The Johnson Center for the Arts is inviting kids ages 6-12 to take center stage in downtown Troy as members of the Center Stagers troupe this school year.

Wiley White, JCA exhibition coordinator, said Center Stagers is the art center’s program for young people and will offer classes in creative drama and acting, musical theater and movement, and stage crafts and design.

“The JCA’s role in the community is to be a total arts center,” White said. “The JCA has become widely recognized as a center for the visual arts and that’s our primary role. But we have expanded what we do in the way of the arts to include music, dance and theatre.”

White said the JCA’s mission is to make the arts available to people of all ages with a focus on children.

“We recognize the importance of art in education and want to provide opportunities for children to be exposed to and be involved in the arts,” she said. “Day Barnes has been offering art classes for students at the JCA for several years. Amanda Ford is now offering music classes and, last year, through the theater department at Troy University, we started the Center Stagers program, which is taught by theater students at the university.”

Funding from the Chapman Foundation is making it possible for Center Stagers to be a year-long program rather than an abbreviated one, as it was last year.

Registration is now open for Center Stagers for the school year 2018-2019. Availability is limited and students will be accepted on a first-come, first-serve basis.

There are three age groups. The 6 and 7-year-olds and 8 and 9-year-olds will meet on Mondays and the 10 through 12-year-olds will meet on Tuesdays. Class times will be from 3:30 until 5:30 p.m.

The fall session will run from October 1 through December 15. New for fall 2018 will be the rehearsal for a holiday production.

For more information or to register for Center Stagers, call 334-670-2287 or visit the arts center at 300 East Walnut Street in Troy. Registration forms are available online at jcatroy.org.