Southeastern NEWS
Southeastern Louisiana University
Public Information Office
publicinfo@selu.edu
SLU 10880, Hammond, LA 70402
985/549-2341/fax 985-549-2061
Date: 5/14/02
Contact: Christina Chapple 95P
Editors: Photo accompanies release
COLUMBIA/FANFARE EDUCATION OUTREACH BUILDS FUTURE AUDIENCES
HAMMOND -- Since its inception in 1985, Fanfare, Southeastern Louisiana University's
arts festival, has been bringing an annual feast of culture to audiences from throughout the north
shore, southeast Louisiana, even neighboring states.
But, behind the scenes of the October extravaganza of art, dance, drama, exhibits, films,
lectures, and music, there is a second Fanfare, one the general public generally doesn't see or
even know much about.
Fanfare has a "festival within the festival" that is just for children, the audiences of the
future.
During each of its 16 past season, Fanfare has offered area schools a wealth of matinees,
master classes, and personal visits by guests artists. Last year alone, more than 4,900 young
people, from first graders through high school seniors, participated in Fanfare education outreach
events. And, since Fanfare added the new Columbia Theatre for the Performing Arts to its
venues,
another 2,000 children have visited the renovated downtown Hammond theater to see special
performances of "Trout Fishing in America," the Tennessee Williams Festival on the North
Shore's "Suddenly Last Summer" and Ballet Memphis' comedic "Giraffes Can't Dance."
"Every child should have the right to learn through the arts," said Fanfare/Columbia
Artistic Director Donna Gay Anderson. "Since Fanfare's inception, education outreach has been
at
the very core of our existence. With the opening of the Columbia, we're taking this philosophy a
step further by providing educational programming year-round instead of strictly in October."
She said Ballet Memphis' May 9 children's program, "Giraffes Can't Dance," was "a
shining example of what the arts can do for over 800 school children in just one morning!"
To offer educational outreach programs, Fanfare/Columbia taps into the talents of the
visiting artists themselves. School performances or residencies are built into the artists' contracts,
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EDUCATION OUTREACH Add One
and many are as committed to the "get them while they're young" philosophy of audience
building as Southeastern is, said Assistant Director Keiron Couret, coordinator of the outreach
program.
During Fanfare 2001, for instance, she said "Naturally Seven," a group of young singers
from New York whose a capella renditions of jazz, gospel, rhythm and blues was a sell-out hit,
not only presented an hour-long school matinee, but also gave an inspirational "stay-away-from-
drugs, stay-in-school talk" to the young members of the Hammond Boys and Girls Club.
"Naturally Seven told us that they wanted to meet kids one-on-one," Couret said. "They
gave wholeheartedly and were extremely well received. A number of the Boys and Girls Club
members came back to the public performance that night."
Couret said a master class by New York Philharmonic trumpet player Philip Smith "was
packed" on a Saturday, no less -- and his performance with the Southeastern Wind Symphony
at Ponchatoula High School was standing-room-only. More than a dozen aspiring young trumpet
players attended Smith's special clinic, "which was an excellent recruiting tool for our own music
program at Southeastern," she said.
Frances Wood, head of Southeastern's Junior Division in the College of Basic Studies,
headed the education outreach program until last year.
"I did it the first year because Harriet (Vogt, Fanfare's founder and longtime artistic
director) twisted my arm," Wood said, laughing. She was inspired to continue with the often
time-
consuming job because of her own childhood experiences with the arts.
"When I was a kid, we went to the Little Theatre in New Orleans. I absolutely loved those
performances, the excitement and wonder of the theater," Wood said. "I don't think kids today
always get those opportunities. By being involved, I was able to capture that excitement and
wonder again."
Wood said one of her favorite memories was taking astronaut James Lovell to Eastside
Elementary in Hammond, where he brought the students samples of "space meals" and talked to
them about the lessons he learned from his harrowing experience as commander of the near-
disastrous Apollo 13 mission.
"In a question and answer session, he was asked if he had always wanted to be an
astronaut," Wood said. "He said that not only had he always had that ambition, but he had had to
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EDUCATION OUTREACH -- Add Two
work harder than anyone else because 'lots of boys wanted to be astronauts.' I thought that was a
wonderful, inspirational message."
Wood said the first year she worked with educational outreach, "I stayed on the phone,
contacting schools, convincing the teachers to participate. After the first year, schools began
contacting me during the summer, anxious to reserve a place for their students."
Couret said schools are booked on a "first come, first serve" basis. Admission to on-
campus matinees is $1 and in-school visits by artists are free.
"Sometimes, I had to actually look at the times in which I received faxes from the schools"
to determine school bookings, said Holy Ghost School teacher Suzanne Gautier, who has taken
over Wood's volunteer duties.
Missoula Children's Theatre, a perennial Fanfare favorite that casts local children in a
musical version of a fairytale, has been equally popular with the schools, Couret said. Missoula
does a special children's matinee and brings workshops to area campuses, such as Hammond
Westside and Eastside elementary schools and Midway Elementary in Natalbany.
"I love it when my kids are able to participate in anything connected with the arts," said
Midway principal Ginger Daughdrill, whose students participated in a Missoula workshop, "The
Rhythm is Going to Get You," last year, and also attended "Giraffes Can't Dance" at the
Columbia.
Couret estimates that well over 5,000 students are expected to experience the next round
of Fanfare/Columbia performances when the 2002 season kicks off in late September.
Among the artists offering school residencies and matinees will be Ceili Rain, a seven-
piece Gaelic ensemble; North Carolina Dance Theatre, which will bring "A Streetcar Named
Desire" to the Columbia; Super Scientific Circus, a troupe that uses circus stunts and magic
tricks
to demonstrate scientific principals; Turtle Island String Quartet, a chamber music group; and
Tales and Scales, which spins music, story, theater and dance into a performance experience
called "musictelling."
For more information about Fanfare/Columbia education outreach, contact Couret at 985-
549-2333 or kcouret@selu.edu.
-SLU-
Press release available online at www.selu.edu/news/spring02.html