I have been taking in live music and theater performances by Elmore County high schoolers this spring.
I’m convinced we have some of the best talent around and on the stage both singing and playing instruments. This includes students from Tallassee and Wetumpka to Eclectic and Millbrook. They are all showcasing talent we should all be proud of.
I’ve also witnessed great crowds supporting these talented students. They too are watching their favorite students perform under “Friday night lights” — just not in athletics.
These students are also successful in earning scholarships to perform at the next level, sometimes more so than athletics. I’ve seen numerous students going to play in the bands at Faulkner, Huntingdon, Troy, Jacksonville State and more. I’ve seen others going on to perform on the stages at UAB, Montevallo and beyond.
What’s best is in the last several years I’ve seen more scholarships and more money given to these students than those in athletic endeavors.
And yet they have to fight for every resource.
It's time for the band camp kids, young actors and aspiring singers to get their performance spaces just like the brothers and sisters in athletics.
Recently, there have been some major upgrades in the world of athletics across Elmore County — compared to almost none for the arts. Many times, choral, music and theater programs have been regulated to dungeons for performances.
Booster programs surrounding athletics aid in fundraising, but it seems everyone is more apt to donate to Friday Night Lights than where the masses are — the commons area at Wetumpka High School, the band room in Eclectic or the theater room at Stanhope Elmore. These places have modest practice facilities for the arts, but millions of dollars have been spent on lights, turf fields and new gyms.
Look at Elmore County High School, which is still operating on a stage built 80 or more years ago. Stanhope Elmore theater conducts its programs in a large classroom with a once-a-year production in the old gym. Meanwhile, Holtville is regulated to a small stage, more like a riser, in the elementary school.
Recently, Wetumpka packed out the commons area of the high school for its production of Bright Star. Saturday night likely saw the largest crowd ever for a WHS theater production.
It has taken Tallassee decades to get an auditorium for its choral and music programs. The place is filled for every performance.
It took almost persistent encouragement to build a 600-seat auditorium.
Now Tallassee has the space to grow its programs to even more students. And it already serves more than half the student population through its band and choral programs.
ECHS has the largest band program in the county, and Wetumpka has one of the best theater programs in the state.
There is talk of a new performing arts center. While it’s on the Elmore County Board of Education capital plan, there is no funding currently planned. It requires a donation and tax revenue of which Elmore County has some of the lowest for schools in the state.
In Wetumpka, even the basic plans for a performing arts center show it will improve the entire school. A new performing arts center would include space for the band, and it will help accommodate the school’s growth as the old music and theater areas can then be converted into classroom space.
I’m convinced the next project Elmore County needs to take on is the arts. The arts need our investment to grow and support the children who have proven time and time again they too are worthy of facilities equal to their athletic counterparts.
Cliff Williams is the news editor of Tallapoosa Publishers Inc.’s Elmore County newspapers. He can be reached at cliff.williams@thewetumpkaherald.com.
