Founded by five artists in the wake of the
assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., the East Bay Center for the
Performing Arts is dedicated to fomenting art as a form of community outreach.
Today the EBCPA, one of a handful of such institutions in the nation,
has a budget of $1.5 million and a staff of some 70 full- and part-time
teachers; it reaches over 1,800 students a year. Tuition prices are rock-bottom,
and many low-income students pay nothing at all. Some students acknowledge
that if the center hadnt provided a place to go, theyd have
gravitated to, ahem, questionable pursuits.
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Its not just ars gratia artis,
either. Simmons feels that the connection between artistic expression,
self-esteem, and academic performance is a very real one. Creativity
is linked to perception, he says. Were involved in research
on how perception is linked to critical thinking skills. So in doing art
we emphasize effective experience. We break down an artists
repertoire and analyze it, and see how the students react. We put a premium
on doing the work. And young people take that and apply it in other areas
of their life. Many students, and their parents, report that their
grades and general outlook improve dramatically after getting involved
with the center.
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The EBCPA isnt just a place to hang out,
however. Were interested in developing our students artistically,
creatively, Simmons says. Sure, these streets can be mean sometimes.
But with a little efforthe gestures out the window of his cramped
officepeople can turn themselves around. Theres a tendency
to pathologize the poor, but all of us just need a chance to develop our
creativity, to express ourselves. At the heart of the centers
activities are the classes it offers, which range from beginning violin,
chamber music, and ballet to West African drumming, capoeira, and Mien (Laotian)
traditional singing. Additionally, the centers programs produce a
large number of public performances each year, from an inner-city vision
of Sophocles Antigone to plays and films about date rape, teen pregnancy,
gang violence, and substance abuse. It has brought in artists from as far
away as Japan and Ghana, working in conjunction with schools and community
institutions. |
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In a forgotten, almost invisible community,
art can serve as town crier. Simmons recalls one example from the mid-1990s:
The same week as the infamous 101 California attack in San
Francisco, in which a vengeful gunman invaded a law office and shot several
victims, some 16 young people were killed in poor communities in the East
Bay.
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