Palace Awarded American Savings Foundation Grant
01/22/2010Waterbury - The Palace Theater is pleased to announce that the American Savings Foundation has awarded the not-for-profit performing arts organization a $22,500 grant to support the longevity of its after-school prejudice reduction and character development program, I Give My Word.
Integrating academic curriculum with current events and the performing arts, I Give My Word is a program designed to facilitate gender and racial prejudice reduction and foster tolerance in high school students, as a means of creating a more compassionate and responsible society. The program integrates the historical elements of Alice Walker’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Color Purple and its Broadway musical adaptation, with Language Arts, American History, Civil Rights, Current Events, and the creative processes of the performing arts. Through the creation of personal poetry and memoir writing, students will communicate the urgency of embracing tolerance, vowing to give “their word,” as they pledge to practice respect, responsibility, fairness, citizenship, caring and trustworthiness to create positive change in their community.
The funding provided by the American Savings Foundation will make it possible for 75 underserved students attending Title One Schools in the Greater Waterbury area to participate in the program, as well as attend the Webster Broadway Series presentation of “The Color Purple” at the Palace Theater on May 9.
The American Savings Foundation is an independent charitable foundation dedicated to strengthening the community by supporting education, human services, and the arts, with a special emphasis on the needs of children, youth and families, through grants to community organizations and college scholarships.
# # #