Introducing The Vision For Chrysalis Arts Ministries...


Personal And Artistic Development

Enrichment And Outreach

CHRYSALIS
​YOUTH THEATRE

CHRYSALIS 
​ARTS ACADEMY
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CHRYSALIS
​ARTS ONLINE

CHRYSALIS
​ARTS ADVENTURES

​Here in the San Francisco Bay Area, we live in one of the biggest hubs in the world for technological innovation and creation, for connection with screens/devices. Chrysalis provides the perfect complementary counterpoint, as we offer innovation and creation through human interaction and expression. 

Tech companies primarily nurture the development of technology, while we primarily nurture the development of people.

The greater Silicon Valley area is home to many young people who are in great need of nurturing programs to support them through the challenges they face on their formational journeys.

  • It is home to many who are struggling with mental/emotional health problems, social problems, and a myriad of other challenges. 
 
  • It is also packed full of highly paid, highly educated, highly talented, highly successful adults (many of whom still struggle with the lingering effects of childhood challenges). These adults want their children to be given every possible opportunity for a well-rounded education that will give them unparalleled opportunities to learn and grow and achieve great things. These students often face tremendous pressure to succeed, and that pressure can lead to serious health problems. 
 
  • It also has a significant number of lower-income families that similarly want their children to be given access to opportunities that may typically be unaffordable for them or impractical due to the significant commitment these kinds of activities would typically require. 
 
  • It is also home to underserved communities of various types who may typically find themselves unable to access arts learning programs, and who thus may not even see arts programs as an option for them. 

The initial vision of Chrysalis is to provide all of these students with unique personal and creative growth opportunities, through arts-based education, that they cannot get anywhere else in the Silicon Valley.

Our short-term vision in 2021 is to re-launch Chrysalis as a religious non-profit organization dedicated to helping young people blossom and thrive through nurturing creative arts learning experiences. We plan to raise $10,000 to cover our first year startup fund, and then re-launch our programming with virtual classes and shows and other events until it is safe for us to re-start in-person programming.

Our long-term vision, as entrusted to us by God in 2015, centers around a connected set of programs offering diversified programming, including our youth theatre program, our online learning website, an outreach program, and a private school for the arts. The school is expected to start out as a summer camp program, and it would grow over time into a full-time school that would fulfill all of California’s educational requirements for students grades 5-12, while also providing a source of stable full-time employment for Chrysalis staff.

We also believe that there is another phase beyond this, that God has already begun planting seeds for, which will lead to Chrysalis programs sprouting up across the country and around the world.

For our programming in the Silicon Valley, here are a few of the unique ways we can potentially serve the people in our community:

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  • Smaller Size, Bigger Impact - 
    • Many youth theatre programs in the Bay Area follow the traditional Broadway model of “success by going bigger”, through large cast sizes of 50-100 students, large performance spaces, large budgets, large time commitment, enormous spectacle, big-name shows, etc. This approach has numerous drawbacks, including creating a destructively competitive environment, lack of opportunities and attention for the majority of students, students falling through the cracks, less ability to be flexible to work around challenges and individual needs, shows that do not have good roles for many types of students, roles that are too difficult for most students, etc.

    • We want to go the opposite direction with “success by going smaller”, with smaller, more closely-knit groups of students, smaller, more intimate performance spaces, smaller, more flexible budgets and time commitments, more simple authenticity as opposed to manufactured spectacle, and productions that enable us to build experiences around our students instead of trying to cram them into the same rigid boxes as top professional performers.


  • Focus On Personal Development - Although there are many youth theatre programs in the Silicon Valley area, there are very few (if any) that have the personal development of their students as their primary goal, with all of their programming shaped specifically towards that goal. Most have theatre excellence as their primary goal, with all of their programming shaped around that, with personal development as a sub goal that is achieved more as a natural byproduct of doing theatre, rather than something that is specifically achieved by intentional programming for that purpose.


  • Leadership Incubator - We plan to develop a special leadership development program, in which young people ages 16-24 are mentored by experienced adults and are given opportunities to use their gifts and callings through directing, teaching, choreographing, stage managing, etc.


  • Faith-Based Programming - There are no significant Christian arts programs in the Silicon Valley that are open to the public that provide the kind of personal development experience that only a God-led program can provide. We believe that God has called us to fill that gap.


  • Outreach Program - There are very few youth arts programs in the Silicon Valley that have robust outreach programs. Those that do (i.e. Starting Arts and The Audacity Project) have been highly successful and have been welcomed into many new opportunities at under-served schools in the South Bay. We can potentially further fill this niche through Chrysalis Arts Adventures, which would provide condensed versions of our experiences to youth at juvenile detention centers, hospitals, homeless programs, addiction recovery centers, disaster relief shelters, etc. We believe that our programming is uniquely suited for these kinds of situations through our focus on creating nurturing personal development experiences that help young people to blossom and thrive and navigate challenges.


