A northern Illinois theater is growing its education component by opening a school for the arts.
TheRaue Center For The Artsin Crystal Lake has offered workshops and classes over the years to local youth. Richard Kuranda, the CEO, said the new school will soon provide more learning opportunities for adults.
“So, we're taking a stab at it with a ton of different classes,” he said. “Everything from recreational instrumentation, like guitar and ukulele and piano to group singing with our musical theater ensemble and private voice classes.”
Billy Seger is the institutional advancement associate for the center. He said the theater already had an education program called Sage Studio.
“We have Ready, Set, Act!, which is an acting focused class, and then Broadway Bound, which is more musical theater based,” Seger explained. “So, finding the teachers for this school and people to step into these administrative positions -- these people have all come from being teachers for Sage Studio.”
Kurando mentioned that the center’s artist-in-residence Lynne Jordon will help students on the performance side.
Financial aid is available for those who need it.
“If people can't afford it, we can figure out a way to make it happen,” Kurando said. “And I'd be remiss if I didn't think that McHenry County Community Foundation, as well as the Willow Springs Foundation for making this possible, they've really been just stone weather supporters of us through this.”
The first semester for the Raue Center School For The Arts begins Oct. 11.
The Raue Center For The Arts is an underwriter of WNIJ.
- Yvonne Boose is a current corps member for Report for America, an initiative of the GroundTruth Project. It's a national service program that places talented journalists in local newsrooms like WNIJ. You can learn more about Report for America at wnij.org.
