YPA
YOUTH PERFORMING ARTS
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What is YPA?
The Youth Performing Arts Program of YWCA Jamestown was established to create positive social change for the future by building young leaders who stand strong for what they believe. The program provides youth the opportunity to build self-esteem, empathy toward others and awareness around social issues through the art of storytelling.
The vision of the program is to create a safe space where young people can express and process the issues that have impacted them through the use of creative expression. In doing so, our work serves to create activists, critical thinkers and strong leaders within the community.
What We Do:
The Youth Performing Arts Program consists of a series of workshops taking place once a week in acting, ensemble work, stage presence, and playwriting. During the workshops, students explore and create performance art inspired by themes that impact youth worldwide.
Each workshop consists of a warm up, a theme to explore, time to practice, and a presentation. At the end of the workshop series, students will have the chance to present a showcase of their talent to the community that consists of what they learned and created throughout the workshops.
2022-2023 Season
For the 2022 season, YPA reached students in YWCA afterschool programs at Bush, Fletcher, Jefferson, and at the LEAP summer program. Students participated in performances and learned how to use different techniques to express characters in the context of stories. For the 2023-2024 season, YPA will be offered to participants in the Jefferson afterschool program. Stay tuned for performance details!