Cultivating a creative culture

While New Prague has become a place known for its sports, not to be overlooked is its arts. Whether it’s singing, acting, sculpting or painting, a creative culture is cultivated and encouraged from a young age.

A look through this issue of The Times shows how the arts are a part of life. The area communities of New Prague, Montgomery, Lonsdale, Elko New Market, Veseli and Webster have all had people involved in the various forms of the arts. Just a sampling of groups from the area is Curtain Call Theatre, Generations Theatre, Hymnus, the New Prague Czech Singers and the Domaci Dancers.

Families and area schools have encouraged children to explore their creative sides. An example is the third annual Creativity Helps Hunger that will be Tuesday, Feb. 19, at Falcon Ridge Elementary School. Basically a soup supper, it also has students make soup bowls that are sold that evening. Both the supper and soup bowl sales raise funds for the Peace Center, the area food shelf.

Another example is (and congratulations to) the cast of New Prague High School’s one-act play, which will be at the state festival today (Thursday). The young actors reached the section finals for the fourth time out of the last five years and this year they won the section trophy.

The area’s heritage in the arts can be traced to the founders of the communities. Whether they were Czech, German or Irish, they were people that had a connection to the arts, especially music. New Prague has recognized both of those heritages with the city’s logo. Flanking the city’s name are two lions with horns raised to their mouths.

These actors, singers, musicians and dancers don’t just spring up, generations of families realized that the arts were important. Some encouraged their children to pick up an instrument or start singing. For other families being creative is almost part of their DNA. Either way it creates a more rounded community that people can say they are a part of.