[ Youth StARTS ]
The artist in residence program is a collaborative effort involving the Ross Ragland Theater, traveling artists, teachers and both school districts in the Basin. The goal of The Youth STARTS Program is to integrate performing arts into the traditional classroom setting. Application of artistic concepts engages students more physically and personally in the learning environment, enriching and improving overall academic performance. Artists instruct in three eight week blocks throughout the schoolyear, grades K-5. Rotating artists and subjects through the schools means that each elementary-aged student in Klamath County Schools will receive at least one session each of drama, movement and music each school year. This collaboration program, which started as a pilot with just four rural schools has proved to be a cost effective, public-private partnership; so much so that it has become a state-wide model!
Benefits of Arts Integration
Children thrive on the study of the arts. The arts open doors to creativity. They nourish critical thinking and innovation. Integrating the arts with other disciplines (core content areas) through instruction and assessment supports the development of these skills and processes. Arts integration uses teaching practices that have been shown in brain-based research to improve comprehension and long-term retention. Youth StARTS and Arts integration:
- Instill greater self-confidence and life-long learning skills
- Increase socialization among peers
- Improve overall academic achievement
- Positively correlate to attendance
- Increase classroom engagement
- Give children a more thorough understanding of their bodies and emotions
- Help students to imbed and retain information they learn in all subjects, including those not traditionally associated with the Arts such as math and science.
- Allow kids to integrate new information into their own cultural, social, emotional and intellectual needs, increasing their understanding and ownership of new subjects and skills
[ MEET OUR ARTISTS ]
Sarah Pearlstein / Music
Willow Mackey/ Music
Coming Soon!
Carrie Wilcox / Visual Art
Since childhood I have loved creating art. I graduated from the U of O in visual communication. I have worked as a K-8 classroom teacher and substitute. It seems that no matter what I do or where I am I always return to the need of painting and creating. I find inspiration in colors through travel and nature. After living in various places in Oregon and Alaska I returned to the Klamath basin where I grew up. It is now I am excited to be able to share my love of the arts with others.
Carla Brannon / Dance
Carla is our Youth StARTS Substitute for all the Artists. She has owned and operated her dance studio in the Klamath Basin for the last 33 years. She has a wide variety of dance background in Ballet, Tap, Jazz, Modern, Gospel, Hip Hop. She has taught student of all ages and choreographed her own shows every year for the studio, along with several community productions through the years at the Ross Ragland.
Brittany Williams/ Drama
This is Brittany Williams’ first year working with Youth Starts and she is very excited to enrich student’s lives. She has been acting in theater for over two decades and holds degrees in Theater and English from Humboldt State University where she appeared in mainstage and black box productions with NCRT and Redwood Curtain. After moving to LA shortly after graduating, she discovered her love for voice acting and turned it into her career. She has been in over 35 stage productions, lent her voice to 28 audiobooks, dozens of YouTube videos, 8 video games, and 5 films. Before moving to Klamath Falls, she performed with Riverfront Playhouse and Axiom Repertory Theater. She is incredibly excited to get to share theater with children throughout the Basin!
TBA / Dance
Coming soon!
TBA / Drama
Coming soon!