PROJECT 3

Providence High Arts

A profound client relationship and a new reason to enroll.

Explore the Providence High Arts website to learn more about the brand I helped to develop with my DiscoveryOnstage team.

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Challenge

Facing declining enrollment numbers and shrinking financial resources, Providence High School had a pressing need to redefine itself as a top choice within the private school market. Though the institution had a well established reputation for delivering academic excellence, it lacked differentiators, including programs and facilities, that would set it apart as unique amongst its competitors. Additionally, the complimentary programs it did boast were either informal in nature, clubs more than curriculum, or in conflict with one another as they competed for limited funds. Compounding the challenges, existing parent and student stakeholders were expressing frustration with the lack of curricular and extra-curricular opportunities, specifically those related to the performing arts, and were threatening to enroll elsewhere if a serious theatre program wasn’t soon established.

Objective

Rather than hiring a traditional performing arts faculty member to build a standard theatre program, Providence High School sought to engage a consultancy who could efficiently focus expertise on creating something both significant and unique. After winning the contract, DiscoveryOnstage, the theatre education company I founded and led for sixteen years, crafted a three part strategy: develop a formal, multi-level theatre arts curriculum, transform the existing performance space into something the school could both afford and proudly showcase, and create a unifying brand, Providence High Arts, that would tie all Providence High arts programs together and help communicate, via a new website and marketing effort, an arts culture rooted in excellence. 

Result

Within the first year DiscoveryOnstage established the brand extension, Providence High Arts, built a new website positioning visual, film, choral, and theatre arts together as a singular entity with which the school could identify; designed and implemented a UC approved Drama I elective class which fulfilled a student’s Visual and Performing Arts (VPA) requirement; built a 250 seat theatre-in-the-round inside the school’s unused gymnasium (the previous performance space) with monies raised through ticket sales; and rolled out new  production rituals complimentary to classes that would engage students, broaden reach, raise awareness, draw connections between departments, and elevate expectations. 

More than a decade later, the Providence High Arts theatre program created by DiscoveryOnstage is thriving on its own and the school’s enrollment numbers are up by forty percent. With ongoing participation from nearly twenty five percent of the student population, the program now consists of three UC Approved drama classes, has produced nearly fifty productions hosting over 30,000 audience members, and has earned awards from theatre organizations including the Drama Teacher’s Association of Southern California and the California Educational Theatre Association. Additionally, students who’ve participated in the program have gone on to earn scholarships at elite universities including NYU, Boston College, Chapman University, and USC.