Center BAE

Jul 1

FAST FACTS

Community Partners: The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Community Center (partnered since 2018), WHEELS, Bronx Academy of Letters, University Prep Charter School, PS 54, PS 44, PS 03, & the Terrie Hess Child Advocacy Center

Location: New York, NY and Salisbury, NC

Internship Participants: 23 (with a record breaking 148 applicants)

Duration: Three 10-week sessions, ~2/hrs week

Curriculum Participants: 105

Duration: Weekly classes year-round, ~2/hrs week

Facilitators: Ben Houghton, Salem Joseph, Aishah Cooke, Luis Mora, Amanda Santiago

STUDENT FEEDBACK

[CENTER BAE] taught me more people skills and allowed me to become more comfortable with others better. The events we participated in it gave us the space to create connections with our peers and not only my fellow internship friends, but network with wiser adults who’ve been in their career for a prolonged amount of time. Over the past 10 weeks, I learned to identify my skills quicker and see what i can bring to the group more efficiently than i would 10 weeks ago. I now have aspirations to create more connections (and meet more famous people lol :) )
It’s a great experience where you make new friends and learn new things with low level stress. I loved this internship and I’m so sad it’s over.
Meeting someone who is involved in the world of Broadway was incredible. This internship has been one of the best: I had the opportunity to ask questions and interact in a more personal way which made me learn a lot about the world of Broadway in addition to some life tips. I really like art, but I had never considered dedicating myself to this since I did not think it was possible that I could survive monetarily speaking, but from what I learned there are many jobs that would allow me to be in the art world to fend for myself.
I feel that risk taking was very welcomed in the Center BAE space. I became more comfortable with doing things as i go rather than trying to prepare everything in advance with only a small amount of time.
I developed new skills that i would have never gotten before, such as lighting, sounds, and microphones. After the art share I felt very proud of myself because I was doing something that there is an actual professional field for. I enjoyed my role of being in charge of the lights because I got to pick the color of the lights for each performance and it made me analyze each performance more carefully.
I learned a lot about the broadway industry and how its so much more complex than I expected. For example, I didn't know sound took so many steps and elements, it all seemed very confusing at first but I understood more at the end.
Over the past 10 weeks my assets have changed drastically I went from being unable to manage anything to having some more knowledge on how to manage things I also am able to say that I know more about being a production assistant. My favorite parts of the cycle was having the opportunity to meet people with some of the same interests as me because I sometimes feel like I’m the only person who has interests in broadway production. I had the opportunity to see someone in the position that I’m interested in and I got to meet some amazing people.

REVENUE & EXPENSE

IMPACT REFLECTION

CENTER BAE is Broadway for Arts Education’s leadership program designed specifically to center the needs of young people marginalized by their sexual and/or gender identities. During the 23-24 school year, three cohorts of queer youth (and a few allies!) from New York City and Salisbury, NC followed a 10-week curriculum designed to introduce them to various jobs within the theater industry, to develop professional skills through mentorship and project-based learning alongside Broadway professionals, and to teach how to communicate clearly, concisely, and creatively about their professional assets, aspirations, and boundaries. The curriculum was also used by our teaching artists in schools across the world, bringing LGBTQIA+ inclusive curriculum to hundreds of young people.

Upon review of intake forms, surveys, and direct observation, the teaching artists and social workers who lead this program discovered that young people, especially those with identities that have been traditionally marginalized, struggle with identifying, owning, and communicating their assets in an effective way. Young people post-COVID are more averse to risk-taking and engaging in in-person activities than ever before. Programs must involve project-based and service-based learning on a large & meaningful scale to get them engaged. The CENTER BAE program is designed to address each of those factors, creating a bridge between interns of various underrepresented identities with jobs within the Broadway/Theater Industry ecosystem.

The cycles began with a Broadway ecosystem project where students identified their own assets/aspirations/boundaries and researched jobs within the Broadway industry that aligned with their skills sets. They learned about Deepa Iyer’s Social Change Ecosystem map and how those roles intertwine with the tenets of project management.

Participants learned from Broadway performers, producers, coaches, and technicians and worked alongside of them to produce 2 large-scale events: a reading of the Larry Kramer’s The Normal Heart and a New York City-wide Art Share hosted at the LGBT Center. They engaged with mentorship and shadowing opportunities at the CENTER DINNER fundraiser for the LGBT Center, and a networking dinner at 54 Below celebrating women composers on Broadway.

BAE is especially proud to have been recognized by the NY City Council with an award for LGBTQIA+ inclusive curriculum, and found out in early July 2024 that BAE will be receiving the award for the second year in a row! Thanks to the support of the City Council, BAE was able to take its curriculum beyond the safety of the LGBT Center and into classrooms around New York City. Students engaged with BAE teaching artists to produce and perform musicals and events for their school communities, like Xanadu in Washington Heights, Little Shop of Horrors and Once On This Island in The Bronx, and an Anti-Racist Town Hall in Brooklyn.