Collaborative School of the Arts

Our mission: Through arts and community leadership be a catalyst for excellence in education, sustainable economic development and rich civic engagement to enhance the quality of life in the greater Capital Region.

For more than 30 years, Proctors has cultivated audiences of all ages through a vibrant arts education program. In 2014, we expanded that initiative to align with the organization’s mission and strategic vision under the Collaborative School of the Arts, one of the most ambitious departments in the country. The school encompasses Proctors, Capital Repertory Theatre and Universal Preservation Hall and serves over 45,000 patrons annually. All programs emphasize collaborations with school districts, artists, arts organizations and other regional partners, with a special focus on career and workforce training.

In addition to presenting a series of diverse performances for the community, this division of Proctors Collaborative also hosts community events, summer arts training programs, in-school and after school programs, internships, artists residencies and a varied mix of career training opportunities.

The vision of the Collaborative School of the Arts is to provide extensive performing arts opportunities with instruction by regional and national professionals to inspire and cultivate career paths in the creative fields as well as to develop and welcome a vibrant and diverse palette of patrons and artists.

Our career training and workforce exploration programs provide a host of opportunities for young people, college students and young professionals to get hands on experience in thriving professional theatres. For every one performer on stage, there are dozens of artists offstage, supporting this work – a village of creatives: designers, engineers, builders, technicians, earning a living at the cutting edge of art, design, performance and technology. This is where Proctors and our affiliate organizations endeavor to make connections for aspiring students of the creative fields.

As we continue to grow in Albany and Saratoga, we look for relevant connections to each vibrant community. This will include a special focus on youth theatre, developing new work, and programs that offer our youngest audiences their very first experience with live performance. We hope this is the spark that kindles a lifelong love of the arts and that these young people will continue to come back for many other opportunities in each of our organizations through the years.