The Arts Campus at Willits launches new teen apprenticeship program
Deadline is Oct. 18 for Roaring Fork Valley students interested in applying
There’s a new way Roaring Fork Valley high schoolers can learn more about performing arts.
The Arts Campus At Willits (TACAW) recently launched a new teen apprenticeship program. Referred to as becoming an Arts Influencer, local teens can delve into the world of making a live performance happen.
By joining, students will learn behind-the-curtain production, promote community engagement, attend live events and provide critique, and so much more, according to TACAW Education Manager Anna Feiss.
“Let’s have them give us feedback … Did you really like that choir performance? Did you really like that cellist?” she said of student apprentices. “(It’s) getting in there and being present at some of those events. Maybe they’re taking pictures and videos and interviewing people if they want to take over and do a little education at TACAW, or social media.”
Since opening, TACAW has maintained youth programming for elementary and middle school students. According to Feiss, however, its new apprenticeship program aims to offer formal opportunities for older teens — especially if they want a place to go on a Friday night.
“We wanted some more formal opportunities for teenagers that made sense with what teenagers are looking for, and what high schoolers are looking for,” she said. “And especially juniors and seniors thinking about a desire for leadership opportunity, a desire for community engagement often, and for something where their voices can be heard, and that pairing up nicely with this concept of positive youth development.”
TACAW began accepting apprenticeship applications in August. Hoping to receive between 8-10 students from Roaring Fork School District high schools, as well as Aspen High School, the deadline for applications is Oct. 18. Students can apply by clicking on the Arts Influencer link at tacaw.org/education.
“Maybe I would want to be a performer on stage, or maybe I would want to do lighting and sound production, or maybe I really want to get into events management,” Feiss said of what participants might want to get exposed to. “There’s so much from a potential future career perspective that they can get exposed to here.”
By doing so, TACAW Executive Director Ryan Honey said it will provide students a real opportunity and responsibility for the venue to identify and empower kids who realize and discover “that the performing arts are their thing.”
“We’re trying to give an opportunity and a pathway for kids who are really into the performing arts, and really finding their voice to the performing arts, to have access to professional artists, to professional arts administrators, and to discover what their path might look like in the field of their performing arts,” he said.
Take, for instance, booking an artist — a process he is all too familiar with.
“There’s so much more behind the scenes that most people don’t realize is there. There’s obviously the lights and the sound and the audio visual production, which is part of the experience. But there’s the booking process,” he said. “How do you program a venue and how do you do the contracts? There’s a marketing piece of it … How do you get the word out about a show?”
Honey said there is a philanthropy piece of it and physical plan in running a nonprofit performing arts center.
“How do you maintain a theater so that your guests and the artists are having the best possible experience?” he said. “And our goal is to give every kid who wants it a chance to learn about these different areas.”
Feiss, with a background in education, said Art Influencers will help her look toward the future by coming up with creative ideas.
“I want every kid in the valley to have been exposed to the performing arts, like seeing someone perform on a stage, and to know what live music and live theater and live dance and all these things look like,” she said. “This is one pillar of that.”
Ray K. Erku can be reached at (970) 429-9120 or rerku@aspentimes.com.
Four men arrested for Aspen jewelry burglary
The Aspen Police Department arrested four men Tuesday for allegedly burglarizing Avi & Co. jewelry between late Sunday night and early Monday morning.
Basalt football handles the snow and the Wildcats in easy playoff win
The game was delayed by 30 minutes after a winter storm left a few inches of snow on the field prior to the original 1 p.m. kickoff. A lot of shoveling later and some afternoon sunshine provided quite the canvas for the win-or-done contest.