More than 400 arts-loving kids will get the opportunity to perform on a high-profile stage when Growing Up With the Arts, a free program presented by The Children's Trust, takes over the John S. and James L. Knight Concert Hall at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts at 4 p.m. Sunday.

The two-hour program features nearly two dozen groups. Children and teens will sing, dance, act, play musical instruments and display their artwork in the venue's lobby. The student performers represent the cultural richness and variety of Miami-Dade County: EnFAMILIA, for example, is doing monologues, and some of the performers are the children of South Dade farm workers; CACEC, which is performing Les Enfants Haitiens Celebrent Leur Culture, is presenting Haitian and Caribbean music and dance.

Natalia Sulca, a 15-year-old sophomore at Dr. Michael M. Krop Senior High, will open the show with Teach Me To Love. Blind since birth, Sulca is a singer and pianist featured on A Better Chance, a CD produced and recorded in the in-house studio at Miami Lighthouse for the Blind. Music, says the bubbly Sulca, is simply a major part of who she is.

''I've been singing since before I could walk, and performing since the fifth grade,'' she says. ``At the Lighthouse for the Blind, I record, hang out, write music. The recording facility is fantastic.''

Though her goal in life is to become an attorney, Sulca says that the arts 'help you gain self-confidence. They make you realize what you can do as a person. People get into the arts and realize, `This is my forte. This is where I belong.' ''

Virginia Jacko, Lighthouse president and CEO, says Sulca's experience there helped her get into the music magnet program at Krop Senior High -- one of several programs that wanted the good student with the ``gorgeous voice.''

'That is how we help transform these kids' lives,'' she adds. ``We help transform their skills.''

The tax-funded Children's Trust, which will become permanent if voters give their approval Aug. 26, gave more than $3.5 million to arts education programs in 2007-2008, with $1.5 million of that administered through the Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs. Those figures represent a fraction of the trust's budget, which also funds health programs, after-school programs, programs aimed at preventing abuse and violence, parenting skills courses and much more.

The purpose of Growing Up With the Arts, says Trust President and CEO Modesto E. Abety, is both to showcase young talent and make a statement.

''We have in this community some wonderful, positive, creative young people. We need to engage that, celebrate it and continue it,'' Abety says.

Cutbacks in educational funding, including money for arts education, concern him.

''I question what happens when children have limited exposure to the arts. [The arts] are necessary for children to become well-rounded citizens,'' Abety says. ``Increasingly, the school system is pressed. . . . The focus has been on the basics, on testing. . . . The arts are not considered part of the basic core curriculum. We're proud that we've been able to step up.''

Michael Spring, director of Miami-Dade County's Department of Cultural Affairs, estimates that the Trust money his department administers provides arts experiences for more than 200,000 children each year.

The showcase, he says, tells the community that ``the arts are important. They help make kids mentally, physically and spiritually healthy. They help kids think beyond their current circumstances. The Trust has been visionary in its full-spectrum look at what it takes to make a healthy kid's life.''

Serving as the performance's artistic director is Cornelia ''Corky'' Dozier, founder of the Coconut Grove Children's Theater and a seasoned performer, educator and arts activist. Having worked with kids in the arts for nearly four decades, Dozier is passionate about the value of such experiences.

''Artists play a primary role in bridging the many communities we have here . . . we learn from one another,'' she says. ``The arts provide a greater quality of life. They nurture creative thinkers.''

Growing Up With the Arts, Dozier says, isn't just a children's performance showcase.

''This shows us what the possibilities can be if we invest in our children,'' she says.

Also on the bill at Growing Up With the Arts are the American Children's Orchestra for Peace, Arts Ballet Theater of Florida, Inner City Children's Touring Dance Company, Ballet Etudes, Florida Youth Orchestra, the Greater Miami Youth Symphony, Harambee, Booker T. Washington High School Dance Group, the Miami Children's Chorus, Miami Children's Theatre, Miami Dance Project, Miami String Project (pre-show entertainment), the Roxy Theater Group, SoBe Music Institute, the South Florida Boys Choir, the South Florida Youth Symphony, the Thomas Armour Youth Ballet and United Dancers of Miami.

Sulca acknowledges that, inevitably, she'll ''feel the butterflies'' before she takes the stage at the start of the show. Some people, she says, think she can perform well before large crowds ``because I can't see the people staring at me.''

Not true, she says.

``I've never been shy. I just sing.''

Join the discussion

Note: If this is your first time using our NEW commenting system, you will have to LOG OUT and then LOG BACK IN.

The Miami Herald is pleased to provide this opportunity to share information, experiences and observations about what's in the news. Some of the comments may be reprinted elsewhere in the site or in the newspaper. We encourage lively, open debate on the issues of the day, and ask that you refrain from profanity, hate speech, personal comments and remarks that are off point. In order to post comments, you must be a registered user of MiamiHerald.com. Your username will show along with the comments you post. Thank you for taking the time to offer your thoughts.

     Showing: Oldest first Newest first Most-recommended first Least-recommended first

@Nyx.AuthorDisplayName@ wrote on @Nyx.PostedAtTime@:

@Nyx.CommentBody@

@Nyx.Recommender@ @Nyx.AbuseReporter@