Grant Awarded to Mill Mountain Playhouse , Co (MMT)

MMT has been awarded an $8,000 grant to support its Young Audiences Series.
MMT is continuing in 2017 its program of linking the performing arts with literacy
and reading skills for children through four productions in its Young Audiences Series. The program was
first started in 2016 to produce plays in conjunction with their literary sources, encouraging students to read
about what they had seen in the shows. Follow-up surveys with parents following the 2016 shows revealed
that 82 percent of the children read free books they received from MMT and 42 percent visited libraries to
borrow more books.
These shows are expected to engage audiences of 6,600 with free or discounted tickets. Admission
to the Waldron Stage shows will be on a pay-what-you-can basis to ensure access to a broad community
audience. Students attending all of the Young Audiences shows also will receive an estimated 1,000 free
books plus activities guides to encourage reading about the shows they see and related topics.
When distributing books, MMT’s staff asks for email addresses to send surveys to parents and teachers who
monitor the program’s effectiveness. These responses have documented the program’s intended impacts and
pointed to areas to strengthen in 2017, especially to serve children from households where there are few
books and reading is not actively encouraged.
Funds from this grant will be used to underwrite the cost of books to be distributed to children attending the
shows and to pay for creation and printing of activities guides and workbooks for distribution to the students.
Funds will primarily be spent for the 2017 Young Audiences productions and reading workshops.