Broadway for kids: Utah Festival Opera creates conservatory to bring musical theater to children and teenagers

The performing arts enrich our lives in myriad ways. That's true of adults, but equally true for children, says Michael Ballam, founder and director of Cache Valley's Utah Festival Opera.

And, he says, it's never too soon to tap into those riches.

"I started singing before I went to school through a free summer program started by Art Olsen, bless his heart, who went around to every little community in the valley to help kids learn to sing."

As budget cuts have taken many arts programs out of the schools, it has become harder for children to become involved in the arts. "Remember when junior high schools and even elementary schools put on musical theater?" Ballam asks. "We need to get back to that. We need to give our young people a chance to be creative, a chance to shine."

There are lots of studies, he says, that show how arts education helps children in other areas, how it increases their abilities in math and science, how it increases their self-confidence and self-esteem. But it is also important for youngsters who want to find fulfillment, creativity and their own kinds of expression that may carry them on to who knows where?

That's the rationale behind the latest project launched by the educational arm of Utah Festival Opera: the Utah Festival Conservatory of the Performing Arts, which will begin offering classes this fall.

"This has been my father's dream for, oh, forever," says Vanessa Ballam, who will serve as director of the conservatory.

The conservatory will offer 13-week classes in such things as story book theater, creative drama, junior and varsity acting, musical theater, and junior and varsity Dance. Classes are designed for ages 4-18, "but we won't turn anyone away," Vanessa Ballam says.

Weekly classes will be held Tuesdays through Fridays after school and on Saturdays; tuition ranges from $60 to $90.

In addition, the conservatory will become the Utah sponsor/host for participation in the national High School Musical Theater Awards.

This is a national program that has been going for a number of years, but Utah has never participated, Michael Ballam says. It culminates in the Jimmy Awards, named in honor of Broadway great Jimmy Nederlander, which recognize the best in young theater talent.