Outreach. Enrichment. Arts education. The State Theatre's three-year-old Youth Education Program (YEP) reaches nearly 8,000 students throughout the school year with enriching arts education programs that are offered at no cost to students or their schools. Many of the children attending The State's YEP are low-income and at-risk, and all fall within the five-county sphere (Stanislaus, San Joaquin, Amador, Tuolumne and Calaveras counties) overseen by The State's partner in these programs, the Stanislaus County Office of Education (SCOE). All presentations are interactive experiences in which students are expected to come with questions and to participate in the post-film or presentation discussions led by guest experts. Programs are designed to meet content standards for California schools, and teachers are provided with targeted curriculum guides so the YEP programs are tied to what the students are learning in the classroom. Topics covered during the course of the presentations range from nutrition and diabetes prevention to science, anthropology and performance art. Thanks to a grant from the Stanislaus Community Foundation in 2013, The State is now able to offer Transportation Grants to schools.
