LIGHTS. CAMERA. CONFIDENCE! By Cindy Perman
- Cindy Perman
- Aug 15
- 7 min read
SOPAC’s art, dance and music education programs help kids believe in themselves
When kids have the attention of professional artists and the opportunities to showcase their creative work, they transform from:
A child who draws … to an artist. A kid who plays an instrument … to a musician. A young person who dances … to a dancer.
The South Orange Performing Arts Center’s arts education programs help to make these connections between students and professional artists, musicians and dancers. SOPAC, which is celebrating its 20th year, regularly hosts music, theater, dance, comedy and other shows in its theater, special events in the loft, and exhibits in its art gallery.
Around 9,000 students participate in its education programs each year, learning, showing their work and performing. “We believe the arts should be something students experience, not just observe,” says Linda Beard, SOPAC’s director of arts education. “Whether it’s dancing on stage, picking up a paintbrush, playing an instrument for the first time, or finding their voice through poetry, our programs are about giving young people the chance to step into the creative process and see what they’re capable of.”
The arts education programs are done in conjunction with local schools and can range from a 60-minute performance to a 16-week educational program.
• There are Arts Residencies that bring professional musicians (through the Orange Strings Residency in the Orange school district and the Jazz Residency at Columbia High School) and dancers (from the famed Alvin Ailey dance company in West Orange, South Orange and Maplewood schools) directly into the classroom.
• The Inspired Minds program gives young artists a professional gallery experience to show and sell their work.
• The Poetry Out Loud program, a partnership with national and state arts organizations, helps kids learn and perform poetry.
• The Lux Orchestra Initiative aims to introduce kids to orchestral music through professional performances that are more like a rock concert, with an “explosion of lights, sound and music,” and performing classics like “Beethoven’s Fifth (Symphony)” to more relatable (ahem, gateway) soundtracks like “Star Wars” or “Harry Potter.”
And yes, they also host school trips to shows at SOPAC, but the themes go beyond what you might expect, including math, history, adventure and culture.
Simone McCrear is a student from Maplewood who studied dance at a local studio and through SOPAC’s artist residency partnership with AileyDance Kids at South Orange Middle School and then Columbia High School. She says it was a confidence boost to study with teachers who were professional dancers. “My teacher always believed in me,” McCrear says. “Having someone in the dance world that I felt saw me as a dancer … Maybe I didn’t talk that much. She saw something in me.”
Working with the instructors from AileyDance Kids, she felt understood as a Black dancer. “Being a Black dancer in the industry is a challenge in and of itself. I always felt that I had to work harder than other people to accomplish the things I want to,” McCrear says. “Everyone who was an instructor for Ailey was a person of color. I feel like they understood my experience without me having to explain it to them.”
Obenewaa Frimpomaa, a visual artist whose parents are from Ghana, recently graduated from Millburn High School and participated in SOPAC’s Inspired Minds program. Her artwork includes a lot of portraits, mostly of family, friends or herself.
“I talk about race. I talk about history. I use poetry. I reference my own Ghanaian-American descent,” Frimpomaa said. “Every time I make my work, I think about my younger self. She was a very shy, reserved person, who felt very trapped in a box of stereotypes. I try to speak to and motivate her,” Frimpomaa says. “You can color outside of the lines. I want to show, particularly Black, female girls like me, that you are not in a box.”
Frimpomaa submitted artwork to Inspired Minds every year for four years, starting when she was a freshman. When she was a sophomore, she had a piece accepted. “Just knowing my work was there – that was such an affirming moment, especially since that particular piece was about my parents immigrating here,” Frimpomaa says. “It was like, ‘Wow. I can really share parts of myself with my community and have it be appreciated.’”
Frimpomaa was the recipient of the Paul Bartick Emerging Artist Award in her senior year in 2025. This included an exhibit of her work, including her sketch books, which show the visual and thought processes behind her artwork. “Just knowing that a place like SOPAC and other performing arts places and other museums exist and that they are still advancing the dreams of young artists gave me a lot of hope,” Frimpomaa said.
