"The TWIGS (To Work In Gaining Skills) program is the city's most important outreach effort for youngsters with an interest in the arts" - Glenn McNatt, Baltimore Sun

In 1982, the Baltimore School for the Arts (BSA) developed its first community outreach program, TWIGS. TWIGS offers Baltimore’s youngest artists an opportunity to develop and build upon their natural talents in the arts by training with professional artists. 2nd through 8th-grade students who reside in Baltimore City are eligible for this free program. Classes are offered after school and on Saturdays in instrumental and vocal music, theatre, stage production, visual arts and dance. For 2008--2009, 700 students are enrolled in the TWIGS program.

Many of Baltimore’s city schools, public and parochial, do not have the resources to provide comprehensive arts instruction and private training can be out of reach financially for moderate to low-income families. The TWIGS program seeks to level the playing field, and ensure that young students with talent and interest are able not only to pursue the arts, but also to receive the academic and social advantages connected to this kind of learning. A majority of TWIGS students come from Title I schools with high percentages of economically disadvantaged children who qualify for free lunches as determined by family income. A cohort of TWIGS students will acquire the skills to successfully audition to BSA and to enter the pipeline for college and professional careers.

Each year, approximately 30% of the incoming BSA high school 9th grade class were students in our TWIGS program.

 

The power of the BSA lies not just in the matinees and workshops, or in TWIGS, or even in the high school, but in how these programs work together to open doors for children who might otherwise never have known such doors existed.