Nonprofit Spotlight, 8/8/13 Edition: Actors' Shakespeare project
By Kristen Saulnier
“The quality of mercy is not strain'd,
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath. It is twice blest:
It blesseth him that gives and him that takes.”
-Portia, The Merchant of Venice
Ask anyone what they think it means to have a thriving, well-funded arts community in their city, and you’ll probably hear something about aesthetics and culture. While this is undoubtedly true, the arts do so much more for community building. Participation in the arts fosters important conversations, encourages healthy expression, builds relationships, and helps commerce thrive.
Funding for the arts, however, is frequently a problem, and arts-based nonprofits must get creative in order to stay on mission. One organization that
quite literally takes a creative approach is Actors’ Shakespeare Project (ASP). The Boston-area theater arts organization, which launches its 10th anniversary season his fall with “Romeo and Juliet,” combines a love of the Bard’s works with a mission to use those works to enrich lives. Along with a season of performances by the resident acting company, ASP provides intensives and workshops for theater teachers and students alike, as well as a successful program with Massachusetts Department of Youth Services (DYS) for at-risk youth.
Being Adaptive in the Face of Funding Challenges
Sara Stackhouse, ASP’s Executive Director, speaks to some of the challenges of being a performance-based non-profit, noting that changes in
technology and the economy have affected operations, marketing and funding. “Patron habits are evolving as technology changes. When we started the company, people often bought their tickets 2-4 weeks out. Today, people decide what they are going to do on Saturday on a Friday. They have access to everything that's happening in Boston and can buy tickets through a number of outlets. So, they have much more freedom and flexibility.” While this is a boon for patrons, it does make sales predictions more difficult for the organization. Shifting foundation priorities also require ASP to be agile and adaptive when it’s time to reapply for funding.
Stackhouse notes that there is room for improvement when it comes to public support and funding for the arts. “Organizations like MassCreative are working to help the public recognize the crucial value of the arts and to advocate that they be supported more substantially by both political leaders and public funding. This is critical right now. The artists of Boston – many of whom are truly stellar and lifelong, dedicated, talented artists and teachers – often have to work 3 to 4 jobs in order to make ends meet even after a 30-year career. These artists are the primary supporters of the arts in Boston in many ways. I think it is part of the reason that Actors' Shakespeare Project focuses so much energy on having a resident acting company, supporting an artistic community, and creating an artistic home for people.” Indeed, ASP is pleased to be celebrating the launch of its 10th Anniversary season with a move to a permanent rehearsal space at the Armory in Somerville, a town right outside of Boston.
To mount a successful production season and run community programs, all of ASP’s individual components must work together in harmony. What’s their secret? “Relationships are the key to everything,” Stackhouse explains. “Our volunteers, our interns, our staff, board, our patrons, and the artists and teachers are at the heart of our company. All get stronger when we have good relationships with one another.” She continues, “We are interested in what our volunteers think. We know who they are. We work hard to have them feel like part of the family and we really value what they do.”
Building Futures with Verses from the Past
In 2010, there were 70,792 incarcerated youth in the United States. While there are no national recidivism statistics on juveniles, juvenile offenders are 67% more likely to end up incarcerated again by the age of 25 than those who were never incarcerated.
Multiple studies(1) conducted over the last 15 years have shown that all kinds of youth who participate in theater arts show improvements in self-esteem, language processing, resiliency and school performance. They have lower dropout rates and higher standardized test scores. A recent major study on at-risk youth by the California Endowment for the Arts found that “involvement in the arts is an unparalleled means for young people to develop the strength, resiliency, and self-image that allow them to participate in society on healthy terms.” It is this evidence that prompted ASP to gear its Youth Programs toward DYS and incarcerated youth.
“It is a powerful program,” says Stackhouse. “We do Shakespeare residencies in 4-7 treatment facilities each year, working with youth ages 13 to 21.” ASP’s teaching artists form an ensemble with the facilities’ youth and staff. “[They] work on voice, movement, fight, text work, acting and scene work,
and journaling, all of which culminates in a performance at the end of the project for parents, facility staff, and ASP members.” The program doesn’t end
when youths are released. “We work hard to maintain a relationship with them and engage them in our afterschool programs and our Summer Youth Intensive program,” both of which have their home at the Charlestown Working Theater. “We have also had several DYS teachers come and take ASP's Summer Teacher Institute at Salem State University, so we are working together on shared artistic and teaching practices for the classroom. A lot of beautiful work has been done in partnership with DYS and by DYS youth.”
