ACES program opens creative career doors for teens
09/22/25 | 4m 41s | Rating: NR
Teens' idea of an arts career may be limited to what they see on stage or screen. Young people, especially students of color, too often don't see this work. Through the Overture Center's Arts Career Exploration Spotlight (ACES) program, students discover the "full ecosystem" of arts careers — from costume design to music therapy.
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ACES program opens creative career doors for teens
Deayjah: Okay.
Deayjah: Wow, fancy!
Deayjah: Cameras, ooh, fluffy thing.
Deayjah: Okay, my name is Deayjah.
Jonathan: My name is Jonathan.
Martin: My name is Martin.
Angela Fitzgerald: These teens…
Yeislin: My name is Yeislin.
Lia: Lia, L-I-A.
Angela Fitzgerald: …are seeing…
Ami: My name is Ami.
Angela Fitzgerald: …behind the scenes.
Theater Guide: You know, learning the magic.
Theater Guide: How the magic works.
Theater Guide: Who helps with the magic.
[students talking]
Theater Guide: You guys can come up close and take a look at these. When I close these, they look antiquey, but they have snaps, ’cause it’s theater and you gotta be fast.
Angela Fitzgerald: The group is getting to go backstage…
Theater Guide: He’s made of plasterform, so he’s super light.
Angela Fitzgerald: …above the stage, and all around the building…
Theater Guide: Vomitorium is Latin for “hallway.”
Angela Fitzgerald: …at UW-Madison’s theater department through a program called ACES.
Theater Professional: You are having to problem-solve and think on your feet, and those are huge skills that you can take to wherever you’re going.
Angela Fitzgerald: ACES is the Arts Careers and Exploration Spotlight program, which was started in 2019 at Overture Center.
Angela Fitzgerald: Madison’s Overture Center is the program’s creator and home base. But on-site learning happens on field trips like this.
Student: My favorite thing about ACES is getting to explore the arts and learning that there are more positions in art that you get to learn about.
ACES Staff Member: In addition to doing this, I’m also the operations assistant, so I do a lot of logistical planning. I plan all of our in-state tours and things like that.
ACES Administrator: Allowing students to see that full breadth of careers that create an arts organization allows students to be able to continue to explore, and also advocate for being able to stay creative and in these creative spaces as well.
[drumming]
Student: There’s this whole, like, ecosystem of careers that you could do that are involved in the arts.
[gentle piano music]
Angela Fitzgerald: Heavyn Dyer-Jones is an ACES counselor. As a recent UW grad in piano performance, exploring arts careers has immediate resonance.
Heavyn Dyer-Jones: I wish that I had a program like ACES when I was in middle or high school to, like, all the little, like, subgenres of careers that you could even have.
Angela Fitzgerald: While Heavyn has the talent and the training to be a professional musician, she’s not sure that’s the life she sees for herself.
Heavyn Dyer-Jones: I also have had a growing interest in psychology, sociology, things like that, so I think I’m gonna go to grad school for music therapy.
[applause]
Heavyn Dyer-Jones: Everyone find C, middle C. Put a finger up when you’ve found it.
Angela Fitzgerald: Heavyn can use her gifts and her love of the arts to continue to help people.
Heavyn Dyer-Jones: Yep, that’s your next one, and then this is your last chord. It’s right next door.
ACES Administrator: The counselors, they’re really passionate about the arts.
[gentle flute music]
ACES Administrator: You have very impressionable youth, particularly youth of color, who might not see themselves represented in the arts in the ways that these amazing counselors, you know, have.
Artist Instructor: Everyone, take a moment, come gather ’round me please.
Angela Fitzgerald: Hands-on opportunities led by working artists also add color to the ACES experience.
Student: I’m gonna wanna put stars in the background.
Artist Instructor: It can let them imagine and really let them dream what it could be.
Student: Ooh, that one’s a little star.
Student: This one looks like art.
Student: They give us a really good opportunity to be able to see inside the arts.
Artist Instructor: You can always add more. It’s a little bit harder to take away.
Student: We got to really meet cool people.
Student: Cute!
Student: Oh, that’s so smart!
Student: So I think meeting those people and seeing how inspired they were, I think is really one of my favorite parts of the program.
[applause]
Student: It kinda changed my perspective.
Student: Definitely gave me a different perspective. I’m a lot more interested in the arts.
Angela Fitzgerald: From a different perspective, new possibilities come into view.
Student: Just really helped broaden my eyes to different jobs in the arts that I could be included with to help the magic.
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