On Saturday, April 12, two student-support groups will sponsor a career fair for students who are considering a future in music or the performing arts. Performing arts professionals, including several OPRF alums who have enjoyed careers in music, theater, and other arts, will be on hand to give back to the institution that helped launch their careers.
The sponsoring groups are APPLAUSE! and the Alumni Association of Oak Park & River Forest High School. APPLAUSE! (formerly known as the Concert Tour Association) provides a variety of programs and fundraising opportunities to students in music and the performing arts at the high school. The Alumni Association provides OPRF alums with networking, reunion coordination, and other services. Additionally, they give out summer enrichment grants to current OPRF students. Both organizations are officially recognized by the high school and are not-for-profit, 501© (3) organizations.
The event, which is open to students, their parents, alums and the general public, will feature a panel discussion of the artist-participants and an opportunity for students and their parents to speak individually with the participants, who range from musicians to educators to theatre professionals, even a music therapist. Representatives from local universities are expected to be on hand to provide information as well.
Karin Eitrheim Maas, an educator and theater director currently based in Minnesota, has returned to share her wisdom and experiences with today’s students.
“I’m honored to have been asked to attend,” Eithreim Maas said. “Not only is this the high school I attended, but it is like a second home.” She is the daughter of legendary OPRF teacher and director James Eitrheim, for whom an annual award is given to outstanding theater students. Eitrheim Maas not only acted on the stage at OPRF, but returned years later to direct a show in the school’s Little Theatre.
Sarah Roodhouse, division head of Fine and Applied Arts at the high school, believes a career fair gives a taste of the real world. “It is a vital experience for students to explore a field of study in the performing arts and talk with people who have successfully navigated the education and job processes in that field. They get to ask questions and begin to think ‘I can do this,'” Roodhouse said.
OPRF has spawned many successful musicians, performers and educators over the years, yet each artist-participant will likely elaborate on the realities of a career in music or the performing arts. The sponsoring organizations and artist-participants hope the fair will be a first step down that long road for the students and make it a little less daunting.
The Music and Performing Arts Career Fair will take place April 12 from 1 to 4 p.m. in OPRF’s Little Theatre, 201 N. Scoville Ave., Oak Park. Admission is free.