
ARCA’s Educational ArtReach Program
Since 2009, ARCA has provided arts education resources to students in grades K to 12 through a partnership program with the Allegheny-Clarion Valley School District to enrich their knowledge and experiences of the arts and inspire and empower student skill building in school-based programs in band, chorus, visual art and drama.
Professional teaching artists in music, dance, language arts and drama have engaged students in classroom sessions, workshops, and masterclasses as well as performing “informances” in small classroom settings and assemblies in the high school auditorium.
Workshops have led students through improvisation experiences and exercises to develop their creativity and master classes with professional teaching artists have provided technical and interpretive coaching.

In afterschool master classes with professional musicians, band students have been coached on phrasing and musicality and given tips on instrumental technique.
Student visual artwork developed in thematic projects in school-based art classes were mounted in exhibits in ARCA’s Red Brick Gallery on Main Street in Foxburg and displayed in Foxburg businesses during the summer.
ARCA Board member, Katherine Soroka, a former arts and education outreach administrator with Manhattan School of Music in New York City, has worked closely with A-C Valley administrators, faculty and arts specialists in planning and implementing this partnership program. ARCA is grateful for the support of the A-C Valley School Board, Superintendent David McDeavitt, Principals David Jordan and Lori Marron Sherman, and faculty, especially music/art specialists Jennifer Lowrey, Logan Green, Karen Hetrick (retired), Kathy Larimer (retired), Scott DiTullio (retired), and Anita Allen (retired).
Professional Teaching Artists
Over the years, professional teaching artists who have engaged with students in A-C Valley classroom settings and auditoriums have included: Members of the Pittsburgh Symphony, the entire Pittsburgh Symphony Youth Orchestra, a drama group from Slippery Rock University, dancers from Attack Theatre and Murphy-Smith Dance Collective. Teaching artists from musical groups including Cello Fury, Attack Theatre, C Street Brass, Akropolis Reed Quintet, Renaissance City Winds, Beo String Quartet, TAKE3 Trio, and Backtrack Vocals.

In a field trip to Lincoln Hall in Foxburg, A-C Valley students from K to 12 experienced a demonstration of the McKissick Mighty Wurlitzer Theatre organ and informances by internationally renowned theatre organist Dave Wickerham.
ARCA has commissioned two arts education creative projects. Pittsburgh-based operatic/musical theatre group Aria412 created for A-C Valley a fractured musical theatre fairy tale performed in the elementary gymnasium and high school auditorium. During COVID, ARCA commissioned master educator and classical violinist, Monique Meade, to create a video with her two children (Trio Con Brio) entitled “Spark Your Creativity”. A-C Valley elementary students viewed the video in their classrooms during COVID – distanced six-feet part and wearing masks.
Since 2010, the program has been supported by a grant from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, a state agency funded by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency, as well as by generous contributions from Allegheny RiverStone Center for the Arts Members and donors.
In 2015, Clarion County Community Fund, an affiliate of Bridge Builders Community Foundations, gave a grant in support of the Dancing off the Canvas residency of Attack Theatre and the Allegheny-Clarion Valley School student art exhibit in the Red Brick Gallery.

