The Black Latino Asian Artist Coalition or BLAAC Productions was awarded a $10,000 Black Equity & Excellence grant from the CNY Community Foundation to launch a youth arts program aimed at providing them first-hand theatre experience working alongside real production professionals.
On a Friday afternoon a small group of Syracuse City School District students meets at SALTSpace. They start off playing some acting games like Zip Zap Zop ahead of their costume design session.
Blondean Young, the founder of BLAAC Productions, introduces some of the students to music from "The Wiz" as they work on their designs. She said she tries to be the person she needed as a child wanting to introduce students to the arts earlier than they might be in school.
"Being able to offer this programming that is really positive and good for the kids in the community, really makes me happy, you know?" Young said. "Especially because it's for the inner city. A lot of times we don't get the arts in school like — we don't get introduced to that for a very long time. So having this program they know eventually, this could be something that they can do."
The students come in three times a week participating in different workshops like acting, movement, and stage makeup. Every student will receive a $100 stipend for their participation in the roughly three-month program.
Darrell Buckingham, of the CNY Community Foundation, said the project was appealing not just because the students are paid to dig into their passions but also the opportunities it creates.
"These are jobs for Black artists to work with these youth," Buckingham said. "It's also not only paying the youth, it's providing an opportunity for work for Black artists to do this project."
Young's hope for the future of the program?
"I really hope that we could become a full-time school," Young said. "That is something that I really want and I would really like us to travel to other production companies in the world to bring them kind of outside of Syracuse so they can see like, 'Oh, I can see this person working in the industry in like New York City or California' and things like that."
The fall semester of the BLAAC Productions program ends with a celebration performance for the student's parents. A new semester of classes will be held in the spring.
