We enrich our community by presenting exceptional artists—local, regional, national, and international—to inspire learning, growth, and connection among students, educators, local artists, and the broader public. Through performances, arts education, professional development, and opportunities to create and experience new work, our programs expand access, celebrate diversity, and enhance the vibrancy of our community.
Programs include:
Our local arts programming includes performances by and learning opportunities for local artists.
The Staley Class Acts series is the UIS Performing Arts Center’s flagship education outreach program. For over 30 years, this program has supported the educational goals of area teachers by providing opportunities for students in preschool through high school to experience artistic, educational, and high-quality performances created for young audiences by nationally-touring theater companies.
Through the Arts Start program, funded by the PNC Grow Up Great initiative, over all students in the Springfield Urban League Head Start program receive arts education experiences. Now beginning its fourteenth year, the program includes field trip performances, pre-show classroom visits, classroom learning materials, professional development for teachers, and an annual family event at the UIS Performing Arts Center.
UIS Performing Arts Center works with Springfield Public Schools as a team in the Partners in Education program, a program of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts with a goal of supporting arts in education by providing teachers with professional development training in arts integration.
UIS Performing Arts Center offers sensory-friendly events on the performance schedule. These events are designed specifically to be enjoyed by individuals with neurodivergence.
Our Stage / Our Voices is a program developed and sponsored by the UIS Performing Arts Center in which members of historically underrepresented communities address the issues of inequality in the regional performing arts with a goal of achieving diversity and inclusion. The artist-in-residence position will rotate annually as Our Stage / Our Voices works to amplify voices and stories throughout the community.
The UIS Performing Arts Center supports social service organizations whose clients would not be otherwise be able to attend our events due to their financial or social situation. Additionally, the Performing Arts Center regularly gives away tickets for use in fundraising activities in the community.
Support
Education programming is supported in part by the Elizabeth and Robert Staley Class Acts Endowment, the Helen Hamilton Performing Arts Endowment for Youth, and a grant from the Illinois Arts Council Agency.
You can support the Local Arts –
Contact
For more information about any of these programs, contact Carly Shank at carmi1@uis.edu.
