The Glendale Educational Foundation (GEF) announced a new partnership launched with the Antaeus Theatre Company that brings hands-on, theater-based education into the classroom for students in the Glendale Unified School District.  

For the 2023-24 school term, GEF has brokered a precedent-setting partnership with Antaeus Theatre Company where GUSD students will take part in specialized classroom education and instruction. Students will also attend free matinee performances and have the opportunity to connect, one-on-one, with the Antaeus Theater professionals to enjoy an experiential learning process.

“The Arts education alliance between the Glendale Educational Foundation, Glendale Unified School District and Antaeus is a demonstrable example of educational excellence, powered by partnership,” said GEF Board President Robert Gordon.

Each semester GUSD students will take part in specialized in-classroom workshops conducted by the teaching arts professionals from Antaeus that break down critical thinking techniques and further explore themes in that season’s latest production, as well as providing helpful Theater 101 basics that prepare students for what to expect in the production. GUSD students will be treated to free matinee performances of the latest Antaeus world-class production, followed by a post-show Q&A conducted with the artists involved in the production when students can ask questions and engage the theater professionals.

“We are thrilled to launch this new partnership with GEF and GUSD, and we can’t wait to provide this vital arts education programming for students in our local Glendale community,” said Antaeus’s producing executive director Ana Rose O’Halloran.

GEF and Antaeus officially kicked off the new partnership in November with GEF leadership presenting Antaeus’s board of directors with a $5,000 grant check in exchange for the Antaeus team offering a new breadth of in-classroom and experiential educational opportunities over the next school term for GUSD high school students. Jennifer Berry, GEF board member, represented GEF at the check presentation as the new partnership was one of her keynote contributions to GEF and GUSD as she helped to broker the new grant relationship.

Romie Ruiz, GEF executive director, explained that “high-caliber partnerships now form an integral part of GEF’s mission work in the Glendale community with GEF modifying the traditional grant making process by creating action and results-based impact through dynamic programing to further enhance and enrich GUSD’s learning experiences.”

The mission of the Glendale Educational Foundation is to enhance the education programs of the Glendale Unified School District by engaging community partners to invest in future leaders. GEF’s mission work is to support every school and every student of GUSD. For more information about the partnership between GEF and Antaeus Theatre, contact Romie Ruiz at (310) 801-6357.