enlisted ODU students to help with a portrait project, Isiah Babilonia got first-hand experience working on a professional shoot. He learned how to create and control the perfect light and how to use a variety of professional equipment, plus less artistic, but still important matters, like ensuring release forms were properly filled out and documented.

Babilonia, a communications major, said working opportunities for students are paramount because “it provides a window into the professional world.

“It showed me the professionalism and creativity it takes to make it in the art world.”