With the support from the California Arts Council, Handful Players will conduct performing arts education programs for underserved and high need youth, K-12th grade, at community summer camps of 8 Youth Organizations in San Francisco’s Western Addition. These programs will include musical theater with original and culturally relevant plays, dance, spoken word, clowning and puppet workshops led by accomplished artists. The students will perform at enriching summer community youth showcases.
Handful Players offers free, inclusive year-round performing arts enrichment programs of sufficient frequency for youth from under-resourced communities at multiple sites of community partner organizations and public schools in San Francisco. Programs include: 1) creative workshops to expose and engage youth with a spectrum of artistic disciplines (acting, dance, song, puppetry, rap, clowning, spoken word, costume, set design) taught by experienced, diverse teaching artists, reflecting the demographics of the students; 2) original plays written by celebrated playwrights in collaboration with students, school principals and community partners with themes linked to learning and social justice issues and the community’s rich cultural history; 3) enriching performances by students at school and community venues; and 4) a distinctive opportunity for students and their families to attend professional theater, some for the first time, exposing them to richly diverse culture that would be inaccessible otherwise.

