Thousands of local theater goers just experienced the thrill
of watching our local "Spring High School Musical Theater Season." Audiences
seemed more enthusiastic than ever to cheer on the efforts of our youthful
actors, singers, dancers, musicians, and backstage technicians in productions
of West Side Story (at Dos Pueblos), Catch Me If You Can (at San Marcos), and
Mathilda (at Santa Barbara High
School). Santa Barbara's public high schools have produced Broadway, TV, film, dance,
and recording stars like Martha Graham, Timothy Bottoms, Eric Stoltz, Anthony
Edwards, Howard McGillin, Cady Huffman, Austin McCormick, Eduardo Villa, Dana
Costello, Jana McIntyre, Evan Hughes, Geoff Hahn, and dozens of others. Every fall
and spring Santa Barbara audiences have the chance to see tomorrow's stars at
very reasonable prices.
And here's our point. Those reasonably priced tickets don't begin
to cover the costs of our high school's elaborate productions. Santa Barbara's
famous summer Youth Theater (of the '60s and '70s) was fortunate enough to have
a major donor/sponsor (Annette Slavin) who basically covered the costs of
hiring professionals to work with students and allowing talented young people
the opportunity to benefit from production values that matched their formidable
talents. Generous patrons do a great job supporting private arts and youth
programs, but they have often overlooked an amazing opportunity for the largest
scale impact — donations to the theater (and performing arts) departments of
our public high schools.
As it stands, in addition to directing students and teaching
a full load, teachers in the performing arts must also become professional development
(fundraising) directors responsible for raising approximately $50,000 per year,
per department, which unfortunately takes time and energy away from the
students we serve.