From “The Ugly Duckling” to “The History of Hip-Hop,” the Lied Center has brought free performances to elementary school children for many years. However, a similar program did not exist for older students—until now.
A lack of funding has always kept the Lied Center from providing free performances for older students, says Anthea Scouffas, the Lied Center’s director of education and engagement.
“It’s something that we’ve always wanted to do, but it’s hard to be able to afford something like that,” Scouffas said. “Quite frankly, we kind of backed off on stuff a couple of years ago, especially when we lost that Kansas Arts Tuition Fund. We had to say, ‘We don’t have the money to do middle school and high school at this point.’”
However, thanks to a new donor, as well as several fundraising opportunities in conjunction with the Schools Foundation, the Lied Center will finally be able to expand the programs.
“We want to be able to have USD 497 students attend performances at the Lied Center from the very beginning of their public school career in preschool or kindergarten all the way through 12th grade,” Scouffas said.
Sophomore Cam Edgecomb also believes that arts are important in schools.
“I think [the arts are] very important for keeping kids in school,” Edgecomb said. “A lot of people think that classes are really boring and find art a relief from stress.”
Edgecomb asserted that the arts are an outlet for expressing creativity that may not be able to be expressed in other classes.
For the Lied Center, expanding the programs will make arts education more available, a goal Scouffas considers essential.
“We have always believed that our education in our country should be an education that educates a whole person,” Scouffas said. “That means that students should have access to not just really great curriculum in math and sciences and the language arts, but that all those other activities and subjects are important, and that includes the arts … and also all those other ‘extra activities.’”

Gabrielle Wheeler

The Lied Center’s Marketing Director Michele Benderson agrees with Scouffas.
“The arts are extremely important for students,” Benderson said. “Our school-only experiences are free so all students in the community have the opportunity to attend at least 13 world-class performing arts events throughout their K-12 careers.”
Although the Lied Center is proud of the opportunities they provide for the younger students in the district, they still feel like it isn’t enough.
“[Middle school and high school] are the times when you’re exploring who you are, figuring out what you want to do with your life, and having an opportunity to be able to see really great art might help to lead them in the direction they might want to go when they leave high school,” Scouffas said. “This is what we do—we do performing arts here, and we want students to be exposed to really good performances throughout their lives.”
Free State’s Art Ambassador Rachel Downs-Blair believes the performances will be able to transform students’ lives.
“I think that it will open up a whole new world to them,” Downs-Blair said. “The color of the world will change in some ways because they will be able to apply what they’re learning into a bigger context.”
For the Lied Center, it’s a highly anticipated change.
“We’re just getting a chance to continue what we started.” Scouffas said.