Disney is helping young students develop professional and personal skills through theater with Disney Musicals in Schools. The outreach initiative aims to develop sustainable musical theater programs in public elementary schools. WDWNT recently had the opportunity to learn more about the program at Orlando’s Dr. Phillips Center.

Disney Musicals in Schools

Through Disney Musicals in Schools, Disney provides free performance materials and professional development to participating schools. After helping an elementary school establish a drama program, they continue to develop and maintain the program over a 3-year period, partnering with a theater in the area. They put particular focus on title 1 schools.

Disney Musicals in Schools operates nationwide and in the U.K. In Central Florida, Disney Theatrical Group partners with the Dr. Phillips Center and Walt Disney World, mostly serving Orange, Osceola, and Seminole counties but also able to help outlying counties like Lake and Polk.

Here is the stated purpose from the Dr. Phillips Center website:

Using the unique world of musical theater, Disney Musicals in Schools helps to foster positive relationships between students, faculty, staff, parents and the community. Students and teachers work in teams, developing the wide spectrum of skills needed when producing a piece of musical theater, including: critical thinking, problem solving, ensemble building, communication, self-confidence and interpersonal skills.

Dr. Phillips Center and Disney have partnered on this program for 10 years, seeing over 6,000 students participate across 35 schools. 4-6 schools are chosen each year.

After a training session, Dr. Phillips Center sends one or two theater liaisons to help teachers once a week over a 17-week period for the first year of the program. Disney covers the cost of musical rights for that year then discounts the cost in the following years.

At the end of the first year, participants get to enjoy a full day of classes, dance parties, and performances at the Dr. Phillips Center. The day includes a dance class, acting games class, Mickey meet-and-greet, rehearsal time in the Walt Disney Theater, and then on-stage performances. Meals are included. This year, the day started around 11 a.m. and concluded around 8 p.m.

A theater liaison continues to check up on the program in the second and third years. The goal is for teachers to feel confident enough to run the program on their own after three years.

Ms. Ortiz, a teacher at Osceola’s Pleasant Hill Elementary, is leading her kids in a Winnie the Pooh performance, one of about eight Disney shows they got to choose from. Pleasant Hill previously participated 10 years ago but those teachers left, leaving behind a gap in knowledge.

“We have continued the program, we have continued to do musicals,” Ms. Ortiz told WDWNT. “However, we did not have the tools that this program brings in, like the strategies and all those amazing people that come in and just help you out and create an environment we didn’t have before.”

“I’ve seen our students just simply grow and shine,” Ms. Ortiz said. “Not just [on] the stage doing a song and a dance but it’s transferred into the classroom.”

Walt Disney World Ambassador Phelicia Blake, a self-described theater kid told WDWNT, “Performing arts are very dear to my heart. I know how important they can be for giving children confidence, giving them an outlet to express themselves.” She said her theater background “allowed me to be my true self” and she wouldn’t be where she is today without performing arts. She knows the kids participating in Disney Musicals in Schools will cherish the experience forever.

To teachers and parents considering the program, Blake said, “Disney Musicals in Schools is really here to show you that we have the tools to help you reach all of your full potential and all of your students’ full potential.”

Teachers can apply via the Dr. Phillips Center site.

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