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ARTS IN ADAIR: a call to action from GSA student Emma This is a call to action from one student's experience at Governor School for the Arts (GSA). Here are the changes she said she hopes to see in Adair County in her presentation at the March Chamber of Commerce meeting: - "I want to make sure that every artist in Adair County has the opportunity to go forth and make great art. - "One day, I'd like to be able to came back home and watch a school play on a real stage instead of the high school cafeteria. - "I want to see just as many people at choir concerts or band competitions as there are at basketball games. - "I want to see students paintings displayed somewhere other than the school basement." By ACHS senior Emma Grider I've been acting for the past seven years. My family went to Disney World when I was little, and we watched a stage show of Beauty and the Beast. As the actors took their final bows, I remember looking at my mom and saying "Momma, I wanna do that." I signed up for my first play not long after we got back, and it's been my life ever since. There's something about stepping into the life of someone else thats always been fascinating to me. I'd been doing theatre for about two years when I first heard about GSA (Governors School for the Arts) - a summer program where upcoming juniors and seniors from all over Kentucky come together with professional instructors to learn more about their specific art forms. Mine was drama, but they also offered architecture and design, visual art, creative writing, musical theatre, dance, vocal music, film and photography, and instrumental music. Kids from every Kentucky County can apply, and if you get into the program, you spend three weeks on a college campus. The three weeks I spent at the University of Kentucky were the best of my life. That's definitely not to say they were the easiest. Let me walk you through an average day in GSA. You wake up at seven, get dressed and head to morning assembly. There's some kind of speaker there ready to pump you up for a day of making art. Whether they be a former GSA alum or a professional artist, they always managed to excite you for a new day of learning and creating. After that you're dismissed to your morning classes. These classes, called studios, last for around four hours. Then you break for lunch, and it's right back to studio for another five hours. Then you break for dinner and you either go back to studio until around ten, or you went to evening assembly which were very similar to the morning assembly, with the guest artists and special performances. You get back to your room around eleven, and get up the next morning to do it all again. It was exhausting, both physically and emotionally, but it was completely worth it. We also got to go on field trips to Cincinnati to see a local production of the wolves, we went to the speed art museum, and we got to perform with Kentucky Shakespeare at Shakespeare in the park. I learned more about theatre in those three weeks than I did in all the years I'd been acting before then. No matter how long I talk for, I could never truly describe just how incredible this program is. Let's be honest here. We live in a rural farm town in Kentucky. Theatre has never been a very popular hobby. I've always felt like a fish out of water. Like I was just a bit different from everyone else at school. Then I spent three week two hours from home surrounded by complete strangers, that I felt closer to than people I've gone to school with my entire life. For the first time, I really got to spend time with people who were just like me. I wasn't weird to them. The sense of community is really what I remember most. For the three weeks we were there, you spend almost every hour of every day with these people. They become like family. I remember I cried the day my parents dropped me off because I was going to miss my family. Well I cried for that exact some reason the day they picked me up. Because GSA is family. On the very last day, after our graduation ceremony, I was saying good bye to our three teachers. And I will never forget the last thing my teacher Bo said the me before I left. He put his hand on my shoulder, looked me in the eye and told me "You deserve this. You deserve to be here." Those words meant so much to me, because I'd always loved acting, and I've worked hard for years to learn as much as I can, but I never felt like I was talented. I never felt good enough to pursue my passion. GSA changed everything. It gave me the confidence to go after my dream of being a professional actress. Yes, I grew a lot as a performer, but the biggest take away for me was how much I grew as a person. As GSA alums, we were challenged to take what we learned back to our community and make a difference. They told us that they are trying to create the great artists of tomorrow, and to create a world they can thrive in. So this is me attempting to keep that promise. Our community has a need that I want to bring to your attention, because it's easy to miss if you're not looking for it. My parents were always incredibly supportive of my passion for theatre. That included driving me to other counties so I could act. I would go to Burkesville or Russell Springs at least three times a week, just for theatre, because until high school, there's really no opportunities for theatre in our community. I hate to think about how there are other kids like me in our town who don't have the opportunities I had, either because of financial reasons, or lack of parental support. Art has the ability to change lives and create futures. I'm a senior in high school who's about to go to college. I've narrowed it down to two schools, and I've been offered full tuition to both or them through GSA. I have the opportunity to build a future without debt because of the arts. There's so much more we can do to support these kinds of programs. One day, I'd like to be able to came back home and watch a school play on a real stage instead of the high school cafeteria. I want to see just as many people at choir concerts or band competitions as there are at basketball games. I wanna see students paintings displayed somewhere other than the school basement. Every morning after opening ceremonies we had this kind of call to action. Whoever was doing announcements would always tell us to "go forth and make great art". They said that to us every single morning, and it's still stuck with me. I want to make sure that every artist in Adair County has the opportunity to go forth and make great art. This story was posted on 2020-03-21 07:06:33
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