Dear Editor:

The Y-Arts program won the Playbill Community Service Award at the Junior Theater Festival in Atlanta for its Arts for All program at the Y. The award was created to acknowledge young people in the Junior Theater Festival who are giving back in their communities across the country. A $1,000 check was awarded to the Arts for All submission, chosen as the winner from a field of many nationwide contestants.

Arts for All is a Saturday morning workshop for young people with developmental disabilities, and several members of the Y-Arts program volunteer to help director Emily Mirable lead the group in song and dance. With Emily’s talent and compassion, and the Y-Arts members’ enthusiasm, the morning session is always a noisy, happy, resounding success.

Music breaks down barriers, and when all those young people are singing and dancing together, they are one and the same; differences melt away and there is nothing but joy in the moment. It is a beautiful thing to see!

Congratulations to Emily Mirable, director, and to Joel Biron, Courtney Chaney, Lincoln Hamblett, Devin Domeyer and Rick Hilscher who were recognized for their talent and dedication. We are all so proud of them!

Plans are in the works for an Arts for All performance at the Boothbay Playhouse in late April, so the spring workshops will be devoted to rehearsals for that. We hope family and friends will come to see this amazingly talented group of young people in what we are sure will be a memorable concert.

Helen Meserve
Volunteer
Arts for All