Dr. Phillips Center develops young arts leaders through Teen Ambassadors program

The Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts is giving teens an opportunity to see careers beyond the stage through its Teen Ambassadors program.

The center started the Teen Ambassadors program in 2014 as a way to pull attention to its vision of delivering Arts for Every Life. 

For 10 years, this program has introduced students to various ways they can get involved in the arts with opportunities on stage, behind the scenes and in the community. 

Last year, the center received more than 90 applicants and was able to accept 46 students from Orange, Seminole, Osceola, Lake, Polk, Volusia and Brevard counties, as well as a few homeschoolers. 

This year, the number of applicants is expected to rise, with an estimated more than 100 students applying. 

The Teen Ambassadors program gives every student a chance to explore different non-performing career paths in the performing arts and theater industry. 

Brooke Saad, education manager at Dr. Phillips Center’s AdventHealth School of the Arts, said that originally, the program was focused internally, introducing students to non-performative careers by connecting them with various departments within the Dr. Phillips Center. Over the years, as the program has developed and grown, it includes virtual sessions with national professionals from Broadway, touring productions and other sectors of the industry.

“We created the Teen Ambassadors program as an opportunity to teach students about careers that are non-performative in the industry,” Saad said. 

Once per month, ambassadors meet people who work at the center to learn more about the various departments, such as marketing and education, at the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts.

“From there, the program grew, and we interviewed people from Broadway who are doing big production jobs, who were on tour, who were working shows, and even maybe out in the industry internationally,” Saad said. “A few years later, we have combined all things, and now we are looking at community jobs here locally, such as Disney and Universal, while also looking at those Broadway tours.” 

The selected students have an opportunity to learn hands-on the many different aspects of the Dr. Phillips Center. The Teen Ambassadors program focuses on opportunities that are volunteer based and allow students to network. Some of the opportunities this program includes are community givebacks when Broadway shows come into town; parades with the center’s colleagues; assisting in a technical position; backstage production with props and more. 

Ambassadors also will be able to attend various genres of shows and have access to guest speakers, master classes, backstage tours, and meet-and-greets with professionals in various career paths involving the arts. 

The Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts is looking for students who are strong leaders with a passion for the non-performative areas of the industry, Saad said. 

“We look for students (who) really want to get into the production side of things, such as opportunities that are mainly backstage,” she said. “We look for students who really have leadership roles under their belts — whether that’s a historian in one club or a student that started their own kind of nonprofit or different community group and different clubs. We want a student who will be committed to this program. The last thing we look for in an applicant is a student who has a positive personality and is enthusiastic about volunteering. Those students who have the time and the passion to want to commit to that are an important factor in what we look for.”