The Aurora chapter of the Odd Fellows has backed arts performances in local schools, with a donation to the Aurora Cultural Centre’s Kaleidoscope in the Schools program.
The program provides free school performances to elementary school students from junior kindergarten to Grade 4, in all publicly funded schools across Aurora, according to the Aurora Cultural Centre.
The performances feature a variety of art styles, including theatre, dance, music and puppetry. Performances planned for next year include a Bollywood dancer, and an African and Caribbean folktale storyteller, among others. The artists also run activities and workshops for the students.
Members of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows Aurora Lodge 148 presented the $500 cheque to staff from the Aurora Cultural Centre on Tuesday morning, outside the Aurora lodge, located above the Klein Home and Benjamin Moore stores on Yonge Street.
“Teachers and educators, they just don’t have the background or the time or the resources necessary. So bringing in professional artists with a study guide, gives them just that kind of fuel to bring it into the classroom,” said Jordana Polito, development assistant at the Aurora Cultural Centre.
“It’s really engaging for them, which is so exciting and the little imagination of it. I remember those experiences as a kid, when they brought in an artist or a comic drawer or something. It’s a different angle to education.”
The program has expanded to 52 schools across York Region, helping under-served elementary schools identified by local school boards.
“No kid should be left without, and this helps all the children in town with that,” Anthony Garramone, vice grand of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows Aurora Lodge 148.
The money will go toward the cost of running the program, including paying artists fees and expenses for transportation.
More information about the KITS program can be found online.
