The Fox Cities Performing Arts Center Will Welcome its 400,000th Student

The Fox Cities Performing Arts Center has announced that it will welcome the 400,000th student to the Center today during the Amcor Education Series performance of ArtsPower's Production of Chicken Dance.

"Each year, the Education Series fills our theater and warms our hearts as students from throughout Northeast Wisconsin and beyond watch their classroom lessons come to life on stage," said Fox Cities P.A.C. president Maria VanLaanen. "The magic of seeing a student who understands a new classroom lesson or theme after seeing it in a new way - that's exciting every time, even at number 400,000."

The Amcor Education Series is a cornerstone of the Center's mission-based programming. As a local nonprofit organization, the Center partners with educators to expand their classrooms and encourage the influential power of the arts in quality education. The arts play a crucial role in shaping creative, well-rounded global citizens and dynamic 21st Century thinkers.

The Amcor Education Series offers weekday, matinee performances appropriate for school-aged students in grades PreK - 12. Each performance compliments Wisconsin Academic Standards, and is designed to accommodate a wide variety of programs, grade levels and subject areas to incorporate the live performing arts into the curriculum. In addition to music and dance, subjects like math, science, literature and social studies come to life on stage. To ensure the children's safety, tickets for this series are only available to public and private school educators, state-licensed family or group childcare centers and registered homeschools.

"As a sixth-grade teacher in Neenah, I have had the privilege of bringing students to the Fox Cities Performing Arts Center since they opened. The Center's focus on bringing meaningful, relevant, high-quality productions for such a great price make the Fox Cities P.A.C. accessible for all schools and grade levels," said Jason Fridley, sixth-grade teacher at Horace Mann Middle School. "Every year our students have experienced outstanding productions which in turn have led to great classroom discussions. The education series at the Fox Cities P.A.C. truly serves as an extension of the classroom. I love sharing the excitement with students experiencing the Center for their very first time."

On average, more than 24,000 students experience learning through the arts each year at an Amcor Education Series performance. Tickets are significantly subsidized, and are offered from $5 - $7 per student and a complimentary chaperone ticket is provided for every 15 students. Scholarship tickets are available to both individual students and full classes that could not otherwise attend due to financial limitations, making it possible for the arts to come alive for all.