Dear Sir:
Regarding the Outreach program and offerings by the Utah Festival for the Performing Arts, the POPs program, I implore you to fund it. Consider the great effect it has on children in the creative process. I am a second grade teacher at Hillcrest Elementary. My class wrote, costumed, and performed an opera last year with parent involvement and support. The Opera company walked me through the whole process, guiding me as a teacher through the group writing process. I had a paint day with assistance. One mentor actually came and recorded the melodic readings as students sang their own words. Our words were put to the melodic of the children’s own voices. It was an education for me, but a creative, well executed writing experience for my students. I instructed the concepts of character, plot, and resolution. We wrote with a beginning, middle and ending in mind. We developed conflict and conflict resolution. All students within my class participated. All students met with great success. It was a terrific team effort and worth my time and the educational efforts of my students. This is not a measly skit or copy of a work already in print, but a creative process and an energized process of accomplishment by children.
Fund it.
DeAnn Lichfield
Opera by Children 