K-12 Education & Enrichment: Arts

[photo]Walltown Children's Theatre
[Arts in the Schools] [Walltown Children's Theater]

Arts in the Schools

The initiative increases students' exposure to the arts in the eight Neighborhood Partnership schools. Visiting artists and composers who perform at Duke also perform at partner schools. Schoolchildren and teachers attend concerts and arts events on the Duke campus. Durham School of the Arts students have exhibited their work at the Duke's Nasher Museum of Art. Duke students and families in the schools are also collaborating in the creation of books chronicling the Latino experience in Durham through the Mariposa Stories project.

Neighbors served: Students and teachers at all seven partner schools -- E. K. Powe, Forest View , George Watts Montessori Magnet, Morehead Montessori Magnet and Lakewood Elementary School; Rogers Herr Year Round Middle School; and Durham School of the Arts

Launched: 1996

Partners: Duke University Institute of the Arts, Durham Public Schools

Duke contact: Sam Miglarese at sam.miglarese@duke.edu or (919) 668-6275

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Walltown Children's Theater

Durham residents Joseph Henderson and Cynthia Penn formed the Walltown Children's Theatre to offer performance opportunities to young people, including ones who would not otherwise have them. Henderson knows how much those opportunities can mean, since he grew up in public housing in Durham but was able to attend the N.C. School of the Arts. The theatre has received many accolades for "Bangin'," an original anti-gang play, which was performed for the community and school children in the Carolina Theater downtown. The theatre also produced a Spanish version of Romeo and Juliet in 2003 and 2007, which was translated by a Cuban Duke graduate student and performed by Latino community members at Duke's Reynolds Theater. View video:Walltown Children's Theatre performs Shakespeare in Spanish

Launched: 2000

Partners: The local business community, The Duke Endowment, City of Durham, the Triangle Community Foundation, Duke Office of Community Affairs, Duke-Triangle United Way

Duke contact: Sam Miglarese at sam.miglarese@duke.edu or (919) 668-6275

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