Our Mission:

PERFORM! brings together professional performers with teachers and students in public and private schools across Nova Scotia. Its primary goal is to enhance learning by involving Performing Artists in the delivery of Drama, Music, and Dance curricula.

What We Do:

More than thirty years of arts education research has proven that theatre, dance and music greatly contribute to the development of reading, writing, and numeracy skills in students. At PERFORM! we are dedicated to integrating performance skills into education to increase academic success.

Since 1999, PERFORM! has been a joint initiative of Dance Nova Scotia, Nova Scotia Choral Federation, and Theatre Nova Scotia, bringing professional artists to schools to work with students and teachers in developing their own skills and creativity.

From African dance, to public speaking, to hip hop, to playwriting, we’ve taught it all. You can find our performers working in performing arts classes and through other subject areas such as English, French, History, Math, and Social Sciences.

PERFORM! is committed to providing accessible programming in English and French for all grade levels in public and private schools. We also provide travel remuneration to performers so that rural schools can have equal access to our program.

Benefits:

A well designed, participatory arts education program is essential in developing creative and confident critical thinkers and problem solvers. Evidence further suggests that theatre, dance and music are linked to improved literacy and numeracy skills. A school’s commitment to the performing arts signals respect for the range of multiple intelligences and the different ways in which our students learn.

A strong arts curriculum not only contributes to a student’s creative knowledge, it improves overall academic success, enhances self-image and develops social empathy.

Youth in arts programs are:

• 25% more likely to report feeling satisfied with themselves;
• 31% more likely to say that they plan to continue education after high school;
• Eight times more likely to receive a community service award;
• Four and a half times more likely to win an award for writing an essay or poem;
• Twice as likely to win an award for academic achievement;
• Four times more likely to participate in a science or math fair;

– From Youth Development by Shirley Brice Heath and Elisabeth Soe

PERFORM! Coordinator:

Pamela Halstead is a director, dramaturg, actor, teacher and arts administrator. She has worked across Canada in a number of capacities. Having started her career training at Dalhousie University, she spent the next decade working primarily as an actor and teacher until focusing her path more toward directing, dramaturgy. During this time she apprenticed under numerous directors exploring a variety of processes including: Dean Gilmour, Bob White, David Kenney, Ruth Smillie, Ron Jenkins and Sarah Stanley.

As an arts administrator, Pamela was the Artistic Producer for Ship’s Company Theatre (Parrsboro, NS) from 2004 – 2009 and the Artistic Director of Lunchbox Theatre (Calgary, AB) from 2009 – 2013, returning to that role in 2014 in an interim capacity. Between these two organizations she produced and/or directed over 60 new Canadian works and dramaturged many more. Pamela is co-founder and Artistic Producer for DMV Theatre (Halifax, NS) and Artistic Director of Playwrights Atlantic Resource Centre (PARC).

Pamela has taught at Forest Heights Community School (Chester Basin, NS), been a guest director and instructor at Dalhousie University (Halifax, NS) and was the International Directing Consultant for Petersfield Arts School (Petersfield, UK). She ran Theatre New Brunswick’s Young Company and Youth Theatre Program (Fredericton, NB), has been a teacher and director for Quest Theatre’s Artist in Residency Program (Calgary, AB), instructed at the NS High School Drama Festival (Halifax, NS), expanded the drama camp program at Ship’s Company Theatre (Parrsboro, NS) and created the Education Comes Alive Program at Lunchbox Theatre (Calgary, AB).

Pamela is a former Chair of Theatre Nova Scotia and has served on numerous other boards, juries and committees across Canada.

In 2013 Pamela was awarded the inaugural Evans Award at the Calgary Theatre Critics’ Awards. The Evans Award is awarded to an individual who has made a significant contribution to the vibrancy of the Calgary theatre community.

About the Website

Copyright Statement:

© Copyright 2014. Unless stated otherwise, copyright is held by Theatre Nova Scotia. All rights reserved. Logos and trademarks used on this website are owned by the respective organizations linked to by those logos. If there are any errors or omissions in regards to copyright and/or content on this website, please contact the PERFORM! Coordinator.

Privacy Statement:

Theatre Nova Scotia is committed to respecting the privacy rights of individuals by ensuring that their personal information is collected, used and disclosed in such a manner that a reasonable person would consider appropriate in the circumstances. We support and follow the principles and obligations of the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act.

Please note that this site’s privacy polices do not apply to linked websites. You should consult the privacy disclosures on each third party site for further information.

Disclaimer Statement:

This website is owned and operated by Theatre Nova Scotia. By accessing or using the website, you agree to accept and comply with the terms, conditions, notices and disclaimers noted below and contained elsewhere on the website.

While Theatre Nova Scotia has used its best endeavours to ensure that information, text, material, images and graphics contained in and accessed through the website are correct and current at the time of publication, the company is not responsible for errors, omissions or defects in the content.

We aim to post the information as accurately as possible on this website; however, the information is always subject to change. We cannot accept liability for decisions/actions based on the content of this website.

The PERFORM! website offers links to a variety of sites maintained by third parties. In accessing these sites, you are leaving the organization’s website. These links are offered only for use at your own discretion. The company is not liable for any direct, indirect, incidental, special and/or consequential damages, in whole or in part, resulting from your use or any user’s use of or reliance upon the content or content in any third party web sites linked to from the PERFORM! website.

All outside links provided were current at the time of publication. We are not responsible for links that are no longer current and/or disabled.