Paonia Players
In what ways does your organization work to empower individuals to serve their community?
· Kids in our programs put in a lot of time learning and perfecting songs and dances and then performing them for the community. We instill in our young performers the idea that our performance is not about us, but rather a gift that we give to the audience.
· It takes many people to put on a community theatre production. Volunteers work to make costumes and props, build sets, sell tickets, etc. Paonia Players truly could not do what we do without our volunteers. People who get involved in this way get as much (or more) out of it as they give, enjoying being a part of a creative team and feeling the pride that comes from watching an audience enjoy your efforts.
· At this year’s Harvest Festival, Paonia Players sponsored a multi-generational flash mob that gave the festival an extra special lift for those who participated in and those who witnessed the surprise dance. Special performances like that serve the community because they make people happy to live where these kinds of things happen.
· Broadway Bound, a sub-group of Paonia Players students, has been serving the community in various ways in an effort to fundraise for their upcoming trip to New York and because we feel it’s important to be involved in the community. The group has offered to rake leaves, has sung Christmas carols and served hot chocolate at the Blue Sage’s Gingerbread Festival, and, among other ideas, has plans to provide birthday party services for overwhelmed moms.
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· We provide arts education in a time when many arts programs are being cut from school budgets. Kids who participate in the Sunshine Singers, Paonia Pop Stars and North Fork Rock Stars get performing arts education that the schools are simply not giving them.
· Kids who participate in after school programs do better in school and get into less trouble in the community. Instead, they learn to work together to create something beautiful, to give the gift of song and dance to the community.
· Participants in Paonia Players programs learn more than just performing arts. In addition to building their confidence, they are learning important citizenship skills: listening, encouraging, taking responsibility for yourself, doing your best, forgiving each other. When more people in the community have these valuable skills, everybody benefits.
· Paonia Players after-school programs choose to perform numbers that send a positive message—for the audience as well as for the performers themselves. In a time when all of us can be bombarded with negativity, anger and despair, Paonia Players performances uplift and encourage.
How does your organization serve to build bridges between different people and groups in the community?
· Kids from all the North Fork schools are involved in our programs; We have students from Paonia Elementary, North Fork Montessori, Vision HCP, Paonia Jr. High, Hotchkiss K-8 and Hotchkiss High School, as well as some homeschooled kids. Our programs provide a way for kids to make new friends and interact with each other in a fun, creative way that, like sports, provides a sense of teamwork, but unlike sports, is not competitive, but rather collaborative.
· When it comes to production time, people of all ages and backgrounds come together to work on our performances. In the last show, our cast members ranged in age from five to seventy-years old. That cross-generational interaction is important and enriching for everyone.
Paonia Players would like to be able to involve even more people, but we can’t do it without some financial support. A scholarship fund would enable us to include kids from lower-income families—kids whose families can’t currently afford to enroll them in our programs. We don’t want to be an organization that only serves the people who can afford to be involved; We want to include everyone! With your support, we know we can grow the number of kids that can get involved and hopefully, continue building a strong community theatre for everyone.
Thank you.
Merrily Talbott, Director
paoniaplayers@gmail.com
970.361.1540
_
· Kids in our programs put in a lot of time learning and perfecting songs and dances and then performing them for the community. We instill in our young performers the idea that our performance is not about us, but rather a gift that we give to the audience.
· It takes many people to put on a community theatre production. Volunteers work to make costumes and props, build sets, sell tickets, etc. Paonia Players truly could not do what we do without our volunteers. People who get involved in this way get as much (or more) out of it as they give, enjoying being a part of a creative team and feeling the pride that comes from watching an audience enjoy your efforts.
· At this year’s Harvest Festival, Paonia Players sponsored a multi-generational flash mob that gave the festival an extra special lift for those who participated in and those who witnessed the surprise dance. Special performances like that serve the community because they make people happy to live where these kinds of things happen.
· Broadway Bound, a sub-group of Paonia Players students, has been serving the community in various ways in an effort to fundraise for their upcoming trip to New York and because we feel it’s important to be involved in the community. The group has offered to rake leaves, has sung Christmas carols and served hot chocolate at the Blue Sage’s Gingerbread Festival, and, among other ideas, has plans to provide birthday party services for overwhelmed moms.
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· We provide arts education in a time when many arts programs are being cut from school budgets. Kids who participate in the Sunshine Singers, Paonia Pop Stars and North Fork Rock Stars get performing arts education that the schools are simply not giving them.
· Kids who participate in after school programs do better in school and get into less trouble in the community. Instead, they learn to work together to create something beautiful, to give the gift of song and dance to the community.
· Participants in Paonia Players programs learn more than just performing arts. In addition to building their confidence, they are learning important citizenship skills: listening, encouraging, taking responsibility for yourself, doing your best, forgiving each other. When more people in the community have these valuable skills, everybody benefits.
· Paonia Players after-school programs choose to perform numbers that send a positive message—for the audience as well as for the performers themselves. In a time when all of us can be bombarded with negativity, anger and despair, Paonia Players performances uplift and encourage.
How does your organization serve to build bridges between different people and groups in the community?
· Kids from all the North Fork schools are involved in our programs; We have students from Paonia Elementary, North Fork Montessori, Vision HCP, Paonia Jr. High, Hotchkiss K-8 and Hotchkiss High School, as well as some homeschooled kids. Our programs provide a way for kids to make new friends and interact with each other in a fun, creative way that, like sports, provides a sense of teamwork, but unlike sports, is not competitive, but rather collaborative.
· When it comes to production time, people of all ages and backgrounds come together to work on our performances. In the last show, our cast members ranged in age from five to seventy-years old. That cross-generational interaction is important and enriching for everyone.
Paonia Players would like to be able to involve even more people, but we can’t do it without some financial support. A scholarship fund would enable us to include kids from lower-income families—kids whose families can’t currently afford to enroll them in our programs. We don’t want to be an organization that only serves the people who can afford to be involved; We want to include everyone! With your support, we know we can grow the number of kids that can get involved and hopefully, continue building a strong community theatre for everyone.
Thank you.
Merrily Talbott, Director
paoniaplayers@gmail.com
970.361.1540
_
