Students see the world through CB School Enrichment Program

Music, dance, culture and more

It might be a marimba show, or a lesson in the tango, learning how to play the cello or even an opportunity to take piano from the maestro Alpin Hong. Whatever the Crested Butte Community School Enrichment Program offers to students throughout the year, it’s a lesson in what’s possible.

What started as a program for the gifted and talented, as well as enrichment for all students at the local school, has found a groove exposing kids to the lessons about why the other lessons matter.
“When the school district took on the gifted and talented program formally … the enrichment program split off,” coordinator Jill van Tiel says. “Then it became a smaller program with a more directed focus of after school clubs and programs and performances and assemblies.”
This school year the Program brought the musical group Marimba Mu Gomo for elementary kids, it hosted the Creede Repertoire Theatre for a production of The Geography of Adventure as well as a drama workshop, gave students a chance to participate in a Shakespeare Workshop and blew up the night sky with the inflatable Western Sky Planetarium in the school’s gymnasium.
In January, the Program will kick off a continuation of the school year’s events with the Playground Theatre in January, followed by a Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Performance, a production by Opera Colorado, the fantastic pianist Alpin Hong for an Artist-in-Residence program and performance and a presentation on the London Olympics by local orthopedic surgeon Dr. Gloria Beim.
“There was a feeling among parents that they wanted to provide even more than the school was able to,” van Tiel said. With the help of The Crested Butte Music Festival, the Program can offer an after school strings class. There are also clubs for chess, art and yoga, as well as Spanish classes and choir.
The Crested Butte Center for the Arts will sometimes steer the talent it recruits toward the school and, with a five-person committee at the helm, it’s an all-community effort.
van Tiel says as the coordinator, she spends a lot of her time writing grants, which solely come from local sources like the Community Foundation of the Gunnison Valley and the Crested Butte Rotary and make up some of the Program’s $8,000 annual budget. But the bulk of the non-profit organization’s money comes from a dedicated group of donors.
“We rely on grants and private donations so we don’t have very deep pockets,” van Tiel says. “We have great support from parents in town and second homeowners who donate every year.”
For more information about the Enrichment Program, or to become a donor, call Jill van Tiel at 349-6611.