Mayor Hallman supports new Youth Endowment of the Arts pilot program

Mount Pleasant, South Carolina (March 16, 2005) – Mount Pleasant Mayor Harry M. Hallman, Jr., North Charleston Mayor Keith Summey, and Charleston Mayor Joe Riley unveiled recently the pilot program “Summer in the City” – an innovative scholarship program of The Youth Endowment for the Arts (YEA). The Youth Endowment for the Arts and the South of Broadway Theatre Company came together to develop an exciting project showcasing the most talented youth in South Carolina. This program is the first of its kind in the Lowcountry to find the best student talent in Charleston County. Charleston County schools – public, private, parochial - are staged for the pilot for performing arts scholarships in grades 6-12.

Students will have the unique opportunity to audition their talents for eight (8) scholarships representative of four disciplines in the performing arts - voice, dance, instrument, and theatre. Mayors Hallman, Summey and Riley, representing the largest sectors of the Greater Charleston area, have garnered each other’s support and endorsement for “Summer in the City” scholarship program. They have committed to help raise the major funding for this pilot program. Additionally the Mayors along with YEA and SOBTC are so confident of the success this first year will bring, that they are announcing now that next year’s (2006) “Summer in the City” scholarship program will expand to all Berkeley, Charleston and Dorchester students.

“Summer in the City” will give our young people an opportunity to be exposed to the performing arts at a level that most young people would only dream of, and I am delighted to be a part of it”, Mayor Hallman said.

“Summer in the City” is the natural child of South of Broadway Theatre Company’s (SOBTC) vision to produce Broadway quality theatre in South Carolina. The idea of a summer trip to New York City coalesced over a period of several weeks as I talked to my students about opportunities I would love to introduce them to through some of my colleagues at organizations like Juilliard, the Metropolitan Opera, and friends performing on Broadway“, states Mary Gould, Producer, SOBTC, and YEA Program. “Summer in the City” will be SOBTC’s second dynamic collaboration with YEA in less than a year.

Auditions will take place on Saturday, April 2, at 10:00 a.m., at The North Charleston Performing Arts Center, and will be closed to the public. Semi-final auditions will take place on Sunday, April 3, at 12 noon at The North Charleston Performing Arts Center. Auditions will require a formal registration by each student with their parent(s) &/or legal guardian(s) giving permission to receive the scholarship and agreeing to the criteria of the award. There will be a non-refundable $15 registration fee payable to the Youth Endowment for the Arts (YEA).

For more information call YEA at 308-0932 or by visiting the website at www.southofbroadway.com. Audition judges will be made up of professional performing arts sectors, and will be announced after confirmation of their acceptance. The eight students chosen to receive the scholarships will go to New York City for an exciting life altering experience. The residency will take place June 6 through July 15, 2005. Students will be fully chaperoned and housed at the famous Juilliard School of Music dormitories. Individual courses of intensive study will be designed for each participant, as well as a variety of workshops, classes and master classes with ‘names’ and well-known academicians in each field: New York’s finest including Robert White, Voice Faculty at the famous Juilliard School of Music, and ‘Power Performance’ workshops based on their book of the same name by Shirlee Emmons, renowned clinician in vocal pedagogy, and Performance Psychologist Alma Thomas.

Other opportunities include shadowing/auditing/interning with Manhattan Theatre Club’s musical theatre workshops sponsored by giant music publishers BMI and conductors and coaches of the Metropolitan Opera and Symphony. Students will attend an array of live performances encompassing Broadway, Dance, Symphony, Vocal Recitals and Jazz with world class artists. Students will get a bird’s eye view of performances on Broadway such as ‘The Lion King,’ ‘All Shook Up,’ and ‘Chitty Chitty Bang Bang’ which includes one of Charleston’s local talents, 8 year old Lurie Poston. Lurie was formally trained by Mary Gould, Producer of The South of Broadway Theatre Company.

In this inaugural year, YEA has committed to documenting these students’ life-altering experiences throughout their six-week residency in New York which will be viewed at a formal performance for the community in the fall (date and details TBD). The winning students are charged with bringing their experiences back to the Charleston community. They will return to their peers sharing their experiences and participate in mentoring other students through in-school programs.

“This is the type of program for our youth that our community has been crying for and on behalf of my fellow Mayors we urge the community to support “Summer in the City”, Mayor Summey said. YEA is ready to tailor sponsorships to attract all levels of the philanthropy – from individuals, small, large and corporate businesses. “This is exactly the program for us all to become involved with - individuals, corporations, churches, clubs, and associations,” Mayor Hallman added.