• Each class is assigned an Artist that will help facilitate the creation of one 3-to-8-minute scene (determined by number of classes and desired length of performance). Scenes are created over the course of roughly 7 class sessions of 35 – 50 minutes each.

• All classes present their scenes in an all-school performance at the end of the week.

• Every Artist will generally move through the following elements over the course of the week:

- Getting to know the students.

- Introducing a story, scene, or theme to inspire creation.

- Conduct Drama games and activities that support playmaking. This may include, but is not limited to, physical or vocal warm-ups, creative play, improvisation, imagination games, and character exploration.

- Encouraging students to generate unique content for their play.

- Plot, characters, dialogue, physical, or vocal interpretations.

- Understanding and relating to the text (Shakespeare).

- Collaborative story building.

- Exploring, staging, rehearsing, dialog memorization (Div II).

- Gathering of props or costumes – bringing, making, and/or borrowing

- Technical rehearsal (adding lights and sound for performance).

- Performing.

- Celebrating collective achievement.

• The performance is at the end of the week, but the school decides when it should be.

• Quest gives schools the option of two performances

- An afternoon and/or an evening show Thursday (if it is a short week) or Friday.

- Performances are for students to see each other’s work.

- An additional performance can be added for parents and the larger community.

No. Students are encouraged to make, borrow, or bring from home small props or costume pieces. Some teachers are enthusiastic and invest in making class sets of crowns, or dog ears, but none of this is necessary. Quest comes with a small collection of often used props and costumes, but the creative process works without any costumes or fancy props. Schools or students will not be required to purchase any additional materials for the program.

Your Program Leader will work with your school contact to prepare for the week. Quest arrives at the school with all the materials. A Monday morning meeting (20 minutes) is conducted to relay some important information before the first day starts. So there is minimal preparation time required on the part of the students or teachers. Quest will even create the schedule for the week once we know your bell and class times!

Yes! There are various funding opportunities for schools to help fund an Artists in Schools program and you can find them here. Quest also has priority funding available. Please fill out the funding application form to apply. Schools can also explore possibilities such casinos and parent council fundraising initiatives

One full week Monday to Friday. We can also deliver the program over a 4-day week.

• Quest utilizes individual classrooms, typically for the introductory sessions, and the full gymnasium for the final performance.

• Your school identifies three more working spaces such as multi-purpose rooms, art rooms, libraries, stages, or portable classrooms that we can utilize for working sessions.

• Teachers or other staff members must be present in the room for liability purposes. A teacher’s positive attitude cannot be underestimated!

• Our artists connect with their teachers and ask what their comfort level is regarding participation. Teachers are wonderful collaborators, often taking notes, helping to make connections to content in other areas, making suggestions, and even appearing as cameo performers in their classroom’s scenes!

No. But if you are conducting an evening show we need 4 volunteers to be runners, getting groups from their classrooms to the gym to perform, and back again.

There are no barriers to participating in our programs, so full school participation is encouraged. But we are flexible to work with just one portion of the students or to customize it based on your school requirements. For example, just the Grade 9s, or only the elementary students in a school with combined elementary and junior high students.

Maybe. The best thing to do if you have special requests is to call and talk to us. Please note that special requests may include additional costs.

All our artists are fully vaccinated. All teams have been provided with masks, hand sanitizer, and rapid tests for regular health monitoring on top of adherence to all public health safety guidelines.

Safety and health are our top concern. We recognize that each school is unique and our team will work accordingly with each teacher to tailor the program as much as circumstances allow. We have options to continue programs remotely from children’s homes as well as shifting the Artists in School Program to a later date if needed. We want to work with you to find a solution during these uncertain times.