Florida Studio Theatre Partners with Charles & Margery Barancik Foundation to Expand Scholarship Program

Florida Studio Theatre (FST) announced a new partnership with Charles & Margery Barancik Foundation to provide key support for FST to expand its Children’s Scholarship Program, providing financial assistance to differently abled youth and those in need, as well as pilot a new program dedicated to elementary students on the Autism Spectrum.

Since its founding in 1982, FST Theatre School has supported children ages 4-17 in expressing themselves through theater workshops and classes. Over 700 students take part in FST’s youth education programs every year. $100,000 in support from the Barancik Foundation will grow FST’s scholarship fund, making the program accessible to even more students who otherwise could not afford this theatrical training.  Leveraging partnerships with schools in Sarasota, FST will identify TITLE I students who might benefit from FST’s expanded scholarship program.

“Over the years, I have witnessed the power of the theatre imagination to change young people’s lives,” shared Kate Alexander, FST’s Associate Director At-Large. “The children have come from all kinds of backgrounds—a little boy whose family was on food stamps, a child who had seen his parents’ hard divorce, or the siblings that lived in rented rooms. In the theatre, they all found a world of possibilities.”

The grant will also make it possible for FST to expand its VIP Performing Arts Program, serving individuals with physical, mental, emotional, and behavioral challenges. Since 1992, FST’s VIP Performing Arts Program has provided individuals of all ages with acting, dance, and musical theatre classes at no cost. For almost 20 years, FST’s VIP Program has been at capacity. Thanks to support from this grant, FST will be able to grow the program for the first time since 2000, increasing enrollment and impacting more participants than ever before.

“FST’s VIP program is a life line for my girls,” shared Julie Audet, the mother of two VIP students.

“It has helped them grow, express, feel, love, and explore. The staff’s tireless patience, energy, creativity, friendship, humor, compassion, and plain love for our family is admirable and so appreciated. I cannot thank the creators, educators, and supporters of the VIP program enough for their support and vision for such an instrumental program in our lives.”

 Barancik Foundation support will also underwrite The Puzzle Project, devoted to helping students on the Autism Spectrum in grades K-5 build verbal and non-verbal communication skills. The Puzzle Project will introduce an all-new after school program for young students on the spectrum, taking place once a week for ten weeks in Sarasota County elementary schools.

 
For more information about these programs, please contact Denee Lortz at dlortz@floridastudiotheatre.org.