The Mon Valley Performing Arts Academy seeks to provide local youth with low-cost or no-cost opportunities to study theatre arts with local professionals and educators.

Founded in 2007, we have worked with over 1200+ youth to develop their technical skills, confidence, and creativity through theatrical study and performance. 

We know that a performing arts education enriches the lives of our students and promotes strong learning outcomes off-stage, too. To read mor about how theatre education can help young people develop a strong sense of self and identity, build empathy and learning among peers and broaden the ways they make meaning of the world around them, click here.

At our core, we seek to provide these opportunities at low or no-cost because we know that the communities where our students live would otherwise have very little access to arts education. The overwhelming majority of school districts in these counties are considered low-income, and our counties contain numerous environmental justice zones.

The areas we serve are predominantly rural, which presents an access barrier to many of the programs offered in larger communities. It is our belief that zip code and income should not be barriers to a performing arts education and that our communities benefit in the long-term from access to that education.