(December 19, 2022. New York). The Broadway Education Alliance, (BEA) a New York based nonprofit committed to making the theatre more accessible and inclusive for middle and high schools, and WPBS-TV, the PBS affiliate station in Northern New York, have partnered to create a new series of educational videos from Broadway called “At This Stage” to illuminate the important role The Arts can play in K-12 education. The At This Stage series premiers with AT THIS STAGE: STEAM ON STAGE AND SCREEN, a collection of 15 video modules with accompanying curriculum materials, for middle school and high school classrooms.
The series is now available on the PBS Learning Media platform and free for teachers, librarians, homeschoolers, and others across the country to use in-school and after-school.
This release is the second part of a collaborative initiative between the BEA, WPBS-TV, and the New York based Costume Industry Coalition (CIC), whose members are independent businesses and artisans who create, supply, and care for costumes for every facet of entertainment. In September 2021 the first part of the initiative, AT THIS STAGE @ SHOWSTOPPERS, was a series of digital workshops featuring subject experts who connected via livestream to middle and high schools, originating from the CIC-organized exhibition in Times Square called “SHOWSTOPPERS! Spectacular Costumes from Stage & Screen”. (www.costumeindustrycoalition.com)
The series is the first PBS Learning Media collection of content ever produced by WPBS-TV. To our knowledge it is also the first ever STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts & Math) focused series from Broadway. It features expert artisans and artmakers talking directly to students and educators about the complex creative process of turning a two-dimensional design into the three-dimensional costume. By giving access to CIC members at work, WPBS-TV is illuminating the true meaning of Arts integration into STEM education which furthers CIC’s mission to elevate the many careers that exist in and around the arts and entertainment industries.
For more information—
- Broadway Education Alliance Inc/ AT THIS STAGE digital workshops, contact Susan Lee – slee@BEAlliance.org
- PBS LearningMedia educational programs, contact Justin Keegan – jkeegan@wpbs.org
- Costume Industry Coalition (CIC), contact Brian Blythe – brian@jpkny.com
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ABOUT THE TEAM:
The Costume Industry Coalition (CIC) was launched in 2020 to advocate for the survival of New York City’s custom costume industry. CIC Members include 56 small, unique, independent businesses, and artisans, in and around New York City, that create, supply, and care for costumes for every facet of entertainment, including theatre, dance, cruise ships, concerts, theme parks, television and film, on stages and screens around the world. The CIC collectively employs and represents over 500 costuming experts and artisans, including pattern makers, cutters, stitchers, tailors, milliners, hand finishers, craftspeople, embroiderers, sculptors, painters, dyers, pleaters, specialized vendors, and more. In 2020, CIC members collectively lost over $26.6 million in revenue. The CIC Recovery Fund was established to help members return to productivity following the industry closure caused by the COVID 19 pandemic.
Showstoppers! Spectacular Costumes from Stage & Screen was a unique exhibition that showcased costumes from Broadway, Film, Television, Opera, Dance, and other live entertainment. More than 100 of the entertainment industry’s most beautiful and complex garments where on display to show audiences the detail and craftsmanship typically only seen far away on stage or screen. Costume makers and experts demonstrated their techniques and skills to provide a behind-the-scenes look at the process. All proceeds from the Exhibition benefit the Costume Industry Coalition to advocate for the survival of New York City’s custom costume industry. For more information, visit www.costumeindustrycoalition.com is the website.
Broadway Education Alliance Inc. is a New York based 501.c3 organization supporting theatre arts education and enrichment programs that inspire creativity, build confidence, and stimulate critical thinking in children of all ages. Founded in 2008, BEA developed and produced the National High School Musical Theatre Awards (aka The Jimmy Awards®) building it into the Broadway’s national education platform and continues to present the Greater New York regional award program called The Roger Rees Awards for Excellence in Student Performance. BEA also serves as the fiscal sponsor and administrator for education programs such as Eclipsed: 10,000 Girls (enabling thousands of teen girls to see Eclipsed on Broadway), Dear Evan Hansen’s “You Will Be Found” national essay competition, and other programs to provide children in underserved communities access to theatre artists and performance opportunities. The organization recently acquired StageNotes®, a library of theatrical study guides and the At This Stage® digital workshop archive to produce and distribute author approved, rights cleared education materials into K-12 schools. For more information, visit www.BeAlliance.org.
WPBS-TV — based in Watertown, N.Y., is the primary public educational television station and PBS affiliate for Northern New York and Eastern Ontario, reaching hundreds of thousands of loyal viewers across the region. WPBS provides world-class preschool programming; documentaries on history, science, and public affairs; unbiased national and international news; performing arts and music concerts; dramatic adaptations of literary classics; and documentaries and discussion programs on local issues. WPBS delivers thousands of hours of educational content using resources developed in house and also through PBS LearningMedia to support teacher curriculum delivery and distance/at-home learning. WPBS also conducts workshops, distributes free resources to childcare providers and parental groups, and reaches thousands of children through participation in community events. A team of 21 (full and part-time) employees and a large group of committed volunteers operate the station and its digital platforms and community events. For more information visit: www.wpbstv.org.
Stephfond Brunson, Host — an experienced show host, actor, theatre choreographer, and costume enthusiast who has been involved in hundreds of shows and musicals in various capacities. Stephfond is currently the host of the weekly current affairs show WPBS Weekly: Inside the Stories. For ten years, he was an integral part of the administration at the Redhouse Arts Center in Syracuse, New York. He has also Emceed the Harms Theatre Festival in Auburn, New York, a celebration of fostering theatre works by teachers and students in secondary schools, where costume design is a focus.
