Coral Springs Arts Program Filling The Void At Cash-Strapped Schools
CORAL SPRINGS (CBS4) - Proud parents watch as one child after another takes their turn at the piano, playing like pros in front of amazed adults. But the sad truth now is that with deep budget cuts, many kids aren't able to feed their cravings for the arts at school.
"They cut out art," said 5th grader Dylan Scheuerer, talking about his Coral Springs elementary school.
His art class went away this school year, and music was severely cut. It's stories like that which lead to Arts Alive, a new community arts school in Coral Springs.
"We have vocal coaches, we have audition coaches, we have coaches that specialize in preparing the kids for thei rsolos and ensemble groups," explained Caryl Fantel.
She and her husband, along with another family, started the school hoping to pick up where budget cuts left off.
Zack Cagan is a high school senior. He's taking voice lessons from a Julliard graduate and professional singer. With cut backs at schools all over this place, he says this training comes at just the right time, as he's applying to college to study the arts.
"At school, you really wouldn't learn the process or the basics of what you need to go out in the field with," said Cagan.
The idea at Arts Alive is to provide music training for toddlers up to senior citizens, knowing that the arts provide more than just a nice melody.
"Arts and music brings much more than just learning music into the lives of children," said concerned parent Marisa Scheuerer.
While schools can't always afford full arts programs anymore, some schools have called Arts Alive to see the teachers there may be able to take their classrooms on the road.
They're hoping the community arts school will be able to teach a few specials or workshops at schools that cut their programs.
