The Apollo Launches Apprenticeship Program for College Students and Offers Dynamic Education Programs for Educators, Teens, and Families

Harlem, NY — November 1, 2022—The Apollo continues the non-profit organization’s longstanding commitment to creating opportunities to advance Black narratives and nurture future generations of the creative workforce with the launch of The Apollo Apprenticeship, a new initiative that provides college students with pre-professional experience in the arts and entertainment industries. Through this new initiative and its ongoing educational and community programs, workshops, onsite visits, and more, the Apollo continues to serve as a cultural anchor in Harlem, New York City, and the world, expanding its role as a catalyst for both social and artistic engagement.

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The new Apollo Apprenticeship program will offer hands-on experiences in the areas of project creation and management, technical production and direction, and event management. Apprentices work over an 18-month period and receive a $600 biweekly stipend. For more information and to apply, visit https://www.apollotheater.org/education/apollo-theater-academy/apprenticeship/.

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“The Apollo’s dedicated education team has continued to serve tens of thousands of students and educators in the five boroughs each year, working to inspire and cultivate the next generation of creatives on the stage and behind the scenes,” said Apollo President and CEO Jonelle Procope. “I’m thrilled that we are launching the Apollo Apprenticeship program, which will enable us to expand our work with college-aged students in our community as we also get back into classrooms and work with young students and teens at such a critical time, not only to supplement their education and inform them about the myriad types of artistic careers, but to also foster a love of the arts and promote its ongoing vitality and resonance in their lives.”

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“The Apollo is able to reach students, educators, and families through our education programs both in schools, on the historic Apollo stage, and online, serving thousands of educators and students,” said Shirley Taylor, the Apollo’s Senior Director of Education. “We continue to expand our education offerings in order to support students and educators while integrating the Apollo’s history and the arts into curriculum across the country. Our new Apollo Apprenticeship allows us to engage with college-aged adults and provide them with a unique, hands-on experience to expand and deepen their experiences with the performing arts.”

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In addition to its events for students, Apollo Education offers its learning workshops and resource materials to educators across the country, providing teachers with the opportunity to fuse together the rich intersection between the Apollo, Harlem, the arts and entertainment, and classroom subject areas. Through this multifaceted work, the Apollo provides opportunities for students to learn firsthand about the many opportunities available to them to work in the arts. More information about the Apollo’s ongoing and current education programs follows below.

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APOLLO EDUCATION PROGRAMS

Apollo Live Wire

‍Apollo Live Wire conversations are a popular free series that honors iconic individuals who have had an impact on the Apollo’s history. Live Wire events are free and open to the public.

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Apollo Theater Academy

In addition to being a platform and resource in furthering the careers of entertainers, the Apollo has a legacy of providing substantive opportunities for technicians, designers, and other behind-the-scenes industry professionals. The Apollo Theater Academy, available to high school and college students, advances this impact through seminars, workshops, internships, apprenticeships, and events designed to enhance an individual’s career in the performing arts and entertainment fields. Other programs offered by the Academy include Digital Collective, which teaches students how to craft compelling digital narratives and tell stories across a wide array of multimedia platforms, and Young Producers, a network of alumni from the Apollo’s high school and college programs that curate events for young artists.

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The Apollo Theater Academy also offers a career panel series, which provides a behind-the-scenes look at careers off-stage in the arts and entertainment and shines a spotlight on people of color working in creative industries. Part panel discussion, part live demonstration, these informative events provide tangible takeaways and insightful resources to empower the next generation of creative minds in these fields.

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The Apollo Theater Academy honors the Apollo’s legacy by repositioning underrepresented creatives as thought leaders, skilled technicians, and purveyors of change in the entertainment field.

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Resources for Educators

In addition to programs for youth, the Apollo also offers curriculum materials, aligned to state and national learning standards, and study guides derived from the Theater’s history, available online at no cost to all. The Apollo also offers an array of on-demand virtual classroom guides to enable educators to connect the performing arts to their classroom curriculum. On-demand modules include lessons on Between the World and Me, interactive lessons on social dances of the Harlem Renaissance, and the history of the Hip-Hop Dance technique.

