A Bright Light Still Shines in Doylestown

DOYLESTOWN, PA— There is a growing movement gaining momentum and it began right here in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. It is the perfect combination of altruism and cultural preservation. This grassroots campaign is called Help One Artist and it all began with the idea to help the artists in our communities that abruptly had their livelihoods eradicated because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The arts are often considered to be the repository of a society's collective memory. COVID-19 has brought a standstill to the gig economy and the way most artists get paid for their creativity. Think about it, all the concerts, art festivals, museum exhibits, and theater performances have been canceled or indefinitely postponed. The freelance economy of artists has been blown to smithereens and before great suffering begins, our community has the chance to step in and help preserve the people and the creativity that makes our region so unique and wonderful.

One lady who has taken this concept to heart is Kristine Lewis, the owner and founder of a business in Doylestown entitled the Theatre Arts Center. Already a lifelong champion of the arts, Kristine has pivoted her programming and fashioned a way to keep all but one of her artists employed. This was not an easy feat, as Kristine had to convert all of her classes to an online platform with one week’s prep time and was forced to purchase two professional Zoom accounts. Theatre Arts Center employs ten performing arts instructors during the school year and over twenty during the summer. Offering classes such as Hip Hop, Ballet, Jazz, Lyrical, Musical Theater, and Acting, the Theatre Arts Center has operated in Bucks County for over thirty years.

At the beginning of the transition from studio classes to online classes, Kristine stated it was an awkward switch with some harrowing days, and “a few teachers hesitated to instruct over the internet, but after they tried it, all are zooming now!” Robyn, one of the Center’s Tap Dance Instructors “is actually teaching tap on a board in her kitchen, but it works, and the students love her class.”

In one fell swoop, Kristine conceived a way to keep 90% of her artists employed. At Theatre Arts Center, the show goes on and over 70 children in our county still have their theater and dance classes as a bright light in their week.

To learn more about Theatre Art Center’s classes and summer schedule, visit: https://www.theatreartscenter.com/