Unity Performing Arts Foundation: Building a New Fort Wayne Infrastructure

Business People, Aug 2008 by Bogle, Mary Jane

"UPAF taught me to share with those behind me, imparting life lessons that I've learned in college and adult life," says Woodson. "UPAF is like a second family to me, and I hold it dear to my heart."

Andrew Shade, student, musical theatre and public relations double major, Ball State University

"No excuses." It's a motto by which Andrew Shade lives - one he absorbed in UPAF; one that has propelled him to an exciting and challenging life as a college student and independent performer. But Shade's dreams don't stop there. In addition to becoming a successful actor, he plans to own his own theatre company someday.

Long before Shade was performing and producing his own concerts, he was a middle school student with a choice to make.

"Before I joined UPAF," says Shade, "I was starting to make some bad decisions that could have gotten me into serious trouble someday."

Instead he found his niche in the performing world.

"UPAF changed my direction. It came at a vital time in my life," he says.

Instead of becoming a bad boy, Shade chose to act out the part, playing the villain in the first Voices of Unity Youth Choir spring performance. By the time he played the part in the concert, he was a respectful, outgoing, driven student. For this, he has Marshall White to thank.

"I participated in school choirs and community theatre," says Shade, "but nothing prepared me for life on and off the stage like UPAF"

That's because UPAF invests in students' character, not just the parts they play or sing.

"Mr. White didn't just teach me to be a leader," says Shade. "He gave me the opportunity to lead."

As section leader of the baritones of the Voices of Unity Youth Choir, Shade was responsible for everything and everyone in his section, keeping it in order and on time. He wrote plays in which the choir performed, and he even earned the opportunity to sing back up for touring artists like Tony-award winner and Grammy-nominated artist Heather Headley, 1960's teen idol Paul Anka and Grammy-nominated Josh Groban.

"Opportunities like these are the reason kids are flocking to UPAF," says Shade, who knows of one choir member who travels from Chicago to Fort Wayne every other weekend just to experience this kind of training.

It's the reason he returns to Fort Wayne on a regular basis - to invest in the next generation of performers. "It means so much to me to get to know the kids, who are much like I was ten years ago, and help propel them toward success," he says.

Unity Performing Arts Foundation

Address: P.O. Box 10394, Fort Wayne, Indiana 46852-0394 Phone: (260) 482-6899

CEO/music director: Marshall White

Chairman of the board: Jim Markiton

# of employees: 7

Website: www.upaf.com

Years in business: 8

Products & Services/Nature of the Business: Performing arts education and training, as well as youth development and life coaching, for young people ages 8 through 20. Mentoring and volunteering opportunities for adults 21 .

UPAF Stats

Total students since 2000-388

Current choir members - 79

Current business partners - 9