This issue of NASAA's Partners publication is the third in a series on state arts agency projects assisted by the National Endowment for the Arts' Challenge America program.
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How do you bring live theater to schools that have few or no resources to support it? Performer Elizabeth Gilroy has one solution: "Portability is the key," she explains in describing the Schoolhouse Players, a six-person theater troupe based in Montgomery, Alabama. "We've performed in gyms, libraries and cafeterias in areas as small as 12 feet by 12 feet. Many of the schools we visit simply don't have the resources or space to bring in larger groups. Very often, we bring the kids their first taste of live theater. They come into the space not knowing what to expect, and leave with a sense of wonder and exhilaration."
Because they focus on "theater of the imagination," the Schoolhouse Players can perform their mix of traditional and original fairy tales virtually anywhere. They don't need special lights, sound, set design, or even a room to change costumes. Kids and teachers are asked to come up and become caves, trees or houses, as well as characters that improvise dialogue. The audience is encouraged to laugh, scream and point, to aid the action.
The Schoolhouse Players are just one troupe of performing artists involved in the Alabama State Council on the Arts' Rural School Touring Program. The arts council initiated this remarkably simple program in 1997 to serve rural areas (65 percent of its four million people live outside the four urban centers). With a boost in funding from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Challenge America program, they expanded it to include inner city schools just last year.
The arts council works closely with the Alabama Department of Education to target the state's 150 "underachieving" schools for inclusion in the program. Each one is invited to select an artist from the council's school roster and the council covers the entire cost of the performance. Last year alone, the program brought jazz, blues, theater, dance and storytelling to over 11,000 students, almost half of whom were seeing a live performance for the first time. By these measures, Alabama is clearly addressing a key goal of the NEA's Challenge America initiative: increasing access to the arts, especially for youth.
But, exposure alone is not enough to make the program a success, says Arts in Education Program Manager Barbara Edwards. "Our goal is to demonstrate the power of the arts and the role they play in education."
One person who has been convinced is Terese Goodson, principal of E.D. Nixon Elementary School in Montgomery. "Our 650 students are from high-crime, high-poverty, inner-city neighborhoods," she explains. "There are five housing projects in our district and 97 percent of the students qualify for the reduced lunch program. My budget is clearly earmarked by the state with no discretionary funds for buying emergency clothes for the kids, much less an arts performance."
 The Schoolhouse Players' "theatre of the imagination" engages students and gives teachers a tool to improve classroom learning.
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A few years ago, the school's test scores were so low they were placed on "alert" status by the Department of Education. That's when the arts council invited them to apply to the School Touring Program. Says Goodson, "I had never written a grant before, but with their help I tried and we got it. The kids were fascinated by the show and some of our teachers used the artist curricula ideas to follow up with a writing unit based on Aladdin. ÔIf you had the magic lamp,' they asked their students, Ôwhat would you wish for?' It was a great success."
Since then, a number of E.D. Nixon teachers have attended workshops funded by the arts council that focused on using the arts to teach subjects like math, science and history. "There is a real snowball effect when teachers are willing to jump in and feed the kids' enthusiasm," observes Goodson. "A few years ago, teachers here used the traditional textbook approach. Now, with a more hands-on, creative direction, the kids seem to be learning so much more. The arts open up so many possibilities to improve our academic performance."
That improvement has already begun. E.D. Nixon is no longer on alert status. The new focus creates a more inviting environment, especially for parents who now see their children's work on display. In addition, the confidence Goodson got from that first arts council contact has led to continued success writing grants.
"E.D. Nixon shows the potential of our program," Edwards says, "but in the hour or so our performers visit the schools, all we can do is plant a seed. We take great care to select artists who will ensure a good experience for the school, but it's the teachers and administrators who need to build on that energy and use the arts in new and exciting ways."
To help encourage those next steps, the arts council works closely with the schools to identify local funding resources. It also assists the touring artists in developing exercises, ideas and curricula materials for the classroom teachers to use as a follow-up to the performance. When successful, this provides a secondary impact that far exceeds the initial goal of exposing kids to a live show.
"The most rewarding part for us," troupe member Gilroy believes, "is when teachers use a Schoolhouse Players performance as a springboard and continue to use theater in their classrooms to teach reading, history, math and science. We're able to show teachers they don't need fancy stuff to pull this off."
Math in Motion, created by the Children's Dance Foundation, has been part of the School Touring Program since the beginning. Their dances use wordplay and simple props to connect language and math with movement and music. "Essentially, we make something out of nothing," explains dancer Mary Fonshee. "In most of the communities we visit, social dancing is part of the cultural core, but few have ever seen a performance. We stretch the kids' concept of dance and help them visualize math at the same time."
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Rural School Touring Program Snapshot
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With a median income well below the national average, and almost one-quarter of its children below the poverty line, Alabama is trying its best with very limited resources. While the state funds its K-12 educational system at a D+ level ($5,657 per student), it is able to achieve B- academic results. Still, Alabama ranks 47th in the nation in high school graduates and has only a C+ dropout rate. Clearly the schools are looking for new ways to hold their students' interest and develop enthusiasm for learning.
Tom Wolfe is the director of jazz studies at the University of Alabama and one of the top jazz guitarists in the Southeast. Despite a very full calendar, he's agreed to be on Alabama's school roster. "I enjoy getting out there, talking with the kids and putting something in front of them they probably won't see otherwise," he says. His school concerts are often a historical sampler of jazz styles, including its blues and Latin roots, be-bop and swing. "It's wonderful to travel to schools way out in rural Alabama, places where principals feel they need to give the students instructions on how to sit through a concert because they've never been to one before. We're gratified to find the kids not only well behaved, but enthralled with our music and full of questions for us."
 Math in Motion, performed by the Children's Dance Foundation, connects language and math with movement.
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Many of these schools don't know how to approach performers even if they have the money. The arts council plays an essential role in making that connection. "The Challenge America funds have allowed the council to reach a greater number of geographically and culturally underserved areas of Alabama," Edwards observes. "Not only have we brought the arts to them, but we've been able to provide opportunities for our performing artists to increase their skill and get exposure to new audiences."
Executive Director Al Head sums up the program's success: "I think our Rural School Touring Program is a great fit in the arts council's efforts to make the arts central to community life. We're reaching thousands of students who have never seen a performance, giving educators new tools for teaching, providing Alabama's artists with a chance to build new audiences, and helping some of our struggling schools develop a new sense of pride."
Partners is a publication of the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies, 1029 Vermont Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20005, 202/347-6352, e-mail nasaa@nasaa-arts.org. © 2002. All rights reserved.
Editors: Kimber Craine and Jill Hauser
Design: Benson Design
Source and photos: Alabama State Council on the Arts
Partners is published in cooperation with the National Endowment for the Arts. The work of NASAA and of state arts agencies is supported and strengthened in many ways through funding and programming partnerships with the Endowment.