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Apollo Education also offers professional learning opportunities available to educators from all grade levels and disciplines, led by Apollo Education departmental staff, teaching artists, and historians. The workshops, both online and in person, utilize a wide variety of resources, primary source materials, and hands-on group activities intended to benefit both educators and their students, as well as to provide educators with methods and strategies for teaching and learning through the arts and across disciplines.

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For additional details about the myriad programs Apollo Education offers, along with access to virtual online resources, please visit https://www.apollotheater.org/education/.

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In-School Workshops and Tours

In addition to Apollo School Tours, the Apollo offers a diverse selection of Apollo Workshops in dance, theater, and music, in which Apollo Teaching Artists visit onsite for 45–60-minute sessions. These workshops tailor to students across all grade levels, giving them the opportunity to explore the soul of American culture from their own classrooms. Learn more here.

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Distance Learning Program

The Apollo's Distance Learning Program provides opportunities for students and educators to explore the legendary Apollo Theater through interactive Remote Learning Workshops, and an on-demand learning library featuring video modules. Learn more here.

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UPCOMING APOLLO EDUCATION EVENTS

Apollo Live Wire: Dance, NYC Street Style, and Hip Hop

Tuesday, November 8| 7pm EST

The Apollo’s Soundstage —Live and In-person Tickets: Free with RSVP

Registration is required: https://www.fitnyc.edu/museum/events/

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Join choreographers from the Hip-Hop Dance Conservatory (H+) and Keep Rising to the Top (KR3TS) together with FIT professor Elena Romero, who will discuss the evolution of Hip Hop style—from authentic NYC street style to what is now a more intentional representation of that style. H+ and KR3TS support young dancers as they prepare for a career in the performing arts. Professor Romero has a long career in fashion journalism and is co-curator of an upcoming exhibition at The Museum at FIT on Hip Hop style. This event is organized by The Apollo and The Museum at FIT in preparation for the exhibition Fresh, Fly, and Fabulous: Fifty Years of Hip Hop Style, slated to open at The Museum at FIT in 2023 and as part of the Apollo’s Live Wire series.

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Support:

Leadership support for Apollo Theater Education Programs provided by BNY Mellon, Wlliam R. Kenan, Jr. Charitable Trust, JPMorgan Chase & Co., with generous support from Apollo EmpoweHER, Steve and Connie Ballmer, ConEdison, The Walt Disney Company, The Ella Fitzgerald Charitable Foundation, the Moore Charitable Foundation, The Neuberger Berman Foundation, The Pinkerton Foundation, Sony Global Social Justice Fund, the Verizon Foundation and public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature, and from the

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New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, with special support from New York City Council Member Julie Menin.

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ABOUT THE APOLLO

The legendary Apollo Theater—the soul of American culture—plays a vital role in cultivating emerging artists and launching legends. Since its founding, the Apollo has served as a center of innovation and a creative catalyst for Harlem, the city of New York, and the world.

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With music at its core, the Apollo’s programming extends to dance, theater, spoken word, and more. This includes the world premiere of the theatrical adaptation of Ta-Nehisi Coates’s Between the World and Me and the New York premiere of the opera We Shall Not Be Moved; special programs such as the blockbuster concert Bruno Mars Live at the Apollo; 100: The Apollo Celebrates Ella; and the annual Africa Now! Festival. The non-profit Apollo Theater is a performing arts presenter, commissioner, and collaborator that also produces festivals and large-scale dance and musical works organized around a set of core initiatives that celebrate and extend the Apollo’s legacy through a contemporary lens, including the Women of the World (WOW) Festival as well as other multidisciplinary collaborations with partner organizations.

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Since introducing the first Amateur Night contests in 1934, the Apollo has served as a testing ground for new artists working across a variety of art forms and has ushered in the emergence of many new musical genres—including jazz, swing, bebop, R&B, gospel, blues, soul, and hip-hop. Among the countless legendary performers who launched their careers at the Apollo are James Brown, Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, Billie Holiday, Gladys Knight, Luther Vandross, H.E.R., D’Angelo, Lauryn Hill, Machine Gun Kelly, and Miri Ben-Ari; and the Apollo’s forward-looking artistic vision continues to build on this legacy. For more information about the Apollo, visit www.ApolloTheater.org.

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