Stackhouse says she finds it amazing how much the program transforms the kids. “There are youth who think at the beginning of the program that they will never get up in front of people and speak – [and by the end] they end up singing, dancing and performing with gusto. The other thing that has been great to discover is that the teachers in the DYS facilities report a change in their own expectations of the youth after seeing what they can do in this program. The program can have a real effect on the culture and relationships between teachers and youth in the facilities.”
Lessons Learned
Communication is the linchpin of the program, as all parties involved with the youth need to be kept engaged and on the same page. “We work with DYS staff,” says Stackhouse, “who are really great partners and are doing incredible work to support young people, and we also work with case workers, teachers in DYS facilities, parents and the youth themselves.
“One of the most important things [we’ve learned] is to have contiguous educational experiences for the youth,” says Stackhouse of how the program has been refined since its inception. Initially, ASP ran a few after-school programs at different points in the year. They now run regular programming throughout the academic year as well as the summer youth intensive. In this way, they are able to develop all-important long-term relationships with
the youth, the kind of long-term relationships that have been proven to help them stay on the right track.
“We are thrilled that beginning in fall 2013, we will be in residence at the Charlestown Working Theater year-round so we will be able to sustain this kind of programming,” says Stackhouse. “This expansion of youth programming is another major piece of our 10th anniversary.” -ks
Like Actors’ Shakespeare Project on Facebook, and join their email list: https://www.facebook.com/ASPBoston
Check out ASP’s production of “Romeo and Juliet,” kicking off the 10th anniversary season this fall: http://www.actorsshakespeareproject.org
To donate or subscribe to ASP, visit https://web.ovationtix.com/trs/store/921
1 http://www.americansforthearts.org/public_awareness/artsed_facts/highlights/drama.asp
“The quality of mercy is not strain'd,
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath. It is twice blest:
It blesseth him that gives and him that takes.”
-Portia, The Merchant of Venice
Ask anyone what they think it means to have a thriving, well-funded arts community in their city, and you’ll probably hear something about aesthetics and culture. While this is undoubtedly true, the arts do so much more for community building. Participation in the arts fosters important conversations, encourages healthy expression, builds relationships, and helps commerce thrive.
Funding for the arts, however, is frequently a problem, and arts-based nonprofits must get creative in order to stay on mission. One organization that
quite literally takes a creative approach is Actors’ Shakespeare Project (ASP). The Boston-area theater arts organization, which launches its 10th anniversary season his fall with “Romeo and Juliet,” combines a love of the Bard’s works with a mission to use those works to enrich lives. Along with a season of performances by the resident acting company, ASP provides intensives and workshops for theater teachers and students alike, as well as a successful program with Massachusetts Department of Youth Services (DYS) for at-risk youth.
Being Adaptive in the Face of Funding Challenges
Sara Stackhouse, ASP’s Executive Director, speaks to some of the challenges of being a performance-based non-profit, noting that changes in
technology and the economy have affected operations, marketing and funding. “Patron habits are evolving as technology changes. When we started the company, people often bought their tickets 2-4 weeks out. Today, people decide what they are going to do on Saturday on a Friday. They have access to everything that's happening in Boston and can buy tickets through a number of outlets. So, they have much more freedom and flexibility.” While this is a boon for patrons, it does make sales predictions more difficult for the organization. Shifting foundation priorities also require ASP to be agile and adaptive when it’s time to reapply for funding.
