Programs

  • Arts Programming and Educational Mentorship

    Here are some of the highlights from 2021-2022: FY22 was the first year that the Project re-opened its Clubhouse doors and returned to fully in-person programming since the beginning of the pandemic. The Project engaged over 88 Project members through our year-round arts programming and educational mentorship offerings. Our Project members saw the return of familiar after school offerings such as Homework Help and SAT Prep programs. In order to make up for time lost due to the pandemic, there were 3 Playmaking programs offered this year: Summer, Fall, and Winter. FY22 saw the restructuring of our Teen Ensemble in a response to the need for our teens to recalibrate and catch up with life as they focused on returning to school in-person. Our Teen Ensemble became focused on engaging our teens and reconnecting them to our sense of community. The program was split into 3 sections over the year: Improvisation, Technical Theater, and Improv Games. The return to in-person programming resulted in the Project seeing a more robust production schedule. In FY22, the Project held 7 arts programs with culminating productions, which saw 45 original plays or stories created by our young people. We returned to in-person productions at our Five Angels Theater, where we prioritized safe accessibility to our shows. This led to us making livestream recordings of each of our performances available to our community, in addition to the option of taking in the live production in our physical theater space, reaching a total audience of 2,580 people in FY22. 100% of our senior class (25) graduated from high school and 36 alumni enrolled in college and received $1,000 scholarships as part of our Ron Black Memorial Scholarship Fund.
    Geographies
    Not indicated
    Dates
    Jul 1, 2021 – Jun 30, 2022
    Source
    990
    No causes provided
    No populations provided
    –
    $1.6M

  • Program 1 [2025]

    The Project produced 17 performances in our theater across 9 productions; engaging 115 young people, aged 9 to 18, in our innovative writing and performance programs. Additionally, 180 arts and education professionals volunteered their time and talents to support our young people by volunteering as actors, writers, directors, technical designers, tutors, and mentors. 1,860 audience members attended our performances in person at our Five Angels Theatre. 29 Project Member alumni were enrolled in postsecondary education and received scholarships from our Ron Black Memorial Scholarship Fund. In spring 2025, we conducted the first round of our Creative Group Therapy program with seven 5th and 6th grade girls, led by Liz Bell, our Clinical Consultant and a L.C.S.W. This program was a six-session group therapy program that focused on how to approach stress, anxiety, and emotions. In addition to group discussions, this program applied improvisation, theatre games, mindfulness, and meditation as tools for building self-awareness and the ability to regulate in the face of anxiety. In FY25, we ran our Playmaking at P.S.111 program in the Fall and Spring and engaged a total of 51 4th graders. The Project began this partnership in January 2023, in response to an influx of students in the school from migrant families that were sent to our city (and our neighborhood) by outside states. The success of this program has strengthened our relationship with P.S. 111 and allows us to make connections with young people who we think could benefit from our programs. In the Spring session, we engaged a group of 4th graders that spoke many different languages. Staff who ran this program did their best to create a meaningful experience for each young person - and during the public sharing of the 4th grader's monologues, we were proud to have a cast of actors that performed in English, Spanish, French, and Arabic.
    Geographies
    Not indicated
    Dates
    Jul 1, 2024 – Jun 30, 2025
    Source
    990
    No causes provided
    No populations provided
    –
    $2.2M