ARCA’s arts education program is in fulfillment of its mission as a non-profit organization, demonstrating its commitment to contribute to the future of the Allegheny-Clarion valley community through the arts education of its young people.
ARCA Educational ArtReach from 2022 to 2024
2024 Educational ArtReach with Backtrack Vocals
With the purity of their close vocal harmony in ‘Cool Yule’ songs from their Christmas album and contagiously joyous beatboxing by nationally acclaimed “Dr. Brick”, New York City’s award winning 5-person a cappella vocal quintet, BACKTRACK VOCALS, enthralled students from K to 12 in the Allegheny-Clarion Valley Schools on Monday, December 16, 2024.
The ArtReach program followed Backtrack Vocals’ performance on Sunday night in Foxburg’s Lincoln Hall, for which their enthusiastic audience gave them a standing ovation and demanded an encore!
The young and energetic professionals brought their beautiful voices, polished choreography, and signature heart and humor to engage students in vocal warmups and participation exercises in three small classroom workshops for grades K to 6.
In two assembly concerts for K to 12 in the high school auditorium, the performers entertained students with holiday and popular songs and engaged them in sing-alongs, moving to the music.
Most impressive were the fabulous beat boxing skills of group member Michael Crisol (aka Dr. Brick). In the afternoon assembly concerts for elementary and high school students he demonstrated beat boxing and invited students and teachers to the stage to try their hand at it after a short how-to crowd lesson.
Many A-C V choral students took advantage of the opportunity to stay after school and to work with the artists on improvisation exercises that built mutual musical-listening skills and responsiveness in choral singing.
Elementary Principal Lori Marron Sherman shared: “The students and staff at A-C Valley are so appreciative of the programs that ARCA has brought to us over the years. Not only are they entertaining, but they provide an “outside the box” interactive music education experience that consistently inspires our students to pursue musical interests. Of these, Backtrack Vocals was the best! Their energy was contagious, and the students were enthralled by their performances and Dr. Brick’s beatboxing at the elementary school and the high school. We are so fortunate to have this collaborative opportunity in our community!”
2023 Educational ArtReach with TAKE3 Trio
In the fifteenth year of ARCA’s ArtReach program, internationally known violinist and entertainer Lindsay Deutsch with pianist Ting Li and cellist Izzy Palacpac amazed students from grades K to 12 with their rock-star charisma and virtuosity in a residency in the Allegheny-Clarion Valley Schools on Monday, December 18. TAKE3 Trio – “From ROCK to BACH”.
Following their sold-out concert in Lincoln Hall the night before, they began the day with three classroom workshops and assemblies for grades K to 6.
They dazzled students with popular-crossover arrangements from their popular CDs – including a mashup of Justin Bieber’s “Despacito” that ends with the theme from the Habanera from the opera Carmen. The artists shared the stories that led them to become performers and led students in a sing-along to Jingle Bells.
Take 3 also engaged the students in “Name that Tune” as well as rhythm and clapping exercises, including “We will Rock You”.

A-C Valley elementary school student, Jacob Long, had a special moment after the morning workshop when he demonstrated for them his “perfect pitch”, correctly identifying notes when hearing them played. Finding communality with the artists who also have this musical gift was inspiring for this talented blind boy with a beautiful voice.
Trained in the country’s finest conservatories and hailed in the press for being “…hypnotic…amazing…instantly capturing the audience…”, TAKE3 entertained and took questions from students in two assembly concerts in the afternoon in the high school auditorium.
2022 Educational ArtReach – Wurlitzer Theatre “Informances” in Lincoln Hall with Dave Wickerham
On Monday morning, December 12, 2022, ARCA resumed its first ‘in person’ ArtReach program after COVID, as it bused four hundred A-C Valley students in grades K to 6 and the Jr. and Sr. High band and chorus to Foxburg’s Lincoln Hall for Wurlitzer theatre organ Informances by world renowned organist Dave Wickerham. The day before Wickerham had performed a sold-out Christmas concert in Lincoln Hall.
The internationally acclaimed theatre organist Dave Wickerham performed four educational programson the Mighty McKissick Wurlitzer theatre organ including popular songs ranging from Disney and Star Wars to Harry Potter – and ending with the soundscape train whistle opening and Chattanooga Choo Choo!
The amazed look on students’ faces showed their fascination as Wickerham displayed the orchestral sounds the theatre organ can replicate, including percussion instruments featured on a shelf at the back of the hall – snare drum, cymbals, marimba, and pitched sleigh bells.Demonstrating how the Wurlitzer organ would have been used a hundred years ago accompanying silent movies, Dave played his improvised score for a silent short of Laurel and Hardy’s “The Battle of the Century Pie Fight”to peals of laughter from the students.
ARCA is grateful for the generous contribution of Rod and Nadine Stewart underwriting the busing of students – as well as a grant from the Pennsylvania Council on the Art and contributions from ARCA Members and donors that make its Educational ArtReach program possible.
Special thanks to the administration of A-C Valley schools – Superintendent David McDeavitt and Principals Bill Jordan and Lori Marron Sherman, and music teachers Karen Hetrick and Jennifer Lowry for facilitating the visit of A-C Valley students to Lincoln Hall for these concerts.
Superintendent McDeavitt said, “This was a great program for our students and staff. I overheard several students talking about the program during the day! And, staff who were in attendance raved about the program; and more overly, the partnership that we have with ARCA. Please keep bringing these programs to our students, together we are changing lives forever!”