- September 14, 2024
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Fitzgerald Performing Arts Center Director Amelia Fulmer tunes up a guitar for a giveaway at a show. Courtesy photo
Fitzgerald Performing Arts Center summer campers. Courtesy photo
A full house at the Fitz for Sixtiesmania. Courtesy photo
The Puppy Pals Show at the auditorium. Courtesy photo
"Saturday Night Fever" at the Fitz. Courtesy photo
High School seniors receive Fitzgerald Performing Arts Center scholarships during a show's dress rehearsal. Courtesy photo
Students working the SpongeBob Musical at the Fitzgerald Performing Arts Center. Courtesy photo
Spotlight on Arts in Education Week at the Flagler County School Board meeting Aug. 20. National Arts in Education Week is Sept. 8-14. Courtesy photo from Flagler Schools
Amelia Fulmer, presented the National Arts in Education Week spotlight at the Flagler County School Board meeting on Aug. 20.
Arts in Education Week is Sept. 8-14, which is not an ideal time, being so early in the school year, says Fulmer, the director of the Fitzgerald Performing Arts Center, long known as the Flagler Auditorium.
Delivering the proclamation at the board meeting in August, the Arts in Education Week’s activities are still not finalized. But at the Fitz, every week is Arts in Education Week.
“We celebrate arts in education all year long at the Fitzgerald,” Fulmer said.
Without arts education, the auditorium would not be unable to put on professional shows for the community, because all of the performers started somewhere in arts education, Fulmer said. Without the shows, arts eduation in Flagler County would not be the same.
The Fitz made $308,000 in artist fees this past year, Fulmer said. The shows helped fund the Fitzgerald Performing Arts Center’s college scholarships, teacher grants, auditorium improvements, shirts for Matanzas High School’s steel drum band to wear at graduations, new earphones for elementary school students, art nights, chorus lessions, costumes for drama classes, instruments for Old Kings Elementary School to start an after-school steel drum band for fifth graders and tool kits for student stage hands at the auditorium.
The Fitz is a unique venue. It serves the school district and it serves the community.
We are the most used theater in the Southeast United States because we have classes here every day, 150 students a day.
— AMELIA FULMER, Director of Fitzgerald Performing Arts Center
“We are the most used theater in the Southeast United States because we have classes here every day, 150 students a day,” Fulmer said.
It also brings in popular acts and cultural shows catering to all ages, from pre-school to senior citizens.
“Our theme is trying to promote culture, so our students can get to see live performances like they would if they lived in a large city,” Fulmer said.
This year, name performers coming to the Fitz include The Gatlin Brothers (Nov. 8), Peter Noone and Herman’s Hermits (Dec. 12), Crystal Gayle (Jan. 17) and Lee Greenwood (Jan. 23).
London’s Kingdom Choir, which performed at the royal wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, will be at the Fitz on Dec. 7.
“One of the reasons we bring them here is so students can see a world class choir,” Fulmer said.
Mandy Gonzalez will be in concert on March 13. Gonzalez played Angelica Schuyler in “Hamilton” on Broadway and Elphaba, the green-skinned Wicked Witch of the West, in “Wicked.” She has written a series of middle school books entitled, “Fearless,” which is also the name of her album, with the title song written by Hamilton’s Lin-Manuel Miranda.
Gonzalez wants Flagler students to sing the son with her on stage. The next day she will do a workshop with the choir students. Auditions to join Gonzalez in the show will be held in January, Fulmer said.
The Dallas String Quartet will perform on April 11 with Flagler Youth Orchestra students and their families receiving free tickets.
The St. Augustine Orchestra will perform on Oct. 10, Fulmer said, with tickets costing $25 in honor the Palm Coast’s 25th anniversary as a city.
“Our funds pay for them to come here so our students can get some one-on-one time and watch them rehearse,” Fulmer said.
Tango Apasionado is scheduled for Jan. 9 with PointeTango combining Argentine tango with classical ballet. Mia Bella Academy of Dance students will be at the show.
The rebranding of the auditorium into the Fitz has helped the venue become more of a destination, Fulmer said. The name has been on the building since 2010, honoring Dennis Fitzgerald, a School Board member and executive at ITT who was instrumental in campaigning for the bond issue to get the auditorium built 33 years ago.
“We recently started using it for our brand. It reminds us of our history,” Fulmer said. “And the performers are beginning to know it. Coming to the Fitz is a different experience. They are helping young people who are part of the show. One of our box office students created a marquee image for Crystal Gayle. Students work in the box office, in graphic design — working on brochures, the website and the marquee — and in customer service. Students work in professional shows as stage hands and assistants.”
The Fitz also has over 100 volunteers from the community. Senior citizens serve as ushers.
When the county had a referendum to build the auditorium on school property for schools to share with the community, a governing board was established to oversee that a balance was maintained with arts education and attracting professional shows, Fulmer said.
“That’s why we support Arts in Education Week so hard,” she said.
At the Aug. 20 School Board meeting, Fulmer called on Dr. Marshaun Hymon to read the proclamation recognizing Arts in Education Week in Flagler County. As a student in Flagler Schools, Hymon performed in Wadsworth Elementary School musicals, sang in the Buddy Taylor Middle School chorus and became a member of Flagler Palm Coast High School’s Formality Singers and Thespians Society. He received a music scholarship at Florida State University and went on to earn a masters’ degree and doctorate in education and is now is the founder and managing partner of True Change Alliance.
“Music was his path to education,” Fulmer said. “He is epitome of why we do what we do. It's important to remember the arts teaches so much to children and gives them so many opportunities.”
