HPAC readies for another fun-filled season

A partnership of arts and education benefits Sidney children and adults thanks to the High Plains Arts Council.

HPAC is a group of local volunteers who select professional entertainment and educational groups to come into Sidney. This year’s season, which begins Aug. 23 with Mike Adams Pilgrim Country Classics features seven shows including Dallas Brass on Sept. 15.

“When Dallas Brass comes in they do three educational workshops with the high school band and middle school band,” said Carrie Pilger, president and executive director of HPAC.

The band students who participate in the workshops are also featured in the group’s evening show. A quintet of Air Force performers from Lincoln will back up Dallas Brass with patriotic songs at the end of the show.

Four of the group’s productions this year include an educational component. The Missoula Children’s Theatre will return to Sidney again this year with its weeklong workshop for area kids who will audition and perform at the end of the week.

HPAC, a long standing area non-profit brings different performers to Sidney each year, although it does bring back crowd favorites like Dallas Brass who visited Sidney four years ago. The council chooses which acts to bring to Sidney based on feedback from the audience.

“The audience around here really likes the big band brass sound and jazz, so we pick those,” Pilger said.

New this year is Music on the Trail on April 2, which includes a workshop for the Cool Kids club.

“It’s a musical history of the Oregon Trail and the movement west,” Pilger said. “And they will dress up in period costumes and really experience the whole piece of history that way.”

Music on the Trail comes to Sidney as part of the Lied Center Arts Across Nebraska Program, which promotes certain artists at a reduced fee to the council.

Sidney is considered an under-served area for the arts because of its rural location, so it receives grants in order to bring these acts to the community.

“We rely heavily on grants,” Pilger said.

The Sidney HPAC currently has eight members, but is always looking for more, Pilger said.

In addition to community performances, HPAC also funds Artists in the Schools. This program is a yearly week-long artist residency that teaches Sidney fourth grade students about African culture.

“That is just kind of our way of giving back to the schools,” Pilger said. “All the educational programs, we fund and apply for grants for so it’s at no cost to the schools for these things.”

The HPAC shows, which have been going on for around 16 year are usually well attended with an average audience size of more than 200 people. The Missoula Children’s Theatre performance is always the most well-attended event with around 600 audience members.

“We happen to have, I think, a really, really good season and I’m anxious to see what attendance is going to be like,” Pilger said.

Other acts this year include The Glen Miller Orchestra on March 2, Yesterday and Today, the Interactive Beatles Experience on Nov. 7 which uses audience suggestions to narrate the show and the Bald Mountain Rounders, a bluegrass band on Dec. 13.

Individual memberships for all the season’s shows are $45.00 while admission to individual shows is $12.00.

The memberships help support the additional educational opportunities while those who buy at the gate are simply paying for the show.

Although grants pay for a portion of the performances, the shows are locally funded through memberships to the HPAC as well as business and corporate sponsorship.

“We’ve had really good support the last few years from our community business, the surrounding businesses, they’ve just been awesome,” Pilger said.

The HPAC shows benefit the community by bringing the arts to Sidney, when otherwise locals might have to drive hundreds of miles and pay for lodging to attend these kinds of shows.

“We have that caliber of artists coming that would play, easily would play in the Denver theaters,” Pilger said.

There is no way these shows could happen locally without grants or memberships.

“I mean really, the people that support it have just been fabulous stepping up and helping us make this really happen,” Pilger said.

Pilger got involved in HPAC because she’s a lifelong supporter of the arts.Her interests include band, speech and theater.

“As I began to write the grants, I really saw the benefit of being able to bring these performances into Sidney and then as I started getting to know the audience members and just how thankful and grateful and how much they enjoyed their evening,” Pilger said.

This year’s season is funded by a basic support grant from the Nebraska Arts Council for $4,380. Other contributions to the 2014-2015 season include $2,763 from the Cultural Endowment for the Arts, $5,000 from the Mid America Arts Alliance as well as the Lied Center Arts Across Nebraska Program. All of the shows take place at the Sidney High School Fine Arts Center.

“It’s kind of cool knowing that your little piece of volunteer work can touch that many people,” Pilger said.