Fox Tucson snags $100k+ in grants for kids theater programming

On Saturday mornings in 1930s Tucson, kids from all over the city and beyond would pack Fox Theatre downtown for weekly Mickey Mouse Club meetings.

It was one of the very few racially integrated community events — Tucson, like much of the country, was racially segregated in those days — which gave kids a chance to be together and watch the day’s popular cowboy serials on Fox’s big screen.

They would participate in fashion and talent shows, get up on stage to celebrate birthdays. In the Great Depression, they helped out with community food drives; they sang “God Bless America” alongside Kate Smith at the outbreak of World War II.

The theater’s emphasis on youth continued through the 1950s before it changed directions and, a couple of decades later, closed seemingly for good.

But ever since 2018, 16 years after a massive reconstruction and reopening, Jordan Wiley-Hill and the Fox have redirected the historic theater’s focus on kids with the KITT (Kids in the Theatre) program, the theater’s curated youth programming.

“It’s so multifaceted. Fundamentally it’s about a shared experience through performing arts,” said Fox Outreach and Education Manager Wiley-Hill, who has grown the program from just one or two events to 10 in the 2024-25 season. “We know that performing arts is very important when it comes to inspiring ... kids and teachers.”

The Fox recently received more than $100,000 in grants to support its programming, including a $32,500 grant from Angel Charity for its Angel Charity Performing Arts and Autism Program.

With the funding, Fox is bringing renowned autism specialist and illusionist Kevin Spencer to Tucson for a week of kids workshops. The idea is for Spencer and the children to become comfortable with one another before the kids come to the Fox to see him do a sensory-inclusive performance in February.

“When they get to go to the Fox, it is not overwhelming to them,” said Wiley-Hill.

The theater also received:

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$1,350 from Downtown Tucson Partnership for its 2024 Monsoon Literacy event at 2 p.m. June 22

$30,000 from the Ohio-based Stocker Foundation to expand supplemental educational programming and increase accessibility for Title 1 schools for Fox’s STEAM and Page-to-Stage shows “The Science of Pirates” in November and “Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus — the Musical!” in February

$20,000 from the National Endowment for the Arts for its Urban Moves Project to support two BIPOC performances and educational residencies with Syncopated Ladies, who will perform “360 All Stars” in November and “Chloe Arnold’s Syncopated Ladies” next February

$25,000 from the Hazen Family Foundation for the schools shows “A Musical, Cinematic Journey through US and AZ History” in October, “Around the Americas, with ¡Uno, Dos, Tres Andrés!” in November, “Stolen Moments: The First 100 Years of Jazz” in January and “Syncopated Ladies, Live” in February. The goal of that funding is to increase accessibility to students in Title 1 schools and youths facing adversity in the community, according to press materials.

Wiley-Hill said he anticipates as many as 15,000 Tucson kids could benefit from the 10 events planned for 2024-25. Some 8,000participated in this year’s eight events, he said.

“It’s a joy to watch kids discover magical, community-centered places like the Fox,” said the theater’s Executive Director Bonnie Schock. “And it’s an honor to steward a broader and deeper reach of the KITT program through partnerships like these.”

Wiley-Hill said the overriding goal of the program is to provide “kids what they need to grow into great humans.”

“And in my mind, the arts and humanities are crucial to that,” he said. “I hear it all the time; the kids and the teachers say this is the first time that the kids have experienced live performing arts. They feel connected and they feel inspired.”

For information on the KITT program, visit foxtucsontheatre.com.