My entire life I have always loved the arts as well as expressing myself through music. I have always been a singer and songwriter, but when it came to my knowledge of the arts I often had troubles with being able to study. I didn’t grow up rich, so I wasn’t able to continue my knowledge in the way I wish that I could. When I was just starting the spring semester of my eighth grade year, I was admitted as a diploma student at the East bay center for the performing arts. Here I had the chance to further my training of the arts in all forms, including singing, dancing, theater, and more. Here is a quote which explains what exactly the East Bay center does for their diploma students.
“The Young Artist Diploma Program is a six-year, tuition-free course of study designed to provide students with a critical set of skills they will be able to use in college and beyond. Through the active creation of original music, film, theater, dance, and community projects, the Center strives to enable our students to discover their true gifts and unique paths. The deep interrelationship of performing arts skills is such that understanding one training approach is strengthened by guided experience in others. East Bay Center is a recognized national model of this integrated approach to performing arts training. The Young Artist Diploma Program is broken into three 2-year components:
Years 1 and 2: Students will explore a breadth of classes to gain well-rounded experience in different art forms. Students are required to take several courses across many disciplines as part of the breadth/exploration requirements.
Years 3 and 4: Students are placed in more advanced courses according to their chosen discipline of study in consultation with staff and faculty.
Years 5 and 6: Students that have completed the four-year program may choose to continue through years 5 and 6 where they will receive advanced artistic and leadership training, as well as continue to develop technical skills across multiple art forms.
Diploma students receive tuition-free education valued at $8,500 per year, which includes 43 weeks of program instruction and countless opportunities for exploration, advancement, and leadership. For this reason, as well as concern for providing the very best training practices and values, the Center takes very seriously our commitment to each student, and in turn, asks the student and family to consider carefully their participation and the time commitments required. For example, during each 12-month period Diploma parents or guardians are required to volunteer for a minimum of 15 hours, which might include serving as extra concert personnel, potlucks, field trip chaperones, administrative help, production and program support. Many parents contribute significantly more hours by becoming involved with the monthly Diploma Parents Advisory Group.(site here)”
I am now in my fifth year of my East bay training, and I will soon go on to college where I will study theater. The center provided me with many opportunities, whether it came from learning and working with Bay area legends or the support I got to continue my education in college, the East Bay center for the performing arts gave me the opportunity to grow in ways that that I would have never been able to do on my own. Here are some of the things that I was able to do at the East bay center
Years 1 and 2: Students will explore a breadth of classes to gain well-rounded experience in different art forms. Students are required to take several courses across many disciplines as part of the breadth/exploration requirements.
Years 3 and 4: Students are placed in more advanced courses according to their chosen discipline of study in consultation with staff and faculty.
Years 5 and 6: Students that have completed the four-year program may choose to continue through years 5 and 6 where they will receive advanced artistic and leadership training, as well as continue to develop technical skills across multiple art forms.
Diploma students receive tuition-free education valued at $8,500 per year, which includes 43 weeks of program instruction and countless opportunities for exploration, advancement, and leadership. For this reason, as well as concern for providing the very best training practices and values, the Center takes very seriously our commitment to each student, and in turn, asks the student and family to consider carefully their participation and the time commitments required. For example, during each 12-month period Diploma parents or guardians are required to volunteer for a minimum of 15 hours, which might include serving as extra concert personnel, potlucks, field trip chaperones, administrative help, production and program support. Many parents contribute significantly more hours by becoming involved with the monthly Diploma Parents Advisory Group.(site here)”
I am now in my fifth year of my East bay training, and I will soon go on to college where I will study theater. The center provided me with many opportunities, whether it came from learning and working with Bay area legends or the support I got to continue my education in college, the East Bay center for the performing arts gave me the opportunity to grow in ways that that I would have never been able to do on my own. Here are some of the things that I was able to do at the East bay center
I started off as a musical theater student, and I learned quickly that I was not only a soprano, but I could sing higher than many sopranos could. In these classes that I took every year that I could, my knowledge of musical theater grew greatly, and I learned here how to learn basic chords on the piano as well as develop a repertoire of musical theater songs. I’ve performed many pieces, ranging from The Phantom of the Opera all the way to My Fair Lady. My teacher, Eliza O’ Malley, helped me through private lessons every week to develop my voice further through both opera and musical theater.
Regarding voice training, I had the opportunity to develop in not only musical theater and opera, but also in Jazz, the blues, and regular R&B singing. I learned about breath control, song writing, and also music theory working at the East Bay center, and my voice has definitely improved greatly in the past 5 years that I have been here.
Regarding voice training, I had the opportunity to develop in not only musical theater and opera, but also in Jazz, the blues, and regular R&B singing. I learned about breath control, song writing, and also music theory working at the East Bay center, and my voice has definitely improved greatly in the past 5 years that I have been here.
About a year after I started at the center, I was recruited to become a member for the Iron Triangle Theater Ensemble. Here I have put on many productions, those include The Wiz, Juneteenth, Rosie Rally Homefront, and most recently The Border of Innocents, where we talked about the heavy topic of mothers and children being separated at the border of Mexico. I have been a member here for 4 years, and my acting range has not only broadened but so have my knowledge of all things theater. Those include stage directions, lighting and sound, and also stage combat, which I have been doing for the past 3 years.
My mother is a dancer, and she has always wanted me to be a dancer, yet I often was never able to start because classes were too expensive. My earliest memories of dance were my mom teaching me how to dance to salsa, samba, and bachata when I was as young as 4 years old. When I started at the center, I immediately started taking dance classes and immersing myself in all types of dance forms. Those include ballet, modern dance, hip-hop, west african dance, salsa, samba, second-line, and choreography. The dances I have the most training in are ballet, hip-hop, and samba, but I know just about a little bit of everything in all of the subjects.
I also learned how to play over 8 musical instruments in my life. At the center, I strengthened my knowledge of the clarinet, trumpet, and piano, but in my middle school years I learned how to play the drums, bass clarinet, steel drums, and more. I am most comfortable playing the drums and piano, since those are the modes of music I usually take to when I write my own songs. I learned music theory and how to write music at the center, so not only am I a song-writer, but I can also make a catchy melodic tune on the piano if tasked with it.
The center taught me most of my knowledge about the arts, and while I was a student at a school that was 2 hours away from where I lived, I made sure to come back to Richmond and study everyday after school in whatever class I was in that day. Whether it was stage combat, music theory, or hip-hop, I took the knowledge granted to me at the East Bay Center for the performing arts and am now taking it with me when I go to study at the HBCU Howard University this fall.
The center taught me most of my knowledge about the arts, and while I was a student at a school that was 2 hours away from where I lived, I made sure to come back to Richmond and study everyday after school in whatever class I was in that day. Whether it was stage combat, music theory, or hip-hop, I took the knowledge granted to me at the East Bay Center for the performing arts and am now taking it with me when I go to study at the HBCU Howard University this fall.