Enchanted Circle Theater meets an urgent and essential need in schools today. We engage students. We empower teachers. We inspire learning.

How do we determine the value and impact of inspiring a child to learn?

Here’s how the students and teachers we work with express it:

“You made me WANT to come to school!” ~ 5th grade student, Holyoke, MA

“My students are developing a sense of community and a sense of “themselves” that without the experience of the theater would not be possible. I see my students grow and shine, and that means the world to me.” ~ ESL Teacher, Peck Middle School, Holyoke, MA

“I’ve never worked so hard in my whole life. I felt like quitting lots of times, and I’ve never been so proud of myself, as I was today after our performance.” ~ 7th grade student, Springfield, MA

“The physical movement really helped get the students focused. They seemed to absorb the science content in a different way. This was a fantastic learning experience.” ~ 4th grade teacher, Holyoke

“Enchanted Circle Theater brings high quality arts education experiences to students by training classroom teachers to use the arts in their day-to-day teaching. Learning through the arts can help level the playing field for youngsters from disadvantaged circumstances.” ~ Administrator, Holyoke, MA

“Many of the students I work with have never felt success, and you made them feel safe and empowered.” ~ 5th grade teacher, Holyoke, MA

"Thank You! Your leadership has brought innovative, significant integration of the arts into the lives of thousands of children." ~ Teacher, Erving, MA

For 36 years, Enchanted Circle Theater has been transforming children's lives with our creative education programs. ECT is now considered an innovator in the field of Arts Integration on a national level. ECT has been called the "antidote to the dropout rate," because when we are in the classroom attendance records go up, behavior issues go down, and students experience academic success.

In just the past year, ECT has worked with:

• 40 different schools in the region
• 83 classrooms
• 300 teachers, paraprofessionals, and administrators
• 1,870 students
• 45 community partners in social service organizations

We believe this work is essential. We know inspiration in education transforms lives. Our work bridges the arts, education, and human services.

Enchanted Circle Theater offers access to the arts for children who have little or no opportunity for artistic expression. We offer a way into reading, writing, and research which makes learning relevant and rewarding. We help students succeed in math, science, reading comprehension, and in life. We offer engagement in the creative process, which serves as prevention against truancy and motivates learning.

"The beauty of Enchanted Circle's work is that it crosses the curriculum, it is not (only) the areas, it is science, math, social studies and English language arts. This work also addresses many of the students' social and emotional needs. For students to feel such joy, engagement and success in their day is our goal and one this is often difficult to reach with our typical approaches in schools." ~ Principal, Northampton, MA

Enchanted Circle Theater has earned area and national acclaim. In 2011, ECT received the prestigious Arts/Learning “Outstanding Collaborative in Theatre Award.” ECT has been awarded the Holyoke Chamber of Commerce Pacesetter Award for Non-Profit Operational Excellence. Priscilla Kane Hellweg, Executive Artistic Director of ECT, was named Outstanding Artist-in-Residence by the Massachusetts Alliance for Arts Education.

ECT currently has a quarter of a million dollars worth of requests for our creative education work from local schools who need our services, but simply don't have the funds to make it happen.

This is where you come in.

Please make a gift to Enchanted Circle Theater and help us provide even more students with transformational creative learning opportunities. Every dollar counts.

Thank you so much for your interest in Enchanted Circle Theater’s creative education programs.