Slow Theatre to work with youth at Butte County Juvenile Hall through a California Arts Council JUMP StArts grant

—Press release from Butte County Office of Education--

Butte County Office of Education Has Been Awarded
A California Arts Council “JUMP StArts” Grant


On June 13, 2017, California Arts Council announced its plan to award $6,291 to Butte County Office of Education (BCOE) as part of its JUMP StArts program.

JUMP StArts supports arts education and artists-in-residence programs for youth engaged in the juvenile justice system. Activities may take place inclassroom, after-school, social services, or incarceration settings. All projects are designed and developed in partnership between an arts organization and a juvenile justice or social services entity, demonstrating significant planning and a collaborative relationship between the organizations.
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With support from the California Arts Council, Butte County Office of Education, Butte County Juvenile Hall, and community-based project partner Slow Theatre (as artists-in-residence) will create a youth theatre/English Language Arts performance project. A minimum of 40 youth in Juvenile Hall will participate in the program. Butte County community members will be participants in this project through radio broadcasts, chapbook distributions, and the Writing Exchange blog. The community partner, Slow Theatre, is a non-profit organization whose purpose is to enrich, educate, and entertain the community by providing an excellent and diverse theatre experience. The group draws material from local, national, and international writers, many of whom are not mainstream playwrights, and a core Slow Theatre goal is to offer education for youth and adults in the crafts of acting, directing, design, stage management, and dramaturgy. http://www.slowtheatre.com/

BCOE is one of 23 grantees chosen for this program. The news of BCOE’s grant was featured as part of a larger announcement from the California Arts Council, which can be viewed online at http://arts.ca.gov/news/pressreleases.php.

“The benefits of arts access is exponential when considering our state’s most vulnerable young people,” said Donn K. Harris, Chair of the California Arts Council. “The California Arts Council is proud to support BCOE and its partnership with Slow Theatre. The school-to-prison pipeline leaks, and then breaks through these arts engagement efforts.”
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​To view a complete listing of all JUMP StArts grantees, visit http://arts.ca.gov/programs/files/CAC_JUMPStArts_Grantees_2016-17_FINAL.pdf.