This week on Spotlight, we celebrate creativity and opportunity during Youth in Arts Month with stories that show how the arts empower young people and strengthen communities. We visit The Muny to see how one of the nation’s premier musical theaters is reaching into local schools to mentor future performers and backstage professionals. Then, art meets environmental action through the Rain Barrel Project, a collaboration between St. Louis ArtWorks and the Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District, where teen apprentices transform rain barrels into colorful works of art that help reduce stormwater runoff while learning valuable creative and life skills. We also meet eco-artist Jessica Witte, who shows students how art and nature can take flight together in a hands-on project. And finally, young readers bring stories to life through movement as fifth-grade students work with MADCO’s (Modern American Dance Company) Books In Motion program to turn the themes of a book into an original dance performance.

Musical Theater Education in Schools
In addition to producing professional musicals, the St. Louis Muny is also working to reach out and help train future performers as well as those backstage.

Rain Barrel Art
The art world meets environmental change meets Equity and Opportunity. That describes one amazing project between St. Louis Artworks and the MSD Project Clear.

Eco Art
In St. Louis Eco-Artist Jessica Witte’s latest project, “Taking Flight,” she works with school children to show how art and nature can be intertwined.

Books in Motion
5th-grade students got a one of a kind experience through MADCO’s Book in Motion as they turned themes inspired from a book into a dance production.