Stages St. Louis Receives Boeing Grant

The Employee Community Fund of the Boeing Company generously has awarded STAGES St. Louis funding to support STAGES' Access the Arts programming. The grant will support staffing and costs for outreach residencies at partner sites as well as courses and workshops offered at the STAGES Performing Arts Academy in Chesterfield. Boeing's Employee Community Fund has been funding the Academy since 2006.

Since 2005, STAGES' Access the Arts programming has provided classes, workshops, and performance opportunities enabling children with physical, cognitive, and developmental challenges, including Down syndrome, visual impairments, and autism, to participate fully in the musical theatre arts. Dedicated to developing participants' skills in acting, singing, dance (and thereby the related areas of communication skills, speech and gross motor development) Access the Arts programs feature traditional musical theatre courses adapted to meet the needs of all participants.

Taught by professionally-trained teaching artists and special educators, Access the Arts includes year-round once-a-week classes, multi-week summer workshops, as well as the performing ensemble Troupe Broadway. This inspiring troupe of dedicated performers develops and rehearses a revue of classic musical theatre material to perform throughout the St. Louis area, providing its members an opportunity to share their talents with a broader audience while generating awareness of their own capabilities.

STAGES also brings its Access the Arts programming to a variety of partner schools and community groups throughout the St. Louis region, including St. Louis ARC North County, Promise Academy, Independence Center, and more. In addition to providing performing arts training, the Outreach Programs instill in students a love for the arts and a respect for the craft of the theatre professional.

Access the Arts is the only program of its kind in the St. Louis region and currently serves more than 350 students annually.

STAGES St. Louis is the region's foremost not-for-profit company committed to preserving and advancing the art form of Musical Theatre through excellence in performance and education. In

2015, STAGES celebrates its 29th year of producing Broadway-quality theatre, presenting 144 performances from May through October to nearly 50,000 patrons, during its mainstage season.