CFCArts expands, reimagines School of the Arts for all ages
The education program at Central Florida Community Arts will undergo a dramatic transformation as it expands its reach to provide music, dance and theater to everyone from toddlers to seniors.
Or, as executive director Joshua Vickery says: “From prenatal all the way to the last breath.”
The Orlando nonprofit will announce a major expansion of its renamed School of the Arts at a special presentation this evening. Getting to this point in the organization’s eight-year existence has required grants and sponsorships from a wide array of businesses, charities and individuals — the Universal Orlando Foundation, Walt Disney World VoluntEARS grant program, Dr. Phillips Charities and Orlando Magic among them.
“There are lots of new partnerships and programs through this” reimagining of the CFCArts school, Vickery said. Among local
institutions, CFCArts is working with Bishop Grady Villas and Quest, which both serve individuals with special needs; the Orange County Library System, Boys & Girls Clubs and Zebra Coalition, which serves LGBTQ youth.
Service to the community has been part of CFCArts’ mission since its founding by Vickery and friend Jonathan Cole.
But as the organization quickly grew, with programs ranging from a community choir to an orchestra to a theater season, its educational initiatives expanded haphazardly.
The new school plan consolidates educational offerings and staff in a way that creates a “continuum of arts education and experiences for a lifetime,” Vickery said. And, most important, new partnerships mean more Central Floridians can participate.
Coming up with the right structure to ensure the school’s sustainability began with financial help and advice from the Universal Orlando Foundation, which has worked with CFCArts on the project since the end of 2016.
“They would give us homework, to be honest,” Vickery said of the research they undertook.
The plan that eventually was agreed upon establishes four departments in the school. The Academy specializes in private lessons and group classes for home-schoolers. Arts & Wellness programs serve those with dementia, other special needs and their caregivers. Arts in Action classes are for healthy senior citizens, and the Outreach events are for areas of Central Florida that lack arts programs.
Among those who benefit from such outreach programs are preschoolers in Orlando’s Parramore neighborhood west of downtown, middle-schoolers in Osceola County, homeless youth affiliated with Covenant House and children in Bithlo in east Orange and the Goldsboro neighborhood of Sanford.
“We’re out in communities that don’t get these opportunities as much,” said director of education and outreach Leah Porrata, who joined the staff a year ago.
Having programs in locations such as the Holocaust Center in Maitland or the Winter Park Community Center separates CFCArts’ School of the Arts from similar endeavors such as the Dr. Phillips Center-Florida Hospital School of the Arts downtown.
“We’re taking it out to the people,” Vickery said. “It’s a very different model.”
Tonight’s town hall-style presentation on the school’s rebirth will be at 6:30 at Northland Church, 530 Dog Track Road, Longwood.