In 1987, the Madame Walker Theater Center launched the Youth-in-Arts™ program, opening a world of possibilities to Indiana’s children. The program annually targets more than 150 youth who may or may not have the resources to experience the arts outside of their typical school setting. Youth-in-Arts™ reflects the Center’s mission as it seeks to “provide an environment of cross-cultural appreciation through nurturing and celebrating the artistic and cultural perspectives of African-Americans.

In 2007, the program was redesigned and now consists of three subprograms: 1) Project MAPPED; 2) CRUSHING the CONVENTIONAL, and 3) BEYOND THE WINGS. These fresh new offerings approach the arts through performance and scholarship with the goal of making them an inclusive, lifelong experience. Each new program targets students, teachers and parents.

The Youth-in-Arts™ mission is to “encourage, expose, explore, and expand the talents of young ‘arts-minded’ individuals by combining African-American cultural phenomena with an integrated arts environment that will ensure every participant the opportunity to experience various roles within the realm of artistic production, while also cultivating civic minded, highly motivated, respectful individuals.”

Project MAPPED

M.A.P.P.E.D. is an acronym, which stands for Music, Art, Poetry, Performance, Expression, and Dance. The new program is a 12-week interdisciplinary arts curriculum offered 3 days a week in 2-hour intervals targeting grades 3 through 12 and serving students on all performance levels.

The program offers:

chorus & individual voice lessons,
string orchestra & individual string lessons,
poetry & spoken word writing
speech lessons
set production & visual arts, and
various genres of dance (i.e., modern, ballet, jazz, tap, hip hop).

Each session culminates with a semiprofessional performance on stage at the Madame Walker Theatre. The sessions are assigned themes dictated by specific historical events or phenomena within American and African-American culture. In addition to the daily rigors of the program, students enjoy workshops, lecture-demonstrations, and concerts that further introduce them to business practices in the music industry and expose them to the creative processes and aesthetics of various genres.

CRUSHING the CONVENTIONAL

This is a concert/lecture/master class series for students, educators and parents showcasing traditional and nontraditional art forms within the African and African-American Diaspora. Admission to these matinee performances is set at an affordable rate ($5 to $7 per performance). The series occurs during the school day and includes master classes and lectures for parents.

Click here for the matinee series.

BEYOND the WINGS

This is a new Arts Administration introductory training initiative of the Center targeting high school students. The program exposes students to basic arts administrative duties and allows them to enjoy the benefits of learning about the growing, popular field of arts administration, while collecting valuable community service credits many are required to obtain on a semester basis.

To learn more about our educational offerings, please contact the Center at 317.236.2099.

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To learn more about our educational offerings, please contact the Center at 317.236.2099.