Theater in an Arts Desert: Partnerships for Enrichment

Many students in the United States and around the world live in arts deserts, areas where they have limited opportunities to engage with various forms of artistic expression, cultural events, and creative experiences due to a scarcity of cultural institutions, performance venues, galleries, and community arts programs. This article explores the value of providing students living in an arts desert with access to arts-based experiences and the potential benefit for combating the isolation of rural poverty. Four groups of middle school students and one high school group from Appalachia who lived in an arts desert were able to experience musical theater performances, traveling after the school day to avoid conflict with their academic responsibilities. Through the musical theater performances, students were exposed to different perspectives and experiences they otherwise would not have received in their local communities.