As a drama teacher, you probably know how important it is to build a strong network to gain parental and local community support. Why? To present a united front to school administrators, showcasing widespread, impressive backing and a clear demand for the drama program to continue and grow.
It may feel intimidating to begin your networking efforts with parents and community members, but we promise—it only gets easier the longer you try and the more people you have in your corner!
On The Stage (OTS) presents ways to connect with parents, earn community support, and present a united front to your school’s administration and stakeholders when advocating for arts education. With the right tools, you’ll impress your admin and gain the support you need to create great theatre for years to come.
If you let them, your students’ parents can play an integral role in the success of your program. You may be thinking, “How can I naturally network with parents when I spend all day with their kids?” We offer a few suggestions.
Teachers who focus on parent engagement in and out of the classroom, alongside student engagement, often see a profound and positive change in their students. In short, the more a parent is involved in their children’s education, the better the entire class becomes.
So, ensure you’re creating a welcoming space for parents in your classroom and your inbox. Invite them in for parent-teacher conferences, brainstorming meetings, or fun events. During class, open the doors to parents so they can step in, observe, and understand the great work you’re doing with their kids. Additionally, consider asking for advice or opinions from parents about specific curriculum choices, field trips, or show choices. (Psst – surveys, anyone?)
By motivating parents to commit to prioritizing their child’s educational goals, you improve relationships between you and the parents – and get valuable insight into your students. Even better, students with engaged parents often:
Parent-teacher associations (PTAs) can be a very powerful asset when it comes to receiving more funding, so why not use the networking efforts you’ve enacted to start a parent-led committee on arts education?
First, you’ll need to set up a preliminary meeting with your school administration to see if the PTA is interested in supporting arts education via a committee. (Spoiler alert – they will!) After, it’s time to assemble a team with relevant educators and passionate parents. Don’t forget to include other teachers in your ecosystem who are within the realms of theatre and art. After all, the more parents and educators you can enlist to join this committee, the better!
While inviting parents into your classroom is an excellent idea, it doesn’t allow you to get to know these individuals on a personal level. Instead, consider hosting a parent mixer where you can have important conversations about arts education unencumbered by curriculum demands or student questions.
Forming personal connections with parents is a crucial step in ensuring they’ll support arts education and join you in the fight for more funding.
As a drama educator, you probably burn the candle at both ends. Why not encourage parents to volunteer in your classroom, during rehearsals, field trips, or after hours?
While this grants you an excellent opportunity to create necessary connections, it also allows parents to see the real-time positive difference that theatre is making in their child’s life. Additionally, when parents feel they have a ‘stake’ in their child’s success, they’ll be far more likely to raise their banners in the cause if need be.
If you’ve gotten a slew of parents on your side to rally for arts education, it’s now time to engage your community in similar ways. But how?
Like a Parent-Teacher Association committee, you can also lead the charge in creating an Art Education Action Team within your community. If executed correctly, you’ll not only have parents behind you but community leaders, as well.
When choosing members for this team, tap citizens who have proven themselves as advocates for the arts—but remember to cast a wide net. You can contact art gallery owners, museum docents, and community theatre directors, yes, but don’t forget other creatives like local musicians, educators, small business owners, concert venue managers, local symphonies, and other performing arts groups. The sky’s the limit!
Going hand in hand with creating a community action team, involving yourself in the local theatre and arts scene is an excellent step in networking and gaining community support. A few ways to do this include:
It will be difficult to get community support if they’ve never heard of your program. So, ensure you rent booths at creative events, hand out fliers, sell merchandise, and post on social media about your program.
Be loud and proud about the many benefits of your theatre program – and ensure you’re top-of-mind when community members think of the local theatre scene. Work on name recognition within your community. Networking opportunities will present themselves to you more frequently, giving you a little social capital when approaching potential community partners.
When it comes time to advocate for the arts, you, your parent teams, and your community partners must show a united front. A few ways to do so include:
The best way to show a united front is to showcase the many ways theatre can benefit everyone – not just students, directors, and educators. A few ways theatre benefits the community include:
As a theatre educator, you may need to get specific about the benefits your students receive from your classroom – and there are many. Unlike some subjects and after-school-activities, theatre education is multifaceted, lending itself to skills in:
Last, showing a united front will seal the deal when you show your stakeholders or administration real data about theatre education in schools. A few nuggets of note:
According to The Arts and Achievement in At-Risk Youth: Findings from Four Longitudinal Studies, 2012, students with high levels of arts involvement are less likely to drop out of school. Additionally, they report that drop-out rates correlate with student levels of involvement in the arts, i.e., the more a student is involved in the arts, the more likely they are to graduate.
In the Journal of Civil Society, Leroux and Bernadska (2019) report that audience-based participation in the arts and personal participation in creating art are both linked to higher levels of civic engagement and social tolerance. Through their work in the theatre, individual students are statistically more likely to participate in social justice causes due to learned empathy in their creative endeavors.
Individual students who participate in the arts often have stronger academic prowess than those who don’t. The College Entrance Examination Board reported that students involved in drama performance scored an average of 65.5 points higher on the verbal component and 35.5 points higher on the math component of the SAT. Students who took courses in drama study or appreciation scored, on average, 55 points higher on verbal and 26 points higher on math than their non-arts classmates. How about that?!
Being a theatre educator is hard work – no doubt about it. When you’re not worrying about rehearsals, you’re handling budget concerns, curriculum planning, marketing – the whole shebang.
If you need a little help with it all (and we all do), On The Stage (OTS) offers educational theatre makers everything they need to succeed. OTS provides an all-in-one technology platform built for educational theatres, with the flexibility to support students uniquely at every level of education, from universities to high schools to elementary schools and everything in between.
By partnering with OTS, your school program can drive revenue with ticket sales, merchandise, and fundraising, save time and money with box office and production tools, and create a world-class experience with show sites that include professionally designed artwork, a walk-up app, ticket scanning, show programs, and more.
With OTS’s help, you can work towards goals that include growing your program, engaging stakeholders, and garnering more support for arts education in general.
If you’re ready to elevate your theatre education, partner with OTS and book a personalized demo today.