Photo by Santi Vedrí on Unsplash
In an effort to maintain a connection with community members despite having to give up face-to-face interactions, Orpheum Theater Group has reimagined some of its community outreach programs to be accessible from the comfort of community members’ homes.
“Our Education & Community Engagement team has been working tirelessly to transition our programs to the virtual world and to create new ones that will keep our community inspired and united,” said the Orpheum Theatre Group via press release.
The Orpheum is proud to offer two new ways people can continue to contribute to performing arts remotely.
The first, Creative Challenge: Digital Edition, calls on the theatre group’s teaching artists to provide prompts to challenge individuals to exercise their creativity while building community through social media.
Each weekly prompt, introduced each Tuesdays at noon, centers around the theme “Impact,” which is currently being explored in one of their ACTs of Engagement programs, Listen Up!.
“Listen Up! IMPACT was the title of our most recent documentary film aimed at investigating the rippling effects of community service,” said manager of education engagement Jenita Nakamura in the first Creative Challenge video. “But production was halted due to the growing pandemic that we’re facing. Rather than scrap the project, we decided to continue Listen Up! in a virtual format.”
In this week’s prompt, Nakamura and education and engagement specialist Taylor St. John asked viewers to share a detailed story about an example of impact they’ve experienced, starting with writing down their thoughts and then recording them with a recording device.
Teaching artists will provide prompts for viewers to explore different avenues of art around the “impact” theme each Tuesday at noon. Each weekly prompt can be viewed on the Orpheum Theatre’s Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube. Participants have until Thursdays at noon to turn in their entries. Then, on Fridays at noon, a sampling of the offerings will be shown on the Orpheum's social media platforms.
The second project, In Their Shoes, will highlight interviews with alumni of the Orpheum's education and community programs, giving viewers insight on their journeys from Memphis to their careers in performing arts around the county.
In these weekly videos, speakers will share their experiences of life after high school and getting their first jobs, and they’ll share some advice on what to do with time in between gigs and give life lessons based on these experiences.
The first video, which premiered Thursday at noon on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube, featured Travis Blackwell, who participated in the Orpheum’s summer camps and interned for them, talking about his experience working as a stage manager for Hamilton in San Francisco.
Follow Orpheum Students & Families on Facebook to stay updated on upcoming community engagement projects.