| School Name: |
Newark Catholic High School
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| Program Name: |
Save the Arts - A Gateway to Learning
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| District Name: |
Newark
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| Program Category: |
Shine
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| Program Description: |
When school budgets get cut and more and more focus is on testing, it’s commonly the art, drama and music departments that get the brunt of the cuts.
At Newark Catholic, we strongly feel that the arts are an integral part of our curricular and co-curricular programs and it's important to support those initiatives. We believe that it is morally and ethically incumbent upon us to foster the creativity, dreams, hopes, and imaginations of our students.
The Arts at Newark Catholic have been part of Newark Catholic since 1958, however every year it becomes harder and harder to garner money for these programs. The Drama Department alone has an average of 55 students per production which is 20% of our small student body of 280 students.
Every year NC Drama Department puts on two major productions; the Spring Cabaret and an on stage Musical. These productions cost close to $9000.00 per year to pull off successfully. Costumes, sets, props, lighting, orchestra, choreographer, storage and auditorium rental all add up.
This year and for years to come, we are facing a potential cutback in funding. The NBC4 grant would allow us to continue to provide our young adults at Newark Catholic a creative outlet that in many cases may not be provided anywhere else. For this reason alone, we are asking for this grant to keep our programs thriving.
Recently the Drama Department held a fundraiser at a local Chipotle (who gives back 50% of their proceeds) and raised $800.
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| Impact Of Grant: |
Numerous studies have demonstrated a correlation between drama involvement and academic achievement. In addition to having higher standardized test scores than their peers who do not experience the arts, student who participate in drama often experience improved reading comprehension, maintain better attendance records, and stay generally more engaged in school than their non-arts counterparts. Arts programs have been shown to improve students’ self-esteem as well as their confidence in their academic abilities.
A $10,000 grant for the Newark Catholic Arts Department would have a substantial impact on our ability to continue producing our two major productions each year as well as enable us to purchase royalties to recently released shows that students have great interest in performing in. We would also purchase Wireless Headsets and would be able to continue to hold our winter musical at the local Midland Theater in Newark. By holding the production at the Midland, we can sell more tickets, which in turn provides us the opportunity to raise more money to put back in to the program the following year.
As educators at Newark Catholic we believe the arts play a major role in the future success of the education system; helping young adults to learn important lessons in teamwork and develop the freedom to be their selves.
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| School Classification: |
Small (enrollment 1-400)
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