Midland Center Partners with Camp Broadway to Bring Professional Artists into Virtual Classrooms in Michigan

While online learning continues to be a primary practice for many schools in Michigan, Midland Center for the Arts has forged a partnership with Camp Broadway to bring professional artists and Broadway stars into the classroom through virtual instruction. Access to the virtual classes of the AT THIS STAGE program is available at no-charge for educators, and suited for teachers that are meeting face-to-face or providing instruction entirely online.

As Midland Center for the Arts has adapted to find ways to continue engaging students and educators while school visits to the Museum of Science & Art are suspended, AT THIS STAGE brings normalcy back into the classroom with a virtual field trip during a time when field trips aren’t possible. The weekly lessons offer a variety of live educational workshops taught by Broadway professionals, with topics ranging from life skills and technology to acting, singing and stage design.

The program is completely free for teachers to participate and includes a lesson plan, activities, worksheets and a 35-minute live discussion with a professional artist from plays like “Wicked,” “Beetlejuice” and “Dear Evan Hansen.” The Center’s new partnership is the first of its kind and brings the lessons of live performing arts inside the classroom when students can’t experience it in-person.

“We’re excited to partner with Camp Broadway because it gives students and teachers the opportunity to engage with exceptional artists without ever leaving the classroom - or even a student’s home for those classrooms with online-only instruction” said Katie Miller, Midland Center’s Community Engagement Manager. “During these challenging times for Michigan’s educators, it’s crucial that we find safe and exciting ways to inspire our young people, and our new partnership with Camp Broadway allows us to do so in a meaningful and impactful way.”

There are dozens of sessions scheduled as part of the 2020-21 AT THIS STAGE season, and a few more in December featuring the Macy’s Parade Studio Designer and professionals from “Dear Evan Hansen” and “A Christmas Carol.” All lessons that have taken place up until now, and continue to be streamed each week, are available on-demand. Teachers can watch these lessons based on their classrooms schedule, and review the extensive list of opportunities to come. Teachers looking for additional information should register for a free account by visiting midlandcenter.org/AtThisStage. The partnership with AT THIS STAGE is made possible because of the support from Horizon Bank.