Culver Studios Offers Support for “Front and Center” Through CCEF

The Culver City Education Foundation today thanked The Culver Studios for its gift benefiting CCUSD’s Front and Center Theatre Collaborative, an innovative theater education program for TK-12th grade students. The $15,000 donation will help the Front and Center Theatre Collaborative reach more Culver City students, and give them an opportunity to experience the arts through its sequential, standards-based theatre arts programming. During its eight-year history, Front and Center has offered a variety of assemblies, residencies, workshops, professional development and opportunities to experience professional performances for all elementary and secondary students in Culver City as well as teachers throughout the district.

“We are immensely appreciative to The Culver Studios for their generous donation,” said Wendy Hamill, CCEF interim Executive Director. “The arts are an essential component in developing the whole child and empowering them to embrace becoming lifelong learners. Thanks to TCS we are making that happen in Culver City’s schools. By supporting the Collaborative through this gift to CCEF, The Culver Studios is impacting every child in CCUSD.”

The idea behind the program is not to make actors out of students but to broaden their educational base and offer them different ways of processing the learning that they are receiving in the classroom. While access to every art form is beneficial to students, theatre arts offer a different type of student engagement. In particular theatre arts encourage students to be brave, daring and expressive by using their bodies, faces and all five senses. Theatre arts enhance both verbal and non-verbal communication, boost self-esteem, fuel collaboration, create empathy and respect, and offer leadership opportunities. Furthermore, theatre arts goes beyond performing to offer a wide spectrum of artistic opportunities, from storytelling, music and dance to writing, set design/visual arts and production.

Overseen by the CCEF, the collaborative includes art partners 24 th Street Theatre, The Actors’ Gang, Center Theatre Group, Story Pirates, We Tell Stories, and Young Storytellers. Additional financial support is provided by Sony Pictures Entertainment, the Carol and James Collins Foundation, Fineshriber Family Foundation, mliFUND, the City of Culver City, Culver City PTA/Booster Clubs, and individual donations to CCEF. The Culver Studios has long had highly successful partnerships with the Culver City Unified School District, its schools, and the Culver City Education Foundation, by financially supporting school programs, and hosting fundraising events for the groups and activities for students on the studio lot. “We are glad to be able to help further the great work being done by the Front and Center Theatre Collaborative. We believe strongly in investing in the future, and that includes these CCUSD students who will grow into the leaders of our community,” said Michael Goldfarb, TCS Vice President of Business Development & Studio Relations. “TCS is proud to be part of the Culver City community and appreciates the opportunity to invest in the next 100 years of this great city.”