412 LOCAL COMMUNITY ADVOCATE NURTURES YOUTH THROUGH ARTS PROGRAM

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
EDITORIAL CONTACT: Lisa L. Rollins, 615-898-2919

LOCAL COMMUNITY ADVOCATE NURTURES YOUTH THROUGH ARTS PROGRAM
Shy Child-turned-Arts Mentor Volunteers Time, Talents for Children as Labor of Love;
Former Miss U.S.A. Lynnette Cole Emcees Children’s Benefit Show July 28 at MTSU

(MURFREESBORO, Tenn.)—Forever is a very long time, but if Monica Johnson has her way, that’s how long Generation for Creation (GFC), the nonprofit visual and performing arts program she founded for children in 2001, will be around.
Based in Murfreesboro and currently housed in the local Boys and Girls Club facility, GFC—under its founder’s guidance—welcomes youth ages 7-17 to explore and develop their interests and talents in drama, art, music and dance.
A 1996 MTSU graduate with a B.S. in psychology and minors in speech and theatre and biology, Johnson was inspired to create GFC, she said, because she had grown up with a passion for the dramatic arts but had been dissuaded from pursuing it as a child.
In her zeal to create an artistic release for herself, help others and pay homage to her late mother’s love for children, Johnson said she created the inter-community arts group to help talented children reach their artistic dreams with encouragement and positive motivation.
Prior to GFC’s inception, Johnson said she first “started teaching drama to special needs children, then I decided that I wanted to give back to all the children, no matter their ability … (and) so I started Generation For Creation.”
During her study at MTSU, Johnson said she was especially inspired by
Dr. Jette Halladay, professor of speech and theatre, who was always enthusiastic and encouraged Johnson to cultivate her own artistic talents and love for the arts.
Halladay, who specializes in children’s theater, said Johnson’s volunteer work with children and the arts via GFC is a great contribution to he community, as well as a genuine labor of love.
“Monica is tireless, (and) her optimism is contagious,” Halladay observed. “Everywhere I go in Murfreesboro, I see her handiwork improving lives, creating
opportunities where none existed before and generally spreading a deep
sense of joy with life.
“She is not discouraged by the skepticism of others or their disorganization and pessimism. She just plows through and does what every one told her would be impossible to do. She is a woman with a great deal of integrity and enthusiasm.”
One of five children, Johnson said she was a shy child yet no one would never know it today, thanks to the energy she devotes to GFC, from mentoring its participants and recruiting board members, advisers and arts supporters, to raising money for the nonprofit organization.
Mary Glass, an account clerk in MTSU’s business office and local music minister, is a longtime GFC volunteer, she said, because she believes in its mission.
When she first learned of Johnson’s dream to work with children, Glass said she met some the youth and their parents and “fell in love with them” from the start.
“I knew from my heart that this new organization would be just great for Murfreesboro and surrounding area,” Glass said. ”Murfreesboro is a fast-growing city and we need new ideas to help keep our children focused …. (and) this organization
offers the kids a place to meet other children, experiment, do performances, plays, concerts and do volunteer work in our community.”
MTSU junior Alli Scott, now majoring in vocal performance and speech and theatre, said her past GFC participation was a much-welcomed experience that benefited her self-confidence and helped her develop artistically.
“It’s a great opportunity for young people to show off their talents,” she said. “(And) being in the (annual GFC) talent show was just another way to overcome my fear of performing and to show (the audience) what I had been working on and what I wanted to be.”
The work Johnson accomplishes via GFC is even more important for today’s young people, Scott noted, because of the ever-increasing funding cuts that arts-related curricula have received within public school systems both locally and nationwide.
“The arts are slowly drifting away from school programs,” Scott said, “and I think (GFC) emphasizes how important (the arts) are to the kids.”
In addition to offering drama and art classes 10 a.m.-noon on the second and fourth Saturdays of each month, GFC players present performances, history plays and holiday concerts three times per year on local theatrical stages. The organization’s biggest show and fundraiser, however, is its annual Children’s Benefit Talent Show that showcases children in the categories of art, dance, drama, music and modeling, the latter of which is a new category for 2007.
This year’s show will get under way beginning at 6:30 p.m. Saturday, July 28, in MTSU’s Tucker Theatre. Children audition to perform in the benefit show, Johnson said, and all selected performers receive a certificate of participation, with the top three winners in each category receive trophies. A volunteer panel of judges with arts experience and backgrounds determine the event’s overall prize winners.
As in year’s past, Lynnette Cole, the 2000 Miss U.S.A., will travel from her current home in Minnesota to Murfreesboro to emcee the annual GFC talent show.
A native of Columbia, Tenn., Cole described Generation for Creation as “one of Murfreesboro’s hidden secrets … (and) a great program for children and parents to get involved in.”
Although Cole, now an actress and business owner, was never a GFC participant, she said that once she learned about the organization, she contacted Johnson to see how she could help.
“There are so many broken homes these days, and having GFC helps (some of its participants) fill voids in their lives,” Cole said. “It is their creative outlet; it encourages them to be highly creative in their particular art.”
Moreover, she added, “This program keeps them active and not always in front of the television and video games.”
So positive is the GFC experience, Johnson said, that several GFC alumni, have returned to volunteer their own time to helping her mentor the program’s young people. And, said Johnson, she dreams of one day expanding the program beyond Murfreesboro, making it a statewide or even national program.
Until then, though, she and her all-volunteer helpers remain devoted to helping young people, no matter their ability or skill level, develop through the visual and performing arts, one child at a time.
“It was a good experience,” confirmed Scott, 19, regarding GFC. “I would tell anyone to try out if it’s something they are interested in.”
For more information about GFC, please visit its Web site at http://www.gfckids.org.
•TICKETS: Tickets to GFC fifth annual Children’s Benefit Talent Show on July 28, featuring mistress of ceremonies Lynnette Cole, Miss U.S.A. 2000, are $10 each, with discounts available for groups. For more information, please call GFC at 615-890-7116.

***ATTENTION, MEDIA: To request interviews with children participating in this year’s talent show or with Ms. Johnson, GFC director-founder, please contact Lisa L. Rollins in the Office of News and Public Affairs at MTSU at 615-898-2919. Jpegs of Johnson or GFC-related interviews/jpegs for editorial use of former Miss U.S.A. Lynnette Cole (2000) also may be directed to Rollins at the aforementioned number of via e-mail at lrollins@mtsu.edu.

Please Note: If you should run this story in full as a feature, please give byline credit to Lisa L. Rollins and Rometrius North. (Miss North, a native of Cookeville, Tenn., is an INROADS student intern in MTSU’s Office of News and Public Affairs during summer 2007.)