  • Digital Learning Suite - Although many youth theatre programs are expanding their online learning efforts, these efforts are still mostly limited to live-streamed classes and shows. We have a unique goal of providing a robust online learning and creation platform and creative community for youth all over the world. This started out as an “audition songs” learning page that quickly climbed into the top search results on Google and was reportedly used as a key resource for teachers and students. We then expanded out to build a robust learning website, which we plan to continue expanding, along with potentially a mobile app and instructional videos on YouTube.


  • Full-Time Arts Learning Opportunities - There is no full-time arts school in the greater area of Santa Clara County (including the Silicon Valley/San Jose). This earns it the dubious distinction of being one of the only major metropolitan areas in the south-western United States to NOT have a full-time school for the arts. We have an exciting vision to fill this gap with an innovative full-time learning program that is worthy of the distinction of being the first full-time arts school in one of the most innovative and creative communities in the world.


  • College Credit and Degree - We have a goal of providing college credit for classes taken at the Chrysalis Arts Academy, and we hope to someday be able to offer a college degree as well.


  • Film Studio - There is also no full-time film industry/studio in the Silicon Valley, despite it being full of some of the most innovative/creative minds and companies in the world. In fact, it is very rare for any film or tv project to even film in the Silicon Valley. We would love to take a step towards filling this niche, by someday building a world-class production studio at a future Chrysalis Arts Academy campus. This studio and its associated programming would be a rare opportunity for the creation of high-quality, high-character film projects by young people for young people, which would help raise up future generations of filmmakers. Our students would be equipped and empowered to tell the kind of powerful, uplifting, inspiring stories that so many people in this world badly need more of (especially young people). In this day and age, it is easier than ever to distribute video productions of all types and sizes via platforms like YouTube, Netflix, and Amazon Prime Video. (Netflix and YouTube are both conveniently headquartered in the Bay Area, within a 60 minute drive of Chrysalis.)



The vision God has provided thus far for this program is incredibly humbling, intimidating, and incredibly exciting. We believe God intends for this program to transform communities in the Silicon Valley, across the United States, and eventually around the world. While the specifics are not all clear yet, we have faith that God will lead us in the right directions at the right times so long as we give ourselves wholly to Him for His purposes, and seek first His will rather than relying on our own strength and understanding.


The long-term vision for the future of Chrysalis, as entrusted to us by God in 2015, centers around a private school for the arts. This school would fulfill all educational requirements for students grades 5-12, whilst giving them the opportunity to explore a wealth of creative art forms such as:

  • Art (drawing, painting, woodworking, ceramics, etc)
  • Music
  • Dance/Movement
  • Voice/Language
  • Theatre
  • Film
  • Photography
  • Creative Writing
  • Graphic Design
  • Digital Art and Design
  • Robotics
  • Speech and Debate
  • Fashion Design
  • Interior Design
  • Architecture
  • Equestrian Arts
  • Circus Arts (juggling, acrobatics, etc)
  • Culinary Arts
  • Horticulture

This school would feature an in-house production studio for film and audio production.

It would also have a "creativity gym" focused on exploring the art of movement through gymnastics, circus arts, climbing, and more.

Dance studios on campus would provide the ideal environment for students to learn ballet, ballroom, jazz, tap, hip hop, line, contra, Irish, Scottish Highland, and various other forms of dance including various cultural and historical forms from all over the world.

There would be performance facilities for both the performing arts and screenings of student films.

There would be an ice rink on campus for figure skating lessons, student and community recreation, and rentals to the community during off hours.


Chrysalis Youth Theatre would continue to provide theatre productions after school, open to all students ages eight and up from the local community.

Chrysalis Arts Adventures would offer condensed artistic adventures designed as a bridge for the local community. This could include community events such as interactive theatre nights, barn dances, open mic nights, storytelling, and more. It could also provide outreach opportunities that take condensed Chrysalis experiences to juvenile detention centers, refugee camps, and disaster relief shelters.

​Chrysalis Arts Online would continue to offer online learning resources, and could grow to become an online hub for sharing and creating art, as well as offering distance learning opportunities for students all over the world to learn from the brightest creative minds in the world. For example, children that don't have access to acting/dancing/singing classes in their part of the world could have the opportunity to learn live from Broadway professionals, without ever having to leave their hometown!

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The vision God has provided for Chrysalis is truly astounding, and we look forward to continuing to take that journey with you!

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Chrysalis Arts Academy

An Early Conceptual Ground-Plan As Envisioned In 2015

Stories That Helped Shape Chrysalis

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