After the shows, the recitals, the concerts, all the great stuff I've gotten to do this year were over, the week before Christmas I participated in one of the most important performances in the Central Valley this year.
I got to help backstage at the CLIPArts Winter Performance.
It seemed a lot like helping any other kids' group backstage. Many reminders about volume (backstage we're not quiet, we're silent... but onstage be really loud!), lost costumes and props, almost-missed entrances, nerves ranging from jumping up and down to a few tears -- organized, joyful chaos. But this is not just any other kids' theater program.
These kids are not from the upper-end families whose finances and education lead them (and rightly so!) to seek arts programs for their children. These are kids who are in foster care, or are at risk for gang membership, or whose families could never swing any extra dollars for a dance class or a voice lesson. Many of the kids that donned costumes and sang and danced their hearts out have experienced worse things in 6-12 years than most will experience in a lifetime. But at CLIPArts they are special. At CLIPArts they are safe. At CLIPArts they can experience a bit of the joy and light of performing arts
Lim Forgey (my husband, which I am bursting with pride to point out...), founded CLIPArts, or Christ Lutheran Academy of Performing Arts, in 2011 because he felt that as a young person the arts had turned his life around and they were something he could share with kids who needed something positive in their lives. Since then, the mission of CLIPArts, to be "a free afterschool program offering professional education in the performing arts. CLIPArts is a place to foster a love of the arts, promote personal artistic skill, and build personal self-esteem. Our mission is to provide a service to families who might not otherwise have the opportunity to afford similar performing arts education." has grown from 20 some kids the first year to OVER 50!
The teachers are kind and dedicated, the program is beautiful, and nothing --nothing-- can describe the glowing accomplishment on the kids' faces when the winter show was over. They had done it all, from working on sets and costumes to the entire performance, and the experience of hard work being appreciated will certainly spill over into their entire lives, and the joy of music, dance, and theater arts will be a gift to them and into future generations.
I am so grateful that I got to be part of CLIPArts this year, even for a very brief moment. I am grateful for the reminder of what the arts can mean, and why I love theater and music.
If you'd like to learn more, click here: CLIPArts Website
And, if this touches your heart like it does mine, please consider a donation to this entirely grant and donation funded program. Any amount helps to bring arts education to these kids that need it so much! CLIPArts Donation Page (via Paypal)
