Fall Teen Arts Mentorship Class Performances!
Updated: Dec 23, 2019
We are thrilled to announce that both of our fall Teen Arts Mentorship classes will be concluding in final performances for family and friends, featuring acts that the students have put 30+ hours of effort towards. These two performing arts mentorships are unique to Santa Maria, and the highly anticipated final performances are not to be missed!
Thank you to the individual donors and foundations that supported these mentorships:
The Roy & Ida Eagle Foundation, Santa Maria Recreation & Parks Department, Santa Maria Mayor's Task Force on Youth Safety, the Simon Foundation, the Towbes Foundation, Mary Dee Thompson, Lisa Crane, and more.
The Singers Workshop with Chad Ruyle presents:
The Acting Mentorship with Kitty Balay presents:
About Chad Ruyle & David Alm:
Chad Ruyle, vocal instructor. This is Chad's first opportunity to work as a teen mentor through the Santa Barbara Arts Foundation, and he has enjoyed this experience tremendously. Chad is an active vocal instructor teaching out of his private vocal studio in Arroyo Grande, CA. Chad has been on the music faculty of Allan Hancock College in Santa Maria since 2018, where he is a professor of vocal music and teaches voice classes. He is also on the faculty of Cuesta College in San Luis Obispo, where he teaches applied music, and a class through community education, Musical Theater Vocal Workshop. Chad received his Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance from California State University, Fullerton, and his Master of Music in Vocal Arts from California State University, Northridge. Chad is an avid performer and has performed with many groups across the Central Coast including, Opera San Luis Obispo, Central Coast Gilbert and Sullivan, San Luis Obispo Master Chorale, Central Coast Follies, and Cal Poly Early Music Ensemble to name a few. He has been a featured soloist at the Bach in Mission program in San Luis Obispo. It is Chad's focus in life to share his passion for singing and performing with all students who want to express themselves through song.
David Alm is delighted to serve as accompanist for the Arts Fund's Singers Workshop. He currently works as an instructional assistant/piano accompanist at Allan Hancock College with professors Chad Ruyle and Nichole Dechaine. He received his BA in Piano performance/composition at UC Berkeley where he studied with the pianists, Charles Fuery and Janet Guggenheim (Itzhak Perlman’s longtime accompanist) and the distinguished composers, Richard Felciano and Jorge Liderman. He earned his MFA in Music Composition in 2017 from Vermont College of Fine Arts. His composition “Autumn’s Eve”, a piano trio based on Irish traditional tunes was twice performed in Manhattan, NYC; in 2018, his environmental work, "Oceano" was featured in the art exhibition, Ecstatic Beasts in Montpellier, Vermont, and earned a New Times Music Award from the San Luis Obispo publisher.