For over 20 years, On Stage Vacaville has been an active force in the community, pursuing its founded mission to promote, support and develop performing arts in the area.
After refocusing its programming to better serve and appeal to underrepresented individuals in 2011, OSV is taking its latest programming cue straight from the community it aims to reach.
The nonprofit’s newest arts program fills a vacancy after the pandemic halted any local adaptive arts programs. Beginning Jan. 30, the Synergy Adaptive Arts Program introduces courses specifically designed for kids with special needs who wish to get involved with dance, visual arts and music.
“Everyone kept saying the established adaptive arts classes shut down in the community during the pandemic, and they didn’t open back up,” said Angela Arteritano, OSV Chief Development Officer.
The need isn’t only coming from parents of special needs kids, but also from art educators who are already embedded within the community and want to dive into adaptive arts but lack the resources.
“We heard from local parents and businesses about classes that would have a couple of special needs students and they weren’t set up for it. They needed to have an aid or a dedicated space for these kids in their classes and just couldn’t find a way to do it. That’s when we recognized a need,” Arteritano explained.
Originally slated to begin in the fall, class sign-ups opened in the new year with the first class set to begin Jan. 30. Beginning the roll out of the program with two January classes, visual arts classes will herald in the program’s local partnerships with Joyful Arts Center. Other partnerships include the Vacaville’s Therapeutic Recreation Program and The Royal School of Ballet who will be leading the dance portion.
Despite the fact that OSV’s website was not updated to reflect the upcoming registration, spots filled up quickly after registration was announced via newsletter and social media. “Within a day it was sold out,” Arteritano said, marveling at the overwhelming response from interested parents and students. It speaks to the overdue need for this in the community, she said.
Classes will be offered twice a week with each class hosting a capacity of 12 students. The broader program offerings consist of music, dance and visual arts, specific classes might include percussion, instruments and singing. Students ages 8 and up with special needs will have the chance to decide how they want to structure their schedules.
“If they are leaning toward visual arts with only some music they can go to a visual arts class and then complement it with a singing class, for example,” Arteritano explained. “They can build their schedule according to what their interests are,” she said, adding that the goal is to really grow the program to include even more options for the diverse community.
In addition to celebrating the students’ successes throughout the year, Arteritano said they will also have a showcase performance at the end of the year for all of the students to share their achievements with the community.
Arteritano possesses a robust background in the arts herself, having earned an MFA in choreography and BFA in Studio Art. While she actively teaches dance at the Royal School of Ballet as well as Flamenco classes, her role in the program will focus more on staff training than teaching students.
Arteritano says she was currently in New York City at the National Association of Performing Arts professionals conference, where the primary focus was accessibility practices in the arts.
“We are growing as this program grows with us,” Arteritano said, adding that OSV’s president is pursuing a master’s degree in Arts Administration and Entrepreneurship. “We’re just invested in really offering these kids as much as we can, bringing them access and really expanding their options in our community.”
In addition to providing initial training, the longterm goal is to have an expert teach a seminar once or twice a year to the instructors and partners, as well as parents.
The idea, Arteritano said, is that the program is going to not only support the families and the students that need this, but support the local artists and professionals that want the resources to be able to teach these kids.