Spreading the News

by Mary Alice Carnes, Community Relations Director

My goal for the New Year is to continue to sing out the good news about Theatre Action Project’s mission and impact. 2011 was a banner year for highlighting TAP’s work via the media–press and social media–who put the spotlight on  Sara Hickman’s The Best of Times CD to benefit TAP, Austin Mayor Lee Leffingwell talking with the Courage in Action All Stars at Austin City Hall , or Nitra Gutierrez discussing how Changing Lives Youth Theatre Ensemble changes the lives of its young participants and audiences. TAP is spreading the news about how it inspires youth to be creative artists, courageous allies, critical thinkers and confident leaders, and my mission continues.

Shifting from serious to fun, who would have believed we would have a passionate “cupcake wars” on Twitter, Facebook and KEYE TV with last October’s Cupcake a Doodle Do! event? Austin proved it is serious about cupcakes and ardent about  supporting TAP.

I invite you to join the discussion. Send us your thoughts about arts education, ideas for stopping bullying in 2012, and tell us how creativity feeds your soul. Friend us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter (@TAPAustin), flip through our photo collection on Flickr, or sign up to be a TAP blog subscriber.

If you missed a TAP interview or article, check out our press page. In the meantime, here are a few highlights from 2011. Click on the links below to view, listen, or read:

• KUT Radio Arts Eclectic and O’Dark 30:Sara Hickman and Karen LaShelle on The Best of Times CD
• GivingCity Magazine:CD Release Benefit for TAP with Sara Hickman
• CultureMapAustin:Willie Nelson, Robert Earl Keen, Marcia Ball band together for Sara Hickman’s The Best of Times
• Inside Austin Radio:Anita Ashton and Sara Hickman talk about TAP and The Best of Times
• KXAN TV:Karen LaShelle talks about TAP’s spring fundraiser and TAP’s mission
• Austin Chronicle: Best of Times, It’s Good to Have Friends
• KXAN TV:Student play attacks bullying
• University of Texas blog: Theatre Action Project Turns the Organic into Artistic, Summer Pageant in the Park article
• Texas Tower PR blog:Spotlight on Theatre Action Project
• KXAN TV: Unique summer camp creates courage (Courage in Action All Stars)
• CultureMap Austin:This youth theater is Changing Lives: Advice crafted for and by teens, onstage at a school near you
• Cupcakes Take the Cake:TAP’s Cupcake a Doodle Do!

Educating Teens About Domestic Violence

Carolyn Mosley, founder of The Ortralla LuWone Mosley Foundation, is part of Theatre Action Project’s Advisory Council, and was recently interviewed on KEYE-TV.

After her daugter, Ortralla was killed in a domestic violence situation, Carolyn made it her mission to educate teens and parents about the warning signs of abusive relationships to hopefully prevent others from facing what her daughter did.

“If you respect yourself first, you are always going to love you and when you love you, you are never going to let someone come in and break that,” Carolyn said.

Her foundation works with many local groups to educate teens about domestic violence. One such group is the Changing Lives Youth Theatre Ensemble, a group that writes and performs plays that cover themes such as domestic violence and un-healthy relationships.

Click here to watch a recent documentary on Changing Lives and learn more about what they do for the community.

To learn more about Carolyn’s story, as well as other resources for students and parents, please go to http://weareaustin.com/fulltext?nxd_id=102497.

What programs have you heard of that help young people in cultivating healthy relationships with one another? We would love to hear what organizations you are or have been a part and/or have heard of that help address this important issue.