McCrear won the Paul Bartick Emerging Artist Award the year before (in 2024) and had the opportunity to choreograph a solo under the guidance of a professional Ailey dancer. She said it was an amazing, inspiring experience. “It made me want to put in the time to be a great artist,” McCrear says. McCrear also learned discipline, not only for working hard in class but also in a holistic sense, such as knowing when to let your body rest. Talk to anyone about the SOPAC arts education programs long enough and you’ll hear that it’s so much more than learning art, music or dance.
Beard said students learn teamwork. This includes watching how professionals work as a team in the Luxe Orchestra Initiative or when they are performing in an ensemble, be it dance or music. They learn to lead, follow and listen to each other. Aurora Mendez, a professional violinist and teaching artistin-residence in the Orange School District through the Orange Strings Residency, said one of the most amazing things about the program is how it brings students together. “They’re such a special group of kids. They’re from all walks of life … Some are native New Jerseyans and some have English as a second language,” Mendez says. That means students might not always be able to communicate with each other verbally. “Lo and behold, you find out that, in this class, music becomes their common language.”
One of the most rewarding things as a teacher, Mendez says, is when she sees that light bulb go off and the student realizes they can do whatever they’re trying to do. Mendez recalls one student who was convinced she was terrible at violin. They tackled the problem together, measure by measure. Slowly but surely, they realized her hand posture was the problem. Her left hand was moving a little too fast. Once they identified it, she nailed it! The student gave herself the grace and the space to figure it out. And when she did, she was beaming. “I see the impact that it has,” Mendez says. “When you are able to empower people with the ability to do something, you empower them to change their state of being. You’re able to empower them to change their life.
That confidence. That ability to strip away self-doubt.” And whether students choose to pursue a career in the arts, or a completely different field such as medicine or law, the boost to their confidence is something they will carry with them throughout their lives,
Beard says. The belief that they can do whatever they set their mind to. And that who they are, what they have to say and what they create is worthy of our attention. “It’s not about turning every student into a professional artist. It’s about unlocking confidence, connection and curiosity that they’ll carry with them long after the final bow or brushstroke,” Beard said. “We have found that, across the board, involvement in arts education is linked to positive outcomes academically, socially and emotionally.”
Beard told the story of a young artist from Irvington who had his work accepted to the Inspired Minds gallery exhibition. When it came time to put his work up for sale, he opted not to. The reason, it turns out, is that he didn’t think anyone would want to buy it. When he found someone who said she’d be willing to pay $100 for his work, he was blown away. It gave him such a boost of confidence, he went back and asked if she’d be willing to pay $125. She said yes! “That is the perfect representation of what confidence can do,” Beard says. “I have value. I want to make sure that I am getting my full value. I thought it was brilliant that he went back to renegotiate.” That student enlisted in the military so he can save money for college.
McCrear is now in her second year at the Boston Conservatory at Berklee College as a commercial dance major. She dreams of one day touring with a major music artist as a dancer. She came back to SOPAC this year to help judge the Paul Bartick Emerging Artist Awards. She was part of the panel that named Frimpomaa as this year’s recipient.
Frimpomaa, who just graduated from Millburn High School, will be a freshman at the Rhode Island School of Design in the fall, studying graphic design. She dreams of one day having a successful graphic design career and her own art exhibit. Arts education can cultivate social and emotional growth in students.
“It nurtures their identity – who they’re going to be,” Beard said. “I think it empowers them to see their world in a different way and know that they can shape it because they have confidence to be the leader. And it really is preparing them for life, not just their next step in a grade level of curriculum or even in arts education. It’s really preparing them for life.”
Cindy Perman is a freelance writer, editor and pet sitter, who lives in Maplewood. She was that artsy kid who loved dance, music and art, and does her best to remain an artsy adult