East Bay Center for the Performing Arts

In 2022-23, we served approximately 300 students at our Main Site, with several others on the waitlist. We averaged about 60 group classes, 70 private lessons, and 7 resident ensemble rehearsals per week, and produced over 20 performances.Summer Intensive: In July-August 2023, 85 YADP students completed our five-week, 200-hour Summer Intensive immersion session. The Summer Intensive requires cross-cultural and cross-disciplinary training, as well as technical instruction in music, dance, and contemporary theater forms and culminates with three evenings of student presentations.Young Artist Diploma Program: From July - December 2023, instruction for all 100 Diploma students averaged 6-8 hours per week of instruction consisting of lessons, classes, and ensembles based on both specific repertoire traditions and East Bay Centers Deep Roots Wide World Curriculum. Students participated in individual recitals in March and November and group recitals in April and December. TheCenters Program Leadership team worked alongside faculty to articulate learning goals for all seven program pathways, as well as document existing and create new instructional plans, with a focus on clear, explicit youth development outcomes and strategies that are the foundation of our students success.Resident Companies: Our seven youth resident companies, focusing on celebrating cultural artforms (i.e. West African Music and Dance, Mexican Music and Dance) enroll 60 advanced Center students to reach local audiences of 10,000 through presentations at up to 50 community gatherings annually. In December 2022, four Resident Companies - Voices of Reason, Iron Triangle Theater Company, Son de laTierra and Richmond Chamber Ensemble, participated in the Downtown Holiday Festival: A Richmond Nutcracker. We also produced Hogbetsotso, a West African music and dance piece that incorporates traditional ritual with expressions of social justice, commissioned by the Hewlett Foundation and created and directed by CK Ladzepko, long time faculty member. We began working on a project focused on commissions with five Young Artist Diploma Program alumni over the next several months, who arecreating performances about how we can heal from the Covid-19 pandemic and the lockdown on our community. This project is supported by a grant from San Francisco Foundation Bay Area Creative Corps and California Arts Council.Youth Leadership: The Center continued to offer opportunities for our students to connect to their community, while building a strong sense of ownership. We convened a focus group of Diploma students to solicit their input on our curriculum development, as well as Youth Development outcomes.Student Support: To support our older students to develop their full artistic, academic and social potential, the Center continued our college scholarship program for Young Artists Diploma Program graduates. The scholarship funded two full, renewable scholarships for students who plan to pursue the performing arts in college, two four year scholarships (approx $10,000/year) recognizing perseveranceand motivation, and $1,000 renewable scholarships for all other graduates. As part of their scholarship, graduates will continue to receive coaching and mentoring from the Centers team of social workers, staff and faculty.

In 2022-2023, East Bay Center, in partnership with West Contra Costa Unified School District, delivered programs to approximately 3,500 students. The programs offer a unique approach to teaching fundamental music skills about global traditions while increasing equitable access to arts education and positively impacting school culture and climate.The curriculum and content for our In School Arts Program focused on music fundamentals, hands-on instruction, global music repertoire, and ensemble performance techniques at Grant, King, Obama, Nystrom, Peres, Valley View, and Stege Elementary Schools. Across these seven campuses:- Students on average receive 30 weeks of class instruction, which includes access to appropriate musical instruments and supplies.- Kindergarten through 3rd grade receive weekly music classes of 30 minutes each.- 4th through 6th grade receive 45 minutes of class per week- Students perform in at least two presentations each year at each school- Community performances happen throughout the year in alignment with the school calendar(i.e., Back to School Night, holiday festivals, Cinco de Mayo, etc.).In addition, in Fall 2023 we continued our novel Rotations program for grades 4-6 at three schools, which included three 10 week courses for students in Hip Hop, Drumming, Mexican Music and Dance, and Persian Dance. We also produced several assemblies for Hispanic Heritage Month and Black History Month, featuring professional artists and introducing students to new cultural art forms.East Bay Center provided after school programs at an additional six schools, with a focus on dance, and instrumental coaching/private lessons at four middle and high schools. All teaching artists participated in 3 professional development/training sessions. In total, we averaged 135 hours of classes per week in 2022-23.