By Virginia Brown

There’s a story Paul Marks shares whenever he brings his interactive improvisation program into a local school.

In the late 1990s, he started experiencing debilitating panic attacks.

“I would just lay on my bed and wonder, ‘What is going on in my brain?’” he said.

His doctor diagnosed him with anxiety. His search to discover how to manage his diagnosis led him to improv. Now, not only does he explain to students how improv gave him license to make mistakes and move on, but he embarked on a multi-year journey to research how he could avoid future anxiety attacks.

Marks’ company, Beta Test Improv, which he owns with his wife, Kelly, is one of hundreds of providers who’ve worked with ASC for over a decade to bring these kinds of experiences to Charlotte-Mecklenburg schools through ASC’s School Funding Opportunities program.

School Funding Opportunities give Pre-K through 12th graders in public and independent schools across Charlotte-Mecklenburg access to artists, scientists, historians and other providers for on-site programing or field-trip visits to arts and cultural organizations.

Marks provides creative experiences to help activate the right side of the brain (“The right side of the brain, where you find nirvana, is only a mere thought away,” he said). He leads students in improv games, which have been linked to reduction of social anxiety and improved self-esteem, and other exercises, like writing the alphabet with their non-dominant hand, backward, as if reflected in a mirror.

“The best part is when teachers say that they have kids in a class that I visit who never speak up, and who are so quiet, but after the program, they’re raising their hands to come in,” he said. “Hearing a bunch of kids laugh is a fantastic feeling.”

ASC allocates funds to any participating school, depending on how many grade levels the school has and whether it qualifies for Title I funding. In FY24, Mecklenburg County provided $455,000 for School Funding Opportunities.

Mary Beth Ausman, who coordinates the program for ASC, has worked in arts and STEM education for nearly 30 years. In addition to Marks’ program, she highlights another popular cultural education provider – Troy Kryzalka, also known as the Number Drummer.

“He comes in with trash cans and drum kits and all sorts of percussion and gives kids the opportunity to learn while staying closely tied to curriculum standards,” she said. “He teaches everything from fractions to algebra using drumming and makes connections for the kids through rhythm to help them understand how numbers break down.”

School Funding Opportunities experiences range from African drumming, anti-bullying tactics and the history of Motown to interactive CSI-style forensics, mural painting and dozens more.

“I’m very proud of the work I get to do every day,” she said. “I’m genuinely convinced that this funding makes an impact in our community.”

Mary Katherine Fry, an art teacher at Berryhill School on Charlotte’s far west side, agrees. She has served as her school’s designated Arts & Science Cultural Arts Representative (called an “ASCAR”), managing program research, scheduling, implementation, and evaluation, for six years.

“The students are so receptive to these new experiences because they don’t really get to do these things outside of our school walls,” she said. “My school is high poverty and low income, so families are not spending their money on the weekends going to the ballet or the museums. It’s definitely a blessing to be able to do that in school.”

Once annually, she uses the school’s funds to bring a large assembly performance for pre-Kindergarten students through 5th graders. This year, she requested that the Charlotte Ballet perform “Peter Pan.” Other programs at Berryhill have included a puppeteer, storyteller, and hands-on clay making.

Last semester, the school’s sixth and seventh graders created large-scale cyanotypes, or sun photographs.

“They got to work in groups with an artist from (Charlotte-based) Blackbird Studio and each got to make a legacy art piece that will stay at the school as they move on from Berryhill to high school,” she said. “I’ve seen students come back, point to their name, and tell whomever they’re with, ‘That’s something that I did.’”