When Executive Artistic Director ShaVonne Davis learned that Maroon 9 Community Enrichment Organization was receiving a Challenge America grant from the National Endowment of the Arts, she was ecstatic and hopeful. Finalizing the youth acting troupe’s plans for the year went immediately into motion. The $10,000 grant was more than enough to shape the outlook for the year’s two major productions, with room to make programmatic improvements throughout the school year and summer. In March, Davis took executives from Maroon 9 and Kids Acting With Purpose to New York to glean from theatre programmers on/off Broadway and in the city.
They returned home to reports of action within the NEA that might affect their grant and after months of speculation, Davis finally got the email she had been dreading. The Challenge America grant awarded to Maroon 9 had officially been rescinded. Davis knew this could mean ‘curtains’ for her program, despite receiving many other grants throughout the year. Davis’ work is fully grant funded and doing without earmarked funds from the grant put plans for a spring literacy program and summer production in jeopardy.
After sharing her story with local news outlets, the outlook remained grim for ShaVonne Davis and Kids Acting With Purpose. Unknowingly, there was goodness brewing behind the scenes. Thanks to a fellow theatre teaching artist Ehleshea Anderson of Dallas, Texas, Mrs. Davis and her kiddos weren’t hopeless for long. Anderson engaged her online audience and issued a call to action to help a distressed Davis. Anderson added Maroon 9 Community Enrichment Organization to her Linktree and within 48 hours, Davis’ Page to Stage Literacy Program was funded as donations continue to pour in.
Ehleshea Anderson’s call to action on TikTok went viral last weekend, leading to over $10K in donations for Maroon 9’s summer literacy program.
Anderson’s Online Theatre and Voice Academy teaches youth in virtual settings and reaches across the spectrum of the arts online. The kindness of strangers has shifted Kids Acting With Purpose into its pursuit of its long-term goal, of securing own rehearsal space and performance venue. This will ensure Maroon 9 programming is a year-round pour into the future of young thespians in Tarrant County.
With many grantors disengaging their grants from arts programs and DEI initiatives, Davis looks to publicly fund remaining onstage and extracurricular programs for the year. Besides her work onstage, Davis conducts conflict resolution workshops teaching youth how to solve problems without violence by acting out defusive scenes. Davis’ summer literacy program concludes with a culminative performance of “Harriet Tubman: Take My Hand and Follow Me” by Katherine Shultz-Miller on Saturday, June 21st at Theatre Wesleyan. Ticketing information will be available on the Kids Acting With Purpose website.
This overwhelming generosity proves that kindness is at the heart of the arts. Sharing is caring and caring enough to share is sometimes all people need to reach their goals. To learn more about the ongoing enrichment of Maroon 9, Kids Acting With Purpose and other programs, please visit: www.maroon9.org.