Stackhouse notes that there is room for improvement when it comes to public support and funding for the arts. “Organizations like MassCreative are working to help the public recognize the crucial value of the arts and to advocate that they be supported more substantially by both political leaders and public funding. This is critical right now. The artists of Boston – many of whom are truly stellar and lifelong, dedicated, talented artists and teachers – often have to work 3 to 4 jobs in order to make ends meet even after a 30-year career. These artists are the primary supporters of the arts in Boston in many ways. I think it is part of the reason that Actors' Shakespeare Project focuses so much energy on having a resident acting company, supporting an artistic community, and creating an artistic home for people.” Indeed, ASP is pleased to be celebrating the launch of its 10th Anniversary season with a move to a permanent rehearsal space at the Armory in Somerville, a town right outside of Boston.
To mount a successful production season and run community programs, all of ASP’s individual components must work together in harmony. What’s their secret? “Relationships are the key to everything,” Stackhouse explains. “Our volunteers, our interns, our staff, board, our patrons, and the artists and teachers are at the heart of our company. All get stronger when we have good relationships with one another.” She continues, “We are interested in what our volunteers think. We know who they are. We work hard to have them feel like part of the family and we really value what they do.”
Building Futures with Verses from the Past
In 2010, there were 70,792 incarcerated youth in the United States. While there are no national recidivism statistics on juveniles, juvenile offenders are 67% more likely to end up incarcerated again by the age of 25 than those who were never incarcerated.
Multiple studies(1) conducted over the last 15 years have shown that all kinds of youth who participate in theater arts show improvements in self-esteem, language processing, resiliency and school performance. They have lower dropout rates and higher standardized test scores. A recent major study on at-risk youth by the California Endowment for the Arts found that “involvement in the arts is an unparalleled means for young people to develop the strength, resiliency, and self-image that allow them to participate in society on healthy terms.” It is this evidence that prompted ASP to gear its Youth Programs toward DYS and incarcerated youth.
“It is a powerful program,” says Stackhouse. “We do Shakespeare residencies in 4-7 treatment facilities each year, working with youth ages 13 to 21.” ASP’s teaching artists form an ensemble with the facilities’ youth and staff. “[They] work on voice, movement, fight, text work, acting and scene work,
and journaling, all of which culminates in a performance at the end of the project for parents, facility staff, and ASP members.” The program doesn’t end
when youths are released. “We work hard to maintain a relationship with them and engage them in our afterschool programs and our Summer Youth Intensive program,” both of which have their home at the Charlestown Working Theater. “We have also had several DYS teachers come and take ASP's Summer Teacher Institute at Salem State University, so we are working together on shared artistic and teaching practices for the classroom. A lot of beautiful work has been done in partnership with DYS and by DYS youth.”
Stackhouse says she finds it amazing how much the program transforms the kids. “There are youth who think at the beginning of the program that they will never get up in front of people and speak – [and by the end] they end up singing, dancing and performing with gusto. The other thing that has been great to discover is that the teachers in the DYS facilities report a change in their own expectations of the youth after seeing what they can do in this program. The program can have a real effect on the culture and relationships between teachers and youth in the facilities.”
Lessons Learned
Communication is the linchpin of the program, as all parties involved with the youth need to be kept engaged and on the same page. “We work with DYS staff,” says Stackhouse, “who are really great partners and are doing incredible work to support young people, and we also work with case workers, teachers in DYS facilities, parents and the youth themselves.
“One of the most important things [we’ve learned] is to have contiguous educational experiences for the youth,” says Stackhouse of how the program has been refined since its inception. Initially, ASP ran a few after-school programs at different points in the year. They now run regular programming throughout the academic year as well as the summer youth intensive. In this way, they are able to develop all-important long-term relationships with
the youth, the kind of long-term relationships that have been proven to help them stay on the right track.
“We are thrilled that beginning in fall 2013, we will be in residence at the Charlestown Working Theater year-round so we will be able to sustain this kind of programming,” says Stackhouse. “This expansion of youth programming is another major piece of our 10th anniversary.” -ks
Like Actors’ Shakespeare Project on Facebook, and join their email list: https://www.facebook.com/ASPBoston
Check out ASP’s production of “Romeo and Juliet,” kicking off the 10th anniversary season this fall: http://www.actorsshakespeareproject.org
To donate or subscribe to ASP, visit https://web.ovationtix.com/trs/store/921
1 http://www.americansforthearts.org/public_awareness/artsed_facts/highlights/drama.asp
