Education
The Vineyard’s education programs expand access to the arts and empower underrepresented voices as future arts workers and audiences.
“REBEL VERSES is the only place I get to express my emotions in the purest form and not be neurotic or scared to do it.” –Kelfallah “KT” Toronka, student
“Through the Vineyard, I have been able to bring the experience of live theatre to hundreds of students. Many students spoke about seeing actors who ‘looked like them’ on stage.” – Meredith Towne, Academy for Software Engineering teaher, grades 9-12
The Vineyard partners with five public high schools to provide curricular and after-school arts education programming for 700+ students annually. Each program offers opportunities for deeper engagement, creating a path from first-time matinee attendees to stars of our youth festival, performing alongside professional artists and supported by The Vineyard’s production and marketing teams.
PROGRAMS INCLUDE:
Student Matinee Performances of our mainstage season bookended by in-class contextualizing lessons with a teaching artist;
Three-day Theatre Intensives during school breaks that explore techniques including writing, ensemble building, auditioning, clowning, activism in the arts, and more;
The Vineyard Theatre Student Ensemble (VTSE) in which students meet twice weekly after school to collaboratively write and perform original plays;
Twenty-one annual professional Internship opportunities in every department of the theatre;
We partner with Developing Artists to provide training, performance and creative expression opportunities for our VTSE and 75+ local young artists through the REBEL VERSES Youth Arts Festival (2017-2019) and Artists in Evolution (2020-2021), a series of online master classes.
This work teaches students that their words have power and their voices can move and inspire others. Compared against other students at the same schools, participants in The Vineyard’s programs are 28.3% more likely to enroll in college.
SCHOOL TO CAREER TRANSITION FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM
For young artists who are inspired to pursue a career in the arts following college, Vineyard Theatre offers annual professional Fellowships to bridge the transition between college and the workforce. We launched a Development Fellowship in 2018 and an Artistic Producing Fellowship in 2021. The remaining three fellowships in Marketing, Finance and Management, and Production Management are projected to begin by 2023. Each professional Fellowship offers Fellows a guaranteed salary, access to health care benefits, cross-departmental mentorship by Vineyard staff, professional development opportunities through ART/NY and TCG, and post-Fellowship job placement assistance.