Saving Lives through Youth Guidance & Development

At the Boys & Girls Clubs of Portland, Arts programs are offered where staff work to inspire youth to explore artistic expression through drawing, painting, music, dance, theater, printmaking, and more.  Specifically in Performing Arts they strive to give wrap around exposure to the performing arts—with programs that focus on theater, music, and dance. Through these programs, youth enhance creative expression and problem solving, confidence building, and collaboration skills.

New this year, The Long-Story-Short Play Festival was created from a collaboration between our Program Development Specialist, Melissa Schenter, and the Northwest Children’s Theater’s Outreach Coordinator, Jessica Zodrow. “We loved the idea of staging original work written by BGC members, focusing less on spectacle and theatricality, and focusing more on featuring their creative voices.”

In January 2016, Jessica trained staff from three different BGCP sites—along with a handful of volunteer theatre educators—to prepare them to run the program in the clubs. Through improvisation, character creation exercises, and writing prompts, our Club kids worked for 9 weeks to write their own plays and monologues.

This program was an opportunity for our members to strengthen their literacy skills in a fun and imaginative way and feel empowered artistically, realizing their value and potential as creative individuals.  The goal; to gain another tool with which they can express themselves and communicate with the world around them.

In March, all the youth who participated in the 9 week program were able to perform their original plays in front of an audience.  “It was amazing. I had a really fun time, and I would do it again. It was surprising how much stuff I could create.” -Nebiyu, age 14, Wattles Club Member.