By Amy Pence-Brown

        Here in the Treasure Valley, we are lucky to have so many arts groups that lend so much to our vibrant community. There are a few, however, that have a significant impact on our children and the arts, helping with local programs and filling in where school budgets cannot. Boise Mayor David Bieter recently announced the recipients of the City of Boise’s 2011 Arts & History Economic Development Grants in recognition and support of the positive impact each organization makes on Boise’s economy.

        The three recipient organizations are the Idaho Shakespeare Festival, the Boise Philharmonic, and Ballet Idaho. The Mayor also announced that Trey McIntyre Project will continue as the City’s Economic Development Cultural Ambassador for the coming year. Each organization will receive $15,000 from the City’s Economic Development Fund, which was created in 2009 from the rental of the City’s rail property in southeast Boise. “Boise’s arts are a significant economic driver for the entire valley,” Mayor Bieter said. “According to Americans for the Arts, Boise’s arts organizations support 1,200 jobs and generate more than $18 million in event spending each year. With this kind of extended impact, it is important that the City provides support where possible to our local cultural organizations.”

        The Idaho Shakespeare Festival provides theater arts programming integrated into the curricula of approximately 73 percent of the school districts in Idaho. Through its school tours, Shakespearience and Idaho Theater for Youth, the Festival annually reaches approximately 50,000 school-age children, including those in rural and under-served communities. The Drama School provides year-round classes for students in grades pre-kindergarten through high school, while Camp Shakespeare offers school-age children and young adults the opportunity to explore the excitement of Shakespeare’s words through imaginative play. The Festival’s apprenticeships and school residency programs offer extended theatrical training.

        Boise Philharmonic offers a plethora of musical experiences for children of all ages. Musical Kids consists of weekly classes for preschool children and runs from September to June. Rhythm, melody, movement, reading musical notation, instruments, and singing activities encourage development of the voice, ear, and physical coordination. The Philharmonic offers full orchestral concerts for third through fifth graders (more than 12,000 students) throughout Southwestern Idaho. The concerts connect music and a selected portion of the children’s grade level curriculum. This year, a brass quintet, a woodwind quintet, and a string quartet will provide onsite performances in schools all over Idaho. These school visits enable children to hear and see the instruments up close, meet the musicians, ask questions, and learn about life in the arts. Additionally, individual professional Boise Philharmonic musicians will visit more than 275 second grade classrooms throughout the Boise, Nampa, and Meridian school districts.

        Besides offering classes for young dancers of all ages, Ballet Idaho also extends outside its walls into the Treasure Valley. Students in grades one through twelve are invited to experience excerpts of Aarrgh! Pirates! and Claire de Lune at the Boise State University Special Events Center and Cinderella at the Morrison Center for Performing Arts this year. Ballet Idaho provides classroom teachers with a study guide that provides students with a broader understanding of the performing arts and the historical context behind each production. Another Ballet Idaho program, By Special Invitation, reaches into the various socio/economic/ethnic backgrounds of the Treasure Valley. Approximately 2,800 children, veterans, refugees, and their families will benefit from the program. The goal is to bring diverse groups of people together for a common experience and to communicate a deeper understanding of the way in which classic ballet relates to the other arts and the values of Western culture through fine music, choreography, performance, scenic design, and costumes.

        Trey McIntyre Project (TMP) engages children in several ways: master classes and residencies with TMP dancers and partner Jon Swarthout of TRICA (Treasure Valley Institute for Children’s Arts), school performances, classroom visits with one-on-one interactions, and TMP visits, where groups come to the rehearsal studio and watch the dancers at work. TMP also serves as artists-in-residence for St. Luke’s Children’s Hospital, which allows them to visit and perform for sick children, and previously has worked with Saint Alphonsus as its artists-in-residence. TMP has also been able to offer a special subsidized matinee at its Boise performances, with $10 tickets for kids 18 and under. While TMP doesn’t currently offer dance classes, it is working on an annual summer intensive dance camp in Idaho that would include programs for students age 5–21.

        “Families, and children in particular, are important communities that we want to impact in a meaningful way,” shares Heather Langhorst, Development Director at Ballet Idaho. While speaking specifically about her organization, what she says seems to ring true for the Boise Philharmonic, Idaho Shakespeare Festival, and Trey McIntyre Project as well. “With this kind of extended impact, it is important that the City provides support where possible to our local cultural organizations,” explains Mayor Bieter. “These groups help our community thrive.”

Amy Pence-Brown can’t wait until her seven-year-old daughter gets to see the Philharmonic for the first time.