MoorArts helps groups stay afloat amid recession

Dan Cohen and Dana Germano graduated from Moorestown High School last month, but the theater enthusiasts have spent countless hours at the high school this summer.

Before heading off to college, the teenagers have been working tirelessly to help produce Into the Woods, the annual summer musical run by the art-advocacy group MoorArts. Cohen is stage manager and Germano is helping with sound.

Both students have received scholarship money from MoorArts, whose fund-raisers include a fall arts show, a holiday arts festival, and a summer musical.

"People don't realize how big an influence a nonprofit organization can have," said Germano, who will pursue a computer-science degree at Bucknell University, with a theater, design, and technology minor. "Although art is not a fundamental course in school . . . it has almost as much value, for some people even more value, because it can teach life lessons. The things that can come from that, I think, are immeasurable."

Even in a recession, when arts money can be hard to come by, the all-volunteer group remains dogged in its mission to promote visual, performing, graphic, and fine arts in the Moorestown schools and community.

MoorArts works toward that goal in two ways: by giving grants to teachers who want to pursue an art-related project, and by giving scholarships to graduating seniors who have participated in the arts in some capacity. Cohen and Germano were two of this year's 10 scholarship recipients.

"We're doing it twofold - we're expanding the arts and any profits that we make from that continue to promote the arts," said Georgean Wardzinski, president of MoorArts.

This year's musical opened Friday and will run tonight and Friday and Saturday nights. Those involved in the production include several graduates of Moorestown High who received MoorArts scholarships, which range from $500 to $1,000.

Cohen, a $500 scholarship recipient, said he plans to continue with his hobby at Syracuse University, where he will study broadcast journalism.

He hopes to use some of the behind-the-scenes skills he picks up this summer as stage manager when he is behind a camera in the fall.

"I owe it all to MoorArts for giving me this opportunity to contribute," he said. "They are an incredible organization. They do so many things for the schools. I just think it's absolutely wonderful what this organization does for the town."

The council gives out five to 10 teacher grants a year, ranging from $500 to $2,000, Wardzinski said. They do not have to go to art teachers, but recipients must use the grant money for an art-related purpose. The organization has funded everything from mosaics in school hallways to new instruments and art supplies in classrooms.

A MoorArts grant this year helped fund the Upper Elementary School's first-ever musical, The Jungle Book, in March.

MoorArts provided funds for the equipment needed to convert a cafeteria into a theater.

"It was not easy, but we did it," said Charles Gill, a fifth-grade teacher at the school and director of the show. "The school approached me, and I approached MoorArts. They were with us the whole time."

The show, which involved more than 100 students, sold out all four nights.

"Having them there to say, 'Yeah, we're here to help you financially,' was great," Gill said. "If it's something art-related, they're very willing to listen."

MoorArts was founded more than 20 years ago, under the name Moorestown Arts Advocacy Council.

"Twenty-plus years ago there were all these sports-related parents organizations, and there was nothing to help support the arts," Wardzinski said. "Initially it was just a parenting group getting together in someone's living room."

The organization now includes more than 100 volunteers, including a 14-member executive board that consists of parents, teachers, and students.

MoorArts also has career-internships available for students, who can earn school credit by being involved in a particular aspect - lighting, sound, business - of the summer production.

"The productions started more as a fund-raiser, and now we're trying to make it a fund-raiser and a learning experience," Wardzinski said. "We're actually taking students and teaching them through the arts."

Experts say involvement in the arts has immeasurable benefits for students.

The arts "broaden what kids can do. They give them an opportunity to enable their own voice," said Barry Shauck, president of the National Art Education Association.

Now, more than ever, Wardzinski said, promoting the arts is important.

"The arts is the first thing that people tend to cut," she said. "It's even more important for us to keep that focus."

For Cohen and Germano, their involvement in theater and music will likely stay with them throughout college.

They both want to come back next summer and continue working with MoorArts.

"What they've done for the students, especially me, has just been tremendous," Cohen said. "MoorArts is really the way to continue giving back to Moorestown. There's no doubt that I will be coming back after I start college and giving back."

"Into the Woods" runs at 8 p.m. today, Friday, and Saturday in the auditorium of Moorestown High School, 350 Bridgeboro Rd. Tickets, available at the door, are $15 for adults and $10 for seniors and students. For more information, call 856-778-6600, Ext. 28033.EndText