Broadway Bound Kids (BBK) was established in 2004 under a fiscal sponsorship as a way for young people from underserved populations to experience the joy of creating arts and learn about theatre, voice, and dance.; we received our 501(c)(3) status in December 2016. Our mission is to inspire and empower young lives through the performing arts, with a focus on enhancing social-emotional learning, confidence, connection, and creativity. We do so using a social justice mindfulness designed to break down societal and financial barriers for youth, their families, and their communities. This allows us to cultivate communities with open hearts and minds among a diverse cross section of youth in New York City and beyond, giving all youth a place to belong and be heard and by enabling every student to explore all they can be, on stage and off. Specifically, BBK offers:
- COMMUNITY PROGRAMS: these comprise two fully-subsidized Saturday programs: Broadway Bound Players (for middle school students) and Broadway Bound Workshop (for high school students). The students share their new creations in the fall and spring, often in an Off-Broadway theatre. Together, these programs provide robust theater instruction to 60 diverse students, aged 4 to 18, from all five boroughs of New York City, most of whom have limited or no access to arts education.
- We also offer Broadway Bound Academy. Launched in 2011, BBA is a High School Conservatory program for students seeking to more fully explore their artistic craft. IN-SCHOOL and AFTER SCHOOL PROGRAMS: These programs consist of classes in dance, improvisation, full musical productions, musical reviews, original devised theatre, and imaginative play and are aligned with NYC’s DOE Blueprints for the arts, emphasizing the five social-emotional competencies of self-awareness, self-management, responsible decision making, relationship skills, and social awareness. Our partner schools in 2021-2022 include nine (9) Title-1 public schools as well as a variety of other public and private schools across Manhattan, the Bronx, Queens, and Brooklyn. Of these, six have worked with BBK for years and most of which have confirmed continuing with our programs through June 2022. This represents the most DOE partnerships BBK has had to date. BBK’s Teaching Artists (TAs) are professionals with experience both on stage and in the classroom. In addition to requiring various competencies, BBK specifically seeks out TAs whose demographics mirror those whom they will teach and has held (paid) sessions with current TAs of color to brainstorm ways to attract more diverse applicants. BBK provides all TAs with professional development opportunities, including sessions on DEI sensitivity, always with an emphasis on adapting to addressing the individual needs of each of their students. BBK is committed to providing as much access to the Broadway community as possible. Many BBK students have never seen a theatrical production, let alone a Broadway show. We believe that theatre should be for everyone, and we strive to provide opportunities whenever possible to bridge the gaps that societal inequality has created. We provide scholarships to all of our initiatives, including our bi-annual Interactive Broadway program, where students take a masterclass with a Broadway star and then attend that performer’s show. (This spring, that show will be Hamilton.) In addition (pre-pandemic and now, as we head towards recovery), we provide students with free tickets to see Broadway shows. We focus on Broadway performances that have culturally and ethnically diverse performers on stage to show our students how powerful their voices can be and so that they can see themselves represented.
