an arts and cultural education program for young people

N E W S

Imagination Celebration Searching for Past Participants, Inviting All to Virtual Reunion

    (FORT WORTH, TEX)… Imagination Celebration Fort Worth (ICFW), having touched the lives of the youth, their teachers and families, artists, and other organizations in our city and beyond for the past 21 years, is now reaching out to locate and connect with all of those individuals.

    The concerted effort will also gather participants’ memories and stories about Imagination Celebration programs and events in their schools or at area theaters, museums, gardens, community centers, and other venues.

    “We want to hear from anyone who has taken part in ICFW programs since inception,” said Ginger Head Gearheart, founder and executive director of the 21-year-old non-profit that has reached over four million individuals with programming across the disciplines. “Your faces live in our hearts, so we hope to reconnect with you and you to one another. We’re calling it a Virtual Reunion.”

    The organization is gathering contact information of ICFW’s current and past participants--students, teachers, artists, mentors, performers, and volunteers. Often when ICFW presents programs at schools, students are not aware of other unique opportunities offered.

    “We hope those of you who have joyful memories of Imagination Celebration, can share a single, special moment or more,” said Ms. Gearheart. “We know many have been positively influenced by the work of ICFW.”

    Past participants can visit ICFW’s site, www.icfw.org, and submit their stories and memories in their own words, and provide contact information via the Contact Us page. Please include name, address, telephone number, and e-mail.

    “We want to hear how we’ve touched your lives,” said Ms. Gearheart. “By reconnecting with individuals, their professional mentors, and organizations that our programs have reached, we can hear how people have lived our belief that no achievement is beyond reach.”

    ICFW plans to use the inspiration provided by other’s input to expand programs in the future. ICFW hopes to share more and more stories of how ICFW transforms lives through ongoing, internet-based outreach, including their own Web site and others, such as social media outlets.

    Strengthening connections formed between students and graduates within ICFW will assist in supporting programs for the next generation of learners, according to ICFW.

    Established in 1987 in collaboration with the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the Fort Worth Independent School District, and the City of Fort Worth, Imagination Celebration Fort Worth is an independent non-profit educational and arts organization. Imagination Celebration creates and provides curriculum-related arts/cultural educational experiences to students utilizing a network of professional artists and cultural arts organizations. Since its inception, Imagination Celebration has touched over four million students, their teachers and families with its exceptional, award-winning programming. The Fort Worth group has been a model for similar efforts around the world.

    For more information about Fort Worth’s Imagination Celebration, call 817-870-1141 or visit their website www.icfw.org.

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