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"High 5" Provides $5 Theatre, Dance, Music Tickets for Teens
By Ilya Khodosh
24 Dec 2002
Playbill On-Line has joined forces with Camp Broadway and the Columbia Scholastic Press Association at Columbia University during the 2002-03 season to create opportunities for four high school student journalists, covering Broadway news for Playbill's teen readership. From September 2002 until May 2003, four students who were selected for the program will be responsible for writing an article every other month. One such article appears below.
The curious, cosmopolitan, open-minded NYC teenager
has no greater friend than "High 5 Tickets to the Arts."
High 5, a non-profit organization in existence since
1995, encourages teenage participation in the arts by
offering $5 tickets to events all over the city,
including theatre, music, and museums—anywhere from
City Center to the most obscure little downtown
theatre, from the New York Philharmonic to chamber
music concerts on a barge at Fulton Ferry Landing. Any
young person aged 13-18 is certain to discover
something intriguing, unusual, exciting, or just plain fun
among the pages of a "High 5" catalog.
"High 5"’s effort to ignite teenagers’ passion in the
arts despite a rigid, high-priced, somewhat
pretentious environment has helped to develop a new
audience for many artistic mediums. “Many of our
teenage users are seeing opera, dance, music, and
theatre for the first time though the purchase of a
`High 5' ticket.” said Communications Director Denver
Latimer. More than 200 arts organizations of great
variety donate tickets to their performances and
exhibits to reach teenagers from all economic and
cultural backgrounds. This is a way to contribute to
“a valuable nonprofit in New York City that serves
underprivileged youth,” as well as to fill up empty
seats with a motivated, enthusiastic crowd.
Tickets may be purchased at any Ticketmaster outlet or
online through the "High 5" website. Although the most
desirable events in the tri-annual catalog are
generally sold out within the first week of the
tickets’ anticipated release, new events are
constantly being added to the calendar and announced
on the website and its weekly e-mail newsletter.
"High 5" also works to promote small arts organizations
and the development of fresh, unconventional art
forms. “We just saw the opening of the beautiful new
space for Dance Theater Workshop,” said Latimer.
“Dance Theater is a relatively new concept that wasn’t
in existence until this past century. I anticipate
offering `High 5' tickets to more fusion art forms, more
events that test the boundaries of artistic genres
such as underwater ballet and new forms of vaudeville
performance.”
In addition to providing tickets, "High 5" organizes
several leadership and critical writing programs,
including the new Teen Reviewers and Critics Program
(TRaC) for high school upperclassmen, led by Stacey
Engels. A vigorous schedule of weekly workshops and
seminars with known critics and artists helps to
“cultivate a new generation of art critics whose
writing reflects and celebrates the cultural wealth
and diversity of New York City.” According to Engels,
“Writing endows individuals with power – even if it is
just that to make a more informed decision about what
play they’ll see tonight. We hope that students
participating in TRaC will find themselves better
equipped to formulate questions and approach a writing
project in a way that is both well-structured and
imaginative.”
"High 5" ensures the persistence of a young population
still excited about the arts. Latimer, like the entire
staff of "High 5," recognizes the universal importance
of artistic growth and self-expression: “We live in
the largest city with the greatest amount of artists
in America, perhaps in the whole world. Every time an
artist sits down to dream, to think, to compose, to
write, or to paint we are a possible audience for that
product.”
Further information about "High 5 Tickets to the Arts,"
along with a comprehensive calendar of events, may be
found on its official website, www.high5tix.org. As
the "High 5" fall-winter season ends Jan. 30,
interested teenagers should anticipate a new listing
of events to be announced within several weeks.
- Ilya Khodosh
Playbill On-Line Stringer
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