News and Events Press Room Press Releases YAWAC Aids New Orleans Artists

For Immediate Release:

YOUNG AUDIENCES, WOODRUFF ARTS CENTER
REACHES OUT TO SISTER CHAPTER IN NEW ORLEANS

September 8, 2005 (Atlanta) - In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, Young Audiences, Woodruff Arts Center (YAWAC) announced its intentions to extend offers of assistance to the roster artists of Young Audiences of Louisiana, a sister chapter of the Atlanta branch in the larger national Young Audiences (YA) organization.

Due to the mandatory evacuation of New Orleans and the flooding of its office, YA of Louisiana Executive Director Ricky Nutik is currently operating out of the Young Audiences of Houston chapter office. Efforts are currently underway at the national YA office in New York as well chapters across the country to provide assistance to the struggling New Orleans chapter.

Because so many citizens from New Orleans have come to Georgia in the aftermath of from Katrina, YAWAC believes that roster artists from New Orleans may also be staying in the area. YAWAC will make every attempt to incorporate these artists into its roster and to find them work in Atlanta area schools, hoping thereby to assuage some of the financial burden that the hurricane has imposed upon the displaced artists.

Young Audiences, Woodruff Arts Center would like to spread the word that it is available to assist any YA of Louisiana roster artists currently staying in Georgia. Inquiries from displaced artists may be made to YAWAC Associate Director Myrna Lubin at 404-733-5328.

Young Audiences, Woodruff Arts Center
Since its inception in 1983, Young Audiences, Woodruff Arts Center (YAWAC) has sought to improve the life and education of every child through the arts. As one of 32 local affiliates of the national Young Audiences organization and the newest division of the Woodruff Arts Center, YAWAC is Georgia’s leading provider of in-school educational arts programming, reaching approximately one million children during the 2004-2005 school year alone.

YAWAC supports excellence in education by providing curriculum-based, in-school educational arts experiences presented by a roster of more than 75 professional teaching artists in the disciplines of music, dance, visual art, and theatre. YAWAC programs, available as assembly performances, workshops, and residencies, are developmentally appropriate for children in pre-kindergarten through 12th grade and provide authentic connections to the Georgia curriculum.

Woodruff Arts Center
The Woodruff Arts Center opened its doors in 1968 and has grown into the largest performing and visual arts center in the nation. The Woodruff is unique in that it combines visual/performing arts along with an arts college on one campus. A not-for-profit organization, the Woodruff Arts Center is made up of the Alliance Theatre, the Atlanta College of Art, the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, the High Museum of Art, Young Audiences and the 14th Street Playhouse.

Contact: Amy Turner
Young Audiences
(404) 733-5308
amy.turner@woodruffcenter.org