Creole Garsons

Project Description

Project Creole Garsons aims to increase male participation in the performing arts. There are several socially-constructed circumstances that negatively impact male participation. This scholarship program will work to eliminate many of these barriers by exposing the participants to a series of workshops and classes in a variety of artistic genres mostly led by male professional artists. The participants will then apply their knowledge in their artistic area(s) of interests. The program will culminate in the boys’ own artistic performance or production work being featured in the Creole Nutcracker.
The Creole Nutcracker was born out of the hearts of its two creators whose main purpose is to further expose the youth of Acadiana to the arts. The production is seasoned with the food, the language, and the music of the charming Creole culture. Each participant has an opportunity to perform on stage or work behind the scenes getting first-hand experience in a variety of different forms of the arts. Since 2018, The Creole Nutcracker has educated over 200 young performers as cast members. In these 4 years, 191 of the 200 young artists were female, and only 9 were male.
In our goal of exposing and educating the youth of Acadiana to the arts, we have been missing the mark with our young male population. Project Creole Garsons was created to fix this problem. The report Living the Arts through Language + Learning showed that young people with high arts involvement were 4 times more likely to be recognized for academic achievement, 4 times more likely to participate in a math and science fair, 3 times more likely to win an award for school attendance, and 3 times more likely to be elected to class office. All students deserve the opportunity to take part in the arts, both in school and in the community. The arts encourage students to: stay in school, succeed in school, succeed in life and succeed in work. It is proven that the arts benefit a child’s social development and academic achievement. And we need more boys in Acadiana getting these benefits!
There are several socially-constructed circumstances that negatively impact male participation in the arts. This scholarship program will work to eliminate many of these barriers by exposing the participants to a series of workshops and classes in a variety of artistic genres mostly led by male professional artists. The participants will then apply their knowledge in their artistic area(s) of interests. The program will culminate in the boys’ own artistic performance or production work being featured in the Creole Nutcracker. Creole Garsons is designed to foster creativity in more young men, and give them outlets for self-expression. From ballet to hip-hop and lighting to stage management, our program has something that will inspire tous les garsons.

Project Details

Team Leaders: Leigha Porter / Jazmyn Jones
Funded Date: November 6, 2021
Amount: $2,500
Location: Lafayette, LA

Pitch

Progress

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Dear Community Letters

Project Updates

Creole Garson Update #3

Creole Garson Update #3

Dear Community, We have exciting news! We have selected our inaugural class of Creole Garsons and their mentors. And guess what? We have exceeded our goal of 10 garsons and now have 11! Wow! This summer, we hosted two virtual meetings with the boys where they were...

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Creole Garson Update #2

Creole Garson Update #2

Dear Community, We are making progress and are very excited! Since our last update, we have established our project timeline and have chosen the art disciplines that will be included in our programming. Creole Garçons will meet virtually and in person on some weekends...

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Creole Garson Update #1

Creole Garson Update #1

Dear Community, It has been a little over a month since we won the support of the backers for our project “Creole Garçons”. And we are still riding on cloud 9! We’re feeling energized, encouraged, empowered, and equipped. Thank you backers, 24 Hour Citizen Project,...

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