Musical example of why the arts are so important

Kelly Trout
Published: May 16, 2008

After seeing the musical “Bye, Bye Birdie” last week performed by the students of CMS, I felt compelled to write and let everyone in the cast and the Culpeper community know how proud I was of all of the students and their hard work.

Under current economic conditions, when school programs such as the arts are being eliminated or drastically reduced, I cannot help but think what better way for our young people to spend their afternoons than working together on building sets, designing costumes, practicing dance steps, learning to sing new songs and memorizing many lines of dialogue.

All of these young people of various ages and backgrounds came together as a group to perform for two nights.

It was very nice to see such a large crowd of parents, grandparents and community members come out and support the students at CMS.

I do believe that the Culpeper community does have a large audience that supports the arts. We are very fortunate to have the Windmore Foundation as well as the renovation of the State Theater occurring right on Main Street.

My question is, “Who will be performing in these venues if we do not continue to provide opportunities for our young people to learn music, drama or the visual arts in our schools?”

I commend Mr. Walker and Mr. Hughes for their time, patience to manage 40-plus students in the cast and dedication in helping our young people to put on such a wonderful production.

I encourage all members of our community to continue to fight to keep the arts in all of our schools.

Kelly Trout
Culpeper