ETC's award-winning education and engagement programs provide inclusive arts experiences to our community at our Over-the-Rhine location, throughout the region, and nationwide. In-school programming like the Prelude, Hunter Heartbeat, and new At Rise programs, bring arts to the classroom, complementing and integrating with existing curriculum to enhance student learning. Onsite offerings, including the Professional Apprenticeship Program, Fairy Godmother Program, Teen Scene, Summer Camp, ETC Essentials, the ETC Studio Series, our Engagement Wall, and Meet-the-Artist discussions invite students and patrons of all ages to join us at ETC for in-depth experiences which often tie into the themes of our main stage productions. Meals 4 Monologues and Expectations of Christmas benefit neighboring nonprofits Freestore Foodbank and Tender Mercies. Education staff participate in and present at national conferences and specific consulting engagements to share ETC’s expertise in the Hunter Heartbeat Method, sensory-friendly programming, and other areas of arts education and audience engagement.
Goals/Objectives:
Outcomes applicable to all Inclusive Arts Education programs:
1. Providing programs with priority given to students at under-resourced schools and audience members experiencing financial hardship to participate at free or minimal prices
2. Introducing participants to theatre as a positive, accessible, creative, and emotional outlet
3. Improving participants’ aptitudes in literacy and other curricular areas through arts integration in the classroom;
4. Increasing interest in and affinity for the arts among today’s youth – our future audiences and artists; and
5. Inspiring participants to explore the themes and issues raised in the stories shared through our productions and programs, reflect on connections to their own lives, and learn more about those with different lived experiences than their own.
Goals for individual programs:
Prelude teaches life skills such as confidence, discipline, dedication, and work ethic, as well as 21st Century skills such as creative and collaborative problem solving and critical thinking.
Hunter Heartbeat enhances the lives of people with autism and other developmental disabilities by teaching social skills and adaptability using theatre techniques, and encouraging them to apply both their artistic and social skills.
Teen Scene develops our future audiences and artists.
Fairy Godmother provides live theatre to under-resourced schools and audiences at reduced or free admission.
Summer Camp teaches acting and technical theatre to local youth and employs local artists.
The Apprentice Company provides a smooth transition to professional theatre for emerging artists, encouraging them to consider Cincinnati as a long-term home.
Audience Engagement programs (ETC Essentials, Meet the Artist, and the Engagement Wall) bring greater depth to the patron experience, enabling guests to consider a variety of perspectives and explore the social issues and questions raised in our productions.
The ETC Studio Series showcases local artists and their work and enhances the season through staged readings of new works, with the ultimate aim of developing them into pieces which can be commissioned as main stage world premieres at ETC and beyond.
Grant Evaluation Report:
After three seasons of unprecedented challenges, what a joy and relief to be able to meet our goals and objectives. While any post-COVID return was undeniably a success, the slow growth in numbers served was a disappointing part of that process. That slow return was on par with other arts organizations across the country, and while some are now faced with closing due to depleted COVID relief funding, we are proud and humbled to be in a position to keep moving forward. Proud because it has been a herculean task to rebuild, reimagine, and reinforce what Ensemble creates with and provides for our community. Humbled because we know we could have never done it without the unwavering support of organizations like the Dater Foundation.
With continued safety standards and precautions as well as strong, transparent partnerships with teachers, school administrators, parents, and patrons we know our return and demonstrated growth is sustainable. Lessons learned through the shutdown and this ongoing return to "normal" has helped us to see more clearly where successful programming can expand and evolve, where lackluster programming can be retooled or eliminated, and where future programming has fertile ground to grow from.
Our Inclusive Arts Education program is at the very heart of why we do what we do and what a difference the arts can make in the lives of everyone in our community.
Results:
Throughout all our programming this season, we saw healthy growth in numbers of community members served and were thrilled when that growth inspired new and robust planning for future expansion of what we offer through education and engagement, what we are now calling our Inclusive Arts Education program.
The generous funding from the Dater Foundation directly provided for ETC’s education programming in 2022-2023 through support for staff, teaching artists, supplies & materials, and technology.
Because of this ongoing support, ETC is able to continue our dedication not only to award winning educational programming but also removing barriers to accessibility ensuring patrons, students, and school participation, regardless of their socioeconomic backgrounds. The season presented us with some unexpected challenges including higher than normal gas prices and driver shortages which led to increased expenses for our Fairy Godmother programming. Despite this, our DANCING PRINCESSES performances engaged and entertained 1527 students and teachers from across the region, bringing us within reach of pre-pandemic attendance numbers.
Our Hunter Heartbeat grew in numbers served and provided the inspiration for our first annual Inclusive Arts Education conference, with planning for this fall 2023 event building throughout this season. This first conference will welcome the founder of the Hunter Heartbeat Method (HHM) Kelly Hunter as our distinguished speaker, offering intensive HHM training for our teaching artists, apprentices, educators and community members from across the region. As it evolves each year, we will explore and share impactful and proven methods for integrating the arts into every day learning with a specific focus on ensuring accessibility to this programming for students of all physical and neurological abilities. Part of the planning during this season has been connecting with Dr. Jennifer Smith of Cincinnati Children's Hospital to unlock more data driven ways to measure the success we've experienced through this programming. We are thrilled to welcome facilitators from three different countries and across the country to foster new programming based on the best practices discovered by each participating teaching artist. It is the steady growth of our HHM programming through this season, reaching 304 students through 487 sessions for a total of 4741 contacts with students, teachers and parents.
This season also saw a strong return of our Teen Scene, Meet-the-Artist gatherings, our Show Up! series for young professionals, and ETC Essentials which invite patrons and community members to take a deeper dive into the themes of each of our mainstage productions. As these numbers grew, it allowed for us to solidify future plans for the full return of our Studio Series, season-long programming that brings education and engagement into each event. We will use this supplemental programming to explore the creative process, welcoming guest speakers, and providing community access to the arts, all while intentionally creating a safe space for civil dialogue surrounding the themes of our mainstage productions. These onsite engagement events welcomed 384 guests of all ages.
During the pandemic, many local and national peer organizations made the hard decision to eliminate or significantly scale back their apprentice programs. After serious consideration, ETC decided to double down instead. As we dug deeper into the numbers of participants and the impact this training opportunity has had on our organization and the region, we knew we had to strengthen this professional opportunity. As of this season, we have trained over 400 apprentices in acting, directing, stage management, technology and design, arts education and theatre administration. Of those 400, we are aware of at least 115 who continue to live and work in this region, including our own Managing Director - Josh Neumeyer - The Know Theatre's Associate Artistic Director - Tamara Winters - and Cincinnati Shakespeare Company's Producing Artistic Director - Brian Isaac Phillips. In fact, two apprentices from our 2022-23 season were just hired as our new teaching artists for next season, continuing to demonstrate that our apprentice program is pipeline to professional success in our industry.
Our partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts and their BIG READ program allowed us to expand our community and education engagement opportunities even further, hosting the author of Sitting Pretty: The View from My Ordinary Resilient Disabled Body, Rebekah Taussig and visiting libraries and community centers across the Greater Cincinnati area. It was this partnership that inspired a unique collaboration with our friends at TALL, formerly the TALL Institute. For years, we have worked with TALL to bring HHM, Prelude, Improv and other workshops to their neurodivergent adult students. These students, inspired by our educational programming and Rebekah Taussig's book worked with ETC to film a short documentary entitled See My Ability, Not My Disability. The world premiere of this film screened at the Woodward Theatre to a sold out house and was invited to screen at the OTR International Film Festival as well.
: June 2022
