A Boston-based theater program earned a youth arts award from the White House
True Colors is the first LGBTQ organization to receive the honor.
Boston-based True Colors: Out Youth Theater received the 2016 National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Award earlier this week from First Lady Michelle Obama and the President’s Committee for Arts and Humanities.True Colors is the first LGBTQ arts organization to receive the award, which acknowledges programs allowing for creative expression and achievement outside the regular school day, according to a statement from The Theater Offensive, which runs the program. The theater group is one of 12 honorees this year.
True Colors received the 2016 National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Award at a ceremony Tuesday: (left to right) The Theater Offensive Director of Programs Evelyn Francis, Traeshayona “Trae” Weekes, and First Lady Michelle Obama.
“We believe that every single child has boundless promise, no matter who they are, where they come from, or how much money their parents have,” Obama said at the award ceremony. “And it is important to our continued greatness to see these kids as ours—not as ‘them,’ not as ‘other,’ but as ours. And that’s really the power of programs like these. That’s the message that they send to our young people every single day.”
Established in 1994, True Colors encourages LGBTQ youth and their straight allies to write and perform plays based on personal experiences through playwriting, production, and performance programs for those aged 14 and older. It is the largest and longest-running LGBTQ youth theater program in the country, according to the statement.
“It’s amazing to see that the power of True Colors’ work in helping make communities a safer space for LGBTQ youth while giving us a place to explore our identity and find our own culture in a way that is recognized and valued,” Traeshayona Weekes, 18, said in a statement.
True Colors will also receive $10,000 for its programming, which focuses on challenges faced by LGBTQ youth such as family rejection and bullying.
Abe Rybeck, executive artistic director of The Theater Offensive and founder of True Colors, said the program has helped to create a safe space for youth to express themselves.
“These are the creative young leaders our overlapping communities need to overcome bigotry and jointly build a more harmonious future,” Rybeck said. “To have affirmation from the highest levels of the arts and the White House is extraordinary.”
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