ARCS Awarded Dyson Foundation Grant for Theatrical HIV/AIDS Youth Education Program

For immediate release

The Dyson Foundation has awarded AIDS-Related Community Services (ARCS) a grant of $112,800 covering a two-year period to support the presentation of an HIV/AIDS education and prevention theatrical production targeting adolescents. Titled “Between the Seams,” the play has already been performed in several schools this past year to raves by students, teachers, and administrators alike.
The grant will allow ARCS to bring the play to high schools and middle schools in four counties in the Hudson Valley: Dutchess, Orange, Putnam and Ulster. ARCS is seeking funding to underwrite performances in the other counties the organization services: Rockland, Sullivan and Westchester.

In receiving word of the grant, ARCS Executive Director Jeff Kraus said, “Teenagers and young adults constitute one of the most difficult to reach populations affected by HIV. This grant allows us a very innovative approach to get through to this population with our message on HIV prevention and testing.”

The Dyson Foundation grant enables ARCS to hire Dan Gallagher, the play's writer. Mr. Gallagher, an AIDS educator and former actor and choreographer will manage all production and outreach efforts. The play is professionally conducted using live actors, music and dramatic lighting.

The backdrop of "Between the Seams" is an AIDS quilt with each quilt square dedicated to an individual who has died from AIDS. Actors come out of the quilt to discuss how they became infected and to reveal their own personal experiences in dealing with the disease. The play can be adapted to any group by focusing on the most appropriate characters. (The performance of one or two characters fits into the time frame of a typical school period.)

Quilt individuals include various ethnic groups, male and female, gay and straight, young and old. What is really unique is that the plot and language used, in most of the character scenes one can select from, are developed is such a way that they are acceptable to even conservative schools where there is concern about discussing condom usage and sexual behavior.

"Between the Seams" teaches compassion towards those infected with HIV/AIDS and shows that AIDS can happen to anyone, anywhere, at any age. It invites audiences to recognize their own risk of HIV infection. The play concludes with a questions and answers session.

The objective of ARCS' educational efforts is to reduce high-risk behaviors and to encourage HIV testing for those who think they might have been exposed to the virus. Testing is of prime importance as the results dictate a course of appropriate action. If an adolescent tests positive, early treatment and counseling helpful to the individual can be arranged. Also, appropriate efforts can be taken to prevent the spread of the virus to other teens.

Dan Gallagher says that “this grant allows us to grow and to spread the message to many more young people in the Hudson Valley. Also, it permits us to raise the production quality to a professional level when we present the play, helping it to come alive to its audiences.”

ARCS is the largest organization solely dedicated to providing HIV/AIDS services, prevention education and outreach to individuals and families in New York’s Lower and Mid-Hudson Valley region.

The Dyson Foundation is a private, family-directed grantmaking foundation established in 1957. The Foundation is led by Robert R. Dyson who has served as the Foundation’s President since 2000. Headquartered in Millbrook, NY, the Foundation awards grants in two main funding areas: a diverse regional funding program in the Dyson family’s home community of the Mid-Hudson Valley of New York State, and a national initiative in training in community pediatrics, known as the Anne E. Dyson Community Pediatrics Training Initiative. The Foundation’s assets presently stand at approximately $295,000,000 and in the year 2004 it awarded grants in excess of $16,300,000.

For more information on “Between the Seams,” contact Dan Gallagher at (914) 785-8274 or at Dgallagher@arcs.org.