Vilar Center puts spotlight on local school children through its STARS program

The 2010-2011 winter season at the Vilar Performing Arts Center (VPAC) will be announced shortly, but the STARS (Support The Arts Reaching Students) Series, geared toward Eagle County school children, is already underway.

Through the STARS series, the VPAC provides free transportation and tickets to more than 4,000 Eagle County students to expose them to the thrill of live performing arts. The 2010-2011 STARS Series is underwritten by Pat and Peter Frechette and sponsored by Vail Resorts ECHO.

Eagle County schoolchildren attend a STARS (Support The Arts Reaching Students) performance at the Vilar Performing Arts Center in Beaver Creek.
Photo by Zach Mahone
www.vpac.org

The VPAC's STARS program was started eight years ago and is offered to promote artistic, educational and cultural enrichment to local students through in-school workshops and daytime shows at the theatre.

The next STARS performance on Tuesday, October 19 will feature Ken Waldman, “Alaska's Fiddling Poet.” Waldman has drawn on his 23 years in Alaska to produce poems, stories and fiddle tunes that combine into a performance uniquely his own.

Waldman's STARS residency continues through October 20 and includes two daytime performances at the VPAC for local schoolchildren (K through 8th grades), classroom workshops and assemblies at Minturn, Gypsum Creek, Berry Creek and Eagle Valley Middle Schools as well as St. Clare of Assisi and Meadow Mountain Elementary School. Waldman is also scheduled to speak to Creative Writing and AP Writing students at Eagle Valley High School.

The VPAC's 2010-2011 STARS Series continues through March 2011 and will feature the following performances: Mad Science Production's STAR TREK LIVE on November 1, Green Thumb Theatre's Wired on November 5, TheatreWorks USA's Click, Clack, Moo on December 14, A Far Cry with pianist Joel Fan on February 9 and Opera Colorado's Hansel & Gretel on March 21.

September 27 marked the first performance of the 2010-2011 STARS Series with the Japanese drumming group, San Jose Taiko. Over 1,000 Eagle County students attended the two shows produced at the Beaver Creek venue.

For more information on the STARS (Support The Arts Reaching Students) program at the Vilar Performing Arts Center, call the Box Office at 970.845.TIXS (8497) or visit www.vilarpac.org. The Vilar Performing Arts Center is a project of the Vail Valley Foundation.