Horizons Students to Study at SHU Community Theatre
Connecticut education grant provides $100,000 to expand art studies
Sacred Heart University’s chapter of Horizons National, a nonprofit organization that promotes equity in education, will bring underserved children to the big stage this summer through a collaboration with the SHU Community Theatre on the Post Road in Fairfield.
The state Department of Education recently awarded Horizons at SHU a $100,000 grant to help pay for summer enrichment activities. The funding will support the theatre program, which will run June 27 to Aug. 5, culminating in a theatrical production starring the students.
Horizons at SHU is a tuition-free, nonprofit, academic enrichment program serving Bridgeport students. It was established in 2011 and has served hundreds of children. Students begin the program in kindergarten and continue every year until they graduate in eighth grade.
“Horizons is all about advancing educational equity,” said Ashley Nechaev, executive director of Horizons at SHU. "We provide academic and extra-curricular enrichment that our students otherwise might not experience. Without these activities, they would be at a disadvantage in classrooms where their better resourced peers may have benefited from enriching experiences.”
The students will receive instruction from SHU Community Theatre staff, including Matt Oestreicher, executive director, and Joe Gray, production manager. Oestreicher is an accomplished musician who plays multiple instruments and has toured with Lady Gaga, Blink 182, Weezer and Fall Out Boy. Gray was a mainstay at the iconic Apollo Theater in New York City for almost 30 years and has sung with Patti LaBelle and Lenny Kravitz and worked on shows ranging from Metallica to James Brown.
Horizons students will be learning from the same curriculum as the Connecticut-based nonprofit Your Time to Shine, which Oestreicher and Gray co-founded while working together at the Apollo to bring music and life skills to underserved communities. Your Time to Shine will also provide other professional artists as guest teachers.
“We are constantly exploring opportunities with the arts,” Nechaev said. “We know that exposure benefits academic success and increases learning and creativity. So, when the opportunity to work with the SHU Community Theatre came up—the chance to have our students learn from professionals like Matt and Joe, who’ve worked at the Apollo in New York—well, that is a chance of a lifetime.
“After a two-year pandemic, we are going to come together in this great big, colorful, loud-and-proud way and let the kids take center stage to demonstrate their unique specialness for the community,” she said.
Twice a week, the students will have classes in song writing, singing and performance art, as well as movement and dance classes. Those in grades three through seven will have an opportunity to learn the ukulele, and eighth-graders will work on a spoken-word project they will perform at their Horizons graduation or at SHU Community Theatre.
Gray said the collaboration will be as meaningful for the theatre as it will be for the young students. “I find that when teaching, I’m often taught by the kids,” said Gray. “They are the inspiration for all of this. They become the motivation to come to work every morning. It’s so important to remember that as parents, teachers and creators, we make a difference to these kids every day.”
“In our work, we have always found that kids are naturally spontaneous, creative and collaborative,” said Oestreicher. “By offering opportunity to participate directly in creating art with accomplished professionals, we help them to find and to ignite that spark and to build new skills and self-confidence.”
To support Horizons at SHU, visit horizonsatshu.org.