Family Engagement: ImpACT Event Recap

Kathy Thornton-Bias, President and CEO
of Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Milwaukee 

On September 19, 2019, more than 100 community leaders, First Stage advocates and other guests came to the Milwaukee Youth Arts Center to learn more about First Stage at our annual ImpACT event. The event raised more than $8,000 and cultivated old and new friends. In addition to learning about the many ways First Stage fulfills its mission of transforming lives through theater, event attendees were treated to our special guest and Keynote Speaker, Kathy Thornton-Bias. Thornton-Bias is the 15^th President and CEO of Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Milwaukee (BGCGM) and the second female to lead the Clubs since its founding in 1887 by Annabell Cook Whitcomb.

Thornton-Bias spoke of how the arts are critical for youth development along with family engagement as the supporting foundation.

“We’re making a very concerted effort to work with partners like First Stage to bring best in class agencies to our kids,” Thornton-Bias explained. “We want our kids to have the best arts education, the best theater education, and the best music education and we have great partners in Milwaukee that do just that.”

First Stage will be bringing After School Drama Club programming to eight BGCGM sites this season, and engaging BGCGM participants’ families with opportunities to see our Theater Productions for free/reduced ticket prices.

To talk about the value of family experiences at First Stage, the Singh Family—Amanda, Shantanu, Oscar and Lina—spoke about their family’s time at First Stage.

The Singh Family

The Singh Family was  introduced to First Stage seven years ago when Lina took her first Theater Academy class at age four. Since then, the Singh Family has had hundreds of interactions with First Stage—through various volunteering opportunities, the Theater Academy (both Lina and Oscar take classes), and Theater Productions (attending performances as a family, and Lina is currently performing in her fifth production: ELEPHANT AND PIGGIE’S WE AREIN A PLAY).

Amanda Singh continued to share:

“The arts are a vital piece of our family culture, and it is woven into most aspects of our lives. The many shows we have seen at First Stage are excellent opportunities for our family to connect and learn, to be entertained, and are a regular part of the intergenerational family experiences we cherish.

The curation of stories that First Stage brings us season after season, are fun and fabulous and entertaining, while also being thoughtful, provocative and critical.

For example, in recent years, two of the shows we saw were WELCOME TO BRONZEVILLE and ANTARCTICA, WI. These two performances could not have been more different in energy and personality, but they were both inspired by Milwaukee. Lina and Oscar are fourth-generation Milwaukeeans, and these pieces introduced them to nuances of this city, past and present. The productions have served as frames of reference that help deepen and enrich their understanding of the city we live in and love.

There are so many other shows that have been fantastic conversation starters for our family—way too many to name!

All of these voices, all of these characters, in all of these productions, are invited into our family discussions and become a part of our shared experiences. We draw on these stories to expand our worlds, to understand things we haven’t yet experienced, and to figure out ways to express the things we are just beginning to feel.

Our world is exponentially larger and better because of theater.

We are grateful to First Stage and the people here who care deeply, with such integrity about our children, our city and our world. First Stage is a treasure, and we support First Stage so as many young people as possible can experience top-notch theater and have access to incredible theater education.”

If you were not able to attend the ImpACT Event, please enjoy highlights that were shared on this news airing of it on TMJ4.