Children's Stage Aventures  / Mentors in Music and the Arts /
Children's & Family Series / On School Time (OST) performances

"From the earliest times, humans have communicated their most profound thoghts and deepest feelings through music, dance, drama, and art....  Today, the arts - whtether conveyed in cyberspace or in the more traditional venues of the concert hall, theater, museum, or local arts center - remain essential to us as individuals and as a society.  They are the means by which we make sense of the world and our individual and collective experiences in it.  They help us appreciate our rich cultural heritage in the United States and the cultures of others throughout the world.  It is essential that our children and youth experience the arts at an early age, and often."
          - Learning through the Arts; National Endowment for the Arts, May 2002

The Union County Performing Arts Center (UCPAC) places high priority on the development of arts education initiatives.  We believe that all people are inherently creative - with the ability to appreciate, understand and make art. 

The UCPAC sponsors, presents and promotes narional and regional performing arts programming of professional quality for the cultural enrichment and eduation of chiodren and families.  UCPAC's eduation initiatives provide the opportunity for children of all backgrounds to come into direct contact with the arts - not just as a passive observer, but also as an active participant. 

UCPAC education initiatives support the New Jersey Core Curriculum Content Stadards for Visual and Performing Arts.  We believe that "an education in the arts is essential for the achievement of human, social and economic growth."  Students who participate in the UCPAC's arts education programs are introduced to (and encouraged to particpate in) an environment where the arts provide:

• the ability to be creative and inventive decision-makers;
  
• varied and powerful ways of communicating ideas, thoughts and feelings;
  
• an enhanced sense of poise and self-esteem;
  
• the confidence to undertake new tasks;
  
• an increased ability to achieve across the curriculum.   

Children need an introduction to an appreciation  of the arts.  We choose the finest quality productions available, designed specifcally to enrich, educate and entertain children.  Music, theatre dance and film programming create an environment rich with color, sound and movement to delight the senses of our young auidences. 

A strong, well-developed arts education is necessary for the realization of the potential in every individual.  Please choose from one of the educational oportunities above to learn more.