Artists raise $12,994 for new student performing arts fund

• New Performing Arts Enrichment fund will provide financial support for students at Staunton, Waynesboro and Augusta County public high schools seeking participation in summer performing arts education programs.

In January, six performers performed a cabaret show to raise money for art students. They knew summer is the season for enrichment programs, camps, workshops and training.

“For students in the performing arts, some opportunities are exclusively available in the summer, and we wanted to promote greater access to the kinds of experiences we ourselves had found so transformative,” said one of the six performers, Diana Black.

The cabaret show generated $12,994.60 in net proceeds and will be administered by the Community Foundation of the Central Blue Ridge. It was such a success, the performers formed the group Shenandoah Cabaret and partnered with the Community Foundation to establish a new Performing Arts Enrichment (PAE) fund, they announced in a press release.

The PAE fund will provide financial support for students at Staunton, Waynesboro and Augusta County public high schools seeking participation in summer performing arts education programs. Eligible students will be selected for funding based on nominations from their high school performing arts teachers.

Funding will be awarded for nominated students to enroll in programs offered by educational institutions and nonprofit arts organizations. Guidelines are in development for schools and teachers on how to nominate students needing funding for assistance through the PAE fund, the release said.

Performer Jennifer Kirkland attended a four-week summer immersion program at the Indiana University School of Music when she was in high school. She took private lessons with faculty and participated in a large chorus, which gave a concert at the end of the program.

“There was this one section where the sopranos were singing way up in the stratosphere,” Kirkland recalled. “I will never forget how the sound we made together made me feel — it was as if the sky was literally opening up — I knew, then and there, that I would do whatever it took to study there.” Kirkland ended up attending the IU School of Music just a few years later, earning her degree.

For many emerging artists, summer offers unique opportunities to grow, collaborate and train.

Black spent her high school summers acting, singing, and dancing at Encore Stage and Studio in Arlington.

“My very first show, I was in 'My Fair Lady' as part of the ensemble," Black said in the release. "Our lead went on to win a Helen Hayes award; that’s how high-caliber the talent was. And before rehearsal, newcomers like me were given all the fundamental skills of theatre, the very same ones I teach to my students today at Silver Line [Theatre Exchange, a nonprofit in Staunton].”

Although she also participated in theater classes at school, this was a different type of project, Black said.

“It was such a committed, accelerated process. I was in the theatre for hours each day. It takes three months — roughly the length of a summer — to prepare for and stage a full-scale, traditional musical like that. It was a truly concentrated type of theatrical education.”

It was memories of intensive summer training that first motivated Kirkland and Black to organize “Songs from the Stage,” the cabaret benefit they performed with colleagues Sandi Belcher, Daniel Burrows, Jeremy Douylliez-Willis and Kemper McCauley, at Barren Ridge Vineyards in January.

"The enthusiasm for the show was overwhelming," said Kirkland. "We sold out completely and practically as soon as it was over, we had four gigs booked."

Under the new moniker of Shenandoah Cabaret, they will continue setting aside a portion of their earnings from each gig they perform for the PAE. “We want to see it grow and the community thrive,” Black said. “All of us care deeply about clearing a path for young artists.”

To make a contribution to the PAE fund, visit https://community-foundation-of-the-central-blue-ridge.networkforgood.com/projects/13578-making-a-difference-is-within-your-reach and select Peforming Arts Enrichment Fund from the drop-down menu. To learn more about Shenandoah Cabaret, visit shenandoahcabaret.com or follow them @Shencab on Instagram.

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Reporter Monique Calello can be reached at mcalello@newsleader.com. Subscribe to us at newsleader.com.

This article originally appeared on Staunton News Leader: Student performing arts fund Staunton Waynesboro Augusta County