UC Santa Cruz

ABSTRACT

The Artist as Educator:

Empathy Desperately Needed for Social Change

By: Natalia Delgado

My background in performance and educational outreach motivates me to advocate for arts in education. My purpose here is to serve students, communities, and artists alike. I aim to use Theatre as a vibrant teaching tool for youth in hopes of returning the love and support I have for the arts in education- underlining the necessity to bring theatre to the people.

My Thesis will be investigating how educational outreach programs like UCSC’s Shakespeare to Go serve as a tool for social justice, inspiring empathy for young audiences. This outreach program investigates a two-fold process- observing the rehearsal process and the performance itself as the actor on tour. Throughout the course of six months, the creative team of Shakespeare to Go work toward building a story together for the sake of storytelling.

This project will be a collection of moments framing arts educational outreach as the stepping stone in encouraging empathy to students where we see the creation and performance relationship between the consumer and the maker, sharing the same breath and space.