Nonprofit Act One brings Arizona students on field trips to shed light on the importance of art for youth development. The Tetra String Quartet performs “The Power of Expression” show for more than 800 students on Oct. 23, 2024, at the Orpheum Theatre in Phoenix. (Photo by Gabriel Garza/Cronkite News)
Students wait for the Tetra String Quartet to perform at the Orpheum Theatre in Phoenix on Oct. 23, 2024. (Photo by Gabriel Garza/Cronkite News)
The Tetra String Quartet performs for K-6 students who attend Title I schools on Oct. 23, 2024, at the Orpheum Theatre in Phoenix. (Photo by Gabriel Garza/Cronkite News)
Students watch the Tetra String Quartet as the musical group teaches them how to express feelings, tell stories and connect through music on Oct. 23, 2024, at the Orpheum Theatre in Phoenix. (Photo by Gabriel Garza/Cronkite News)
Act One’s arts field trips bring students from Title I schools to live performances, theaters and museums. To kickstart the season’s program, students travel to the Orpheum Theatre in Phoenix on Oct. 23, 2024. (Photo by Gabriel Garza/Cronkite News)
PHOENIX – Nonprofit organization Act One funded a school trip to the Orpheum Theatre in Phoenix to see the Tetra String Quartet on Wednesday, which kicked off the organization’s 2024-25 season.
“I just think it was so beautiful,” said Milani Duran, a sixth grader from Sunland STEAM Academy. “Seeing all the different (things), seeing the violin, the cello, it was very different.”
Act One is helping to provide Phoenix and Tucson Title I schools – those that have a high percentage of low-income families – with the ability to connect with the arts, a sector that is severely lacking on their campuses.
“Title I schools in Arizona, 40% of them don’t have access to two or more art forms. Most of them have access to only one, and some of them have access to none,” said Emanuel Class, field trip manager for Act One. “So our job is to not just give them access to the arts, but to make it easy, so that all the teacher has to do is show up on the day of the field trip, hop on the bus, enjoy the arts with their students and go home.”
The group has connected nearly 400,000 students to the arts since the program’s inception in 2011. Before the end of the school year, the organization plans to bring more than 10,000 students to the Musical Instrument Museum, Arizona Early Music and the Phoenix Symphony.
Act One works from the top down to plan the trips. It covers costs of transportation and tickets, works with teachers on scheduling and provides educational materials. Wednesday’s performance was only open to the students, and Act One will do something similar with the Phoenix Symphony in November, when students will see a private rehearsal to understand how a professional orchestra operates.
During the Tetra String Quartet’s performance, the musicians emphasized the importance of personal connection to and the emotional impact of music through the pieces of Bedřich Smetana, a Czech composer.
“They’ll (students) also have some connectivity to the art itself,” Class said. “Tetra is really incredible about bringing the art down to the students’ level so that they can connect to it and make it personal.”
For the educators in Title I schools, this is also an opportunity for them to take their students who may not go to arts performances out of the classroom.
“In some Title I schools, most kids will never have the opportunity to experience a concert like this or the arts in general,” said Bernabe Garcia III, a teacher at Sunland STEAM Academy. “So any time we can take kids out of school, out of the classroom, for a little bit so they can experience the stuff that they only hear about or see on the internet or on TV, it’s a great experience for them.”
