City of 29 Palms Awards Maximum Grant to New Arts Academy to Support Local Youth
PHOTO CAPTION: Drama educator Howard Shangraw instructs some of the younger students in one of his classes as part of the new Hi-Desert Arts Academy.
JOSHUA TREE, CA — The City of Twentynine Palms Public Arts Advisory Committee has awarded the Hi-Desert Cultural Center’s new Hi-Desert Arts Academy $1,500 for summer youth arts programs, the maximum amount allotted for any single organization. With classes covering drama, voice, and music performance for each of four primary instrument families (woodwinds, brass, strings, and percussion), and with over 150 youth enrollments for its opening semester, the Hi-Desert Arts Academy is this area’s largest full-breadth performing arts education endeavor. The grant award from the city will be used specifically to provide financial assistance for tuition, books, and/or instruments for youth residing in the City of Twentynine Palms or aboard the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center so that they may participate in the Arts Academy’s extensive new summer youth theater, chorus, and philharmonic programs.
“The difference is the unprecedented quality of education area youth receive when they participate in the Center’s new Arts Academy,” stated Hi-Desert Cultural Center president, Jarrod Radnich. “Our instructors are phenomenal and dedicated to education – having chaired the theater department at the prestigious Idyllwild Arts Academy, taught at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, received masters degrees from USC and Manhattan School of Music, and received numerous coveted awards and accolades. These are serious programs for students who are highly focused and intent on learning the arts, and we greatly appreciate the support that the City of Twentynine Palms has shown.”
The Hi-Desert Arts Academy Summer Arts Programs expose youth (ages 8-18) to a wide range of performing arts and provide an opportunity for area youth to explore the depth and beauty of performance art in a focused yet fun environment. The Arts Academy provides enjoyable, interactive, high-caliber, professionally-staffed, performing arts classes in a safe, well-monitored learning environment. All instructors and staff are LiveScanned, at least two LiveScanned staff are present with youth at all class times, and security cameras further monitor all class instruction.
For more information on the Hi-Desert Arts Academy’s Summer Arts Programs, send an email to artsacademy@hidesertculturalcenter.org or call 760.366.3777 ext. 3.