MAKING BOOKS SING INC
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Mission Statement
New York City Children’s Theater promotes children’s literacy and social development through accessible professional theater productions and arts-in-education programs. These programs cultivate children’s growth in the areas of: Emotional Intelligence Community Building Responsible Decision-Making The result is empathetic, creative and independent thinkers who make a positive impact on their world. Our theatrical productions, interactive workshops, and in-school residencies present stories that represent the children we serve, and focus on themes that engage and strengthen children’s empathy, imagination, and understanding of their world. We strive to make our programs accessible to children of all races, cultures, abilities, gender expressions, and economic means. We demonstrate that engaging young people in the arts has a positive impact on their cognitive, emotional and social development, and furthers a lifelong appreciation of the arts. Our programs serve children and families in professional theatrical venues, public and private schools, shelters, and community centers throughout New York City and her surrounding area.
About This Cause
New York City Children’s Theater began in 1996 as Making Books Sing, a family theater and education program of the award-winning Vineyard Theatre and became an independent 501(c)(3) in 2001. Over the past 26 years, our locally and nationally recognized professional theater productions and arts-in-education programs have served almost 425,000 children and adults across all five boroughs and surrounding communities in the tri-state area. By partnering with more than 500 public schools and homeless shelters and providing free or subsidized tickets to over 115,000 students for our professional shows, NYCCT has increased arts accessibility for underserved communities in New York City. NYCCT serves children aged 2-12 and their families throughout NYC with professional productions and theater-in education programs. We engage a diverse population of children with a full spectrum of theater activities built around children’s books, including: professional productions, online programming and classes, and arts-in-education programs. We are committed to delivering programming in each of the five boroughs every season. We reach our Mainstage audiences through various media outlets, including family-centric publications such as MOMMY POPPINS, wide-ranging print and video media like THE NEW YORK TIMES and CBS 2 NEWS, and social media platforms. Our education programs reach Pre-K – 5th grade students at NYC public schools and transitional housing facilities in all five boroughs. These programs and our touring productions connect us to partner schools and shelter sites, as well as community centers including NYPL, The Children’s Museum of Staten Island, Rockefeller Center, and The New York Botanical Garden. Our partnerships provide opportunities to build audience. NYCCT also offers programming for grownups, including MEET THE PARENTS, a series hosted by Board member and Broadway Performer Anika Larsen (ALMOST FAMOUS/BEAUTIFUL), which features theater artists discussing the intersection of parenthood and art, and START THE CONVERSATION (STC) which offers grownups tools and language to begin having nuanced conversations around big topics with their children. Through a combination of videos, workshops, activities, and resource guides, STC uses developmentally appropriate children’s literature and applied theater techniques to engage young people with chosen themes. The series has explored topics including anti-racism, citizenship, immigration, mental health, LBGTQ+ identities, and consent. NYCCT engages experts on each topic we cover and, where applicable, hires Teaching Artists (TAs) whose identities matches the given theme to create and present this work to the public. In 2018, NYCCT added sensory-friendly performances to each of our Mainstage shows. During these performances, sound and light cues (including house lights) are altered to make performances more welcoming for non-neurotypical audience members. Additional adjustments, such as changes to interactive choreography, may be made depending on the production. During all of our performances, we have fidgets and a free movement space available for audience members who may struggle with sitting still, also headphones for audience members who may need to significantly reduce noise. For our 2023 and 2024 Seasons we have received money from ART/NY to fund open captioning at select performances. All of our streaming and video outreach programs are available with closed captioning. In 2021 NYCCT added the word “accessible” to our mission. We work diligently to make each of our programs physically, culturally, and financially accessible to our audiences. To support cultural accessibility, each of our productions is reviewed by an EDIA advocate during its development and through rehearsals. We actively seek out source material that represents the wide range of cultures living in NYC and work to build partnerships with artists that can honestly engage the material with cultural competence. We have increased our multilingual offerings. Our FY24 Season includes two bi-lingual productions. A limited number of tickets for each performance are offered with “pay what you can” pricing. Grant funding and private donations offset the price of these tickets and the number available is proportional to funding. A limited number of complimentary tickets to weekend Mainstage shows are offered free of charge to families navigating transitional housing in conjunction with our education programs in NYC shelters.