Texas Performing Arts Announces Significant Expansion of Education and Engagement Programs to Enhance Student Arts Opportunities Beginning with the 2024-2025 School Year
More Than 16,000 K-12 Students in Central Texas Will Attend First-Ever Broadway School Show and Additional School Day Performances
City’s largest arts organization will educate and inspire even more students through live performance
Texas Performing Arts (TPA), Austin’s leading arts organization dedicated to transforming lives through creativity, learning, and live performance, announces a bold new expansion of its education and engagement programs for K-12 students. Beginning with the 2024-2025 school year, TPA will more than quadruple the number of K-12 students it reaches annually. In the year ahead, TPA will present its first-ever daytime school performance of a nationally touring Broadway show, welcome every 5th grader in the Austin Independent School District to a theatre performance, and offer additional school-day performances of acclaimed touring artists.
As part of the University of Texas at Austin, creating artistic opportunities for students of all ages is central to TPA’s mission. Since its founding in 1981, TPA’s education and engagement programs have connected world-class artists to students and the broader community through workshops, discussions, creative performances for families and young audiences, and shows specifically designed for area schools and teachers. Each season, TPA offers free school-day performances by renowned artists that include bus transportation and curriculum guides aligned with State education standards.
“Bass Concert Hall filled with 3,000 students experiencing theater, dance or live music for what might be their first time is a moment unlike any other,” said Bob Bursey, TPA’s Executive & Artistic Director. “The artists we present tell us that these are some of the most memorable performances they have ever given,” he said. “Our vision is for every student in our community to have the opportunity to be educated and inspired by live performance. If we imagine Bass Concert Hall as the largest classroom in our city, we have a chance to make that happen thanks to our supporters and the incredible teachers in our community.”
For the 2024-25 school year, TPA plans to serve more than 16,000 K-12 students, marking a substantial increase in arts opportunities for Central Texas students. Expanded programs will include:
- Broadway School Show: For the first time, 3,000 students will attend a daytime performance of a touring Broadway show presented specifically for a school audience when the acclaimed Broadway musical Peter Pan visits Broadway in Austin this December.
- Theater for Fifth Graders: All 5,500 5th grade students in the Austin Independent School District, including all 53 Title I schools, will have an opportunity to attend a performance of El Otro Oz, an acclaimed musical for school audiences inspired by The Wizard of Oz. TPA will present an additional performance of the production to welcome another 2,000 students from surrounding school districts, private schools, and the homeschool community.
- School-Day Performances of Music and Dance: TPA will offer five school-day performances by visiting artists in the 2024-25 Texas Performing Arts Season. Featured artists include Montreal-based DJ and musician Kid Koala, Grammy-nominated a capella group Sweet Honey in the Rock, and Los Angeles’s Versa-Style Street Dance Company for 5,000 students.
- Broadway in the Classroom: TPA will provide 500 free tickets to Broadway in Austin performances for groups of elementary through college students whose classroom studies connect with the themes of the production, featuring shows such as Come From Away and Les Misérables.
- Behind-the-Scenes and Before the Show: 300 students and young audience members will learn about the performing arts through backstage tours and pre-performance activities throughout the year.
Since 2021, TPA’s K-12 education programs have expanded year-over-year in response to increasing requests from educators in the community. In the 2023-24 school year, TPA served 3,800 K-12 students through school day performances by artists such as the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, school group backstage tours, and student group tickets to attend Broadway shows including Six and Wicked.
The 2024-25 season marks the beginning of a multi-year expansion to maximize TPA’s educational impact. More new initiatives are planned to begin in the 2025-2026 season and will be announced later this year.
Educators interested in learning more about connecting their students with TPA’s educational programs may contact education@texasperformingarts.org. For more information on how to support these programs and make a difference in the lives of students, please contact support@texasperformingarts.org.
Support for TPA’s Education and Engagement Programs is provided by H-E-B Tournament of Champions, the William & Anita Cochran Endowment for Performing Arts Access & Education, the Joann and Gaylord Jentz Endowment for Student Engagement, the Alex and Dee Massad Endowment Fund, the Kathy Panoff Texas Performing Arts Student Engagement Endowment, the Arts Education Endowment, Texas Commission on the Arts, Applied Materials Foundation, Kristin & Joshua Alexander, Aubrey & Bobby Epstein, Michelle & Eric Natinsky, Christie & Jason Barany, Marcelle & Stephen Spilker, and Texas Inner Circle members.
ABOUT TEXAS PERFORMING ARTS
Texas Performing Arts is the professional arts presenting and producing program of The University of Texas at Austin. One of the largest and most active university-based performing arts centers in the U.S., Texas Performing Arts is an anchor institution in Austin’s arts, cultural, and entertainment landscape. Texas Performing Arts operates venues on the UT campus including Austin’s largest theatre, Bass Concert Hall. Its public programs include Broadway in Austin; the Texas Welcomes series of national touring artists; and a curated season of international dance, theatre, music and more. Texas Performing Arts is an integral unit of UT’s College of Fine Arts and engages thousands of students across the university every year. Following a national search, Tony Award-winning producer Bob Bursey was appointed Executive and Artistic Director in January of 2020.