ASHLAND —
Workers at the Paramount Arts Center in Ashland want to continue to teach area children about the arts, so they have applied for a grant in hopes to keep their youth education program afloat.
Kathy Setterman, executive director of the arts center, said they sent in an application for a $27,000 grant to the Kentucky Department of Local Government for Coal Severance Funds earlier this month. The application, which was due July 12, is still being processed. If the arts center receives the grant, the money will go to the Paramount Arts Center Youth Education Program, a large educational outreach that includes a myriad of projects.
“Funding keeps going down. It’s more and more difficult to keep up, but we want to continue to grow,” Setterman said.
Through the outreach, theatrical shows are produced, local school children are bused to and from the theater, the arts center hosts art academy classes, summer camps, acting and voice lessons and much more. The program has been around since 1972 and reaches about 55,000 children each year.
By being exposed to the arts, children learn much more than how to be creative, Setterman said.
“More and more when school budgets are tight, the first thing they cut is art instructors. There are no drama or art programs,” she said. “We introduce kids to all sorts of art forms. It helps them do better in their studies and broadens their outlook. It also makes them team players and helps build the workforce. They learn how to schedule themselves.”
The program is beneficial to local schools as well as to area children, Setterman said.
“Sometimes schools will have phys. ed. teachers teach dance, so we have our own dance teachers go in and teach the class. We can help schools meet curriculum requirements and then teach them how to do it themselves,” she said.
The programs also provide scholarships to disadvantaged children and works with Safe Harbor and Hope’s Place to allow children there to have a cultural experience, Setterman said.
“I think an arts education is empowering. It expands the mind,” she said.
Upcoming productions by the youth outreach include Camp Rock The Musical and Schoolhouse Rock Live.
SHANNON MILLER can be reached at smiller@dailyindependent.com or (606) 326-2657.
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