Merrimack Hall, based in Huntsville, AL, is home to the Johnny Stallings Art Program (JSAP).
Published: August 31, 2015
By: Carol Muse Evans
In 2006, Debra and Alan Jenkins founded Merrimack Hall Performing Arts Center, a nonprofit arts outreach, as a gift to the people of Huntsville to offer visual and performing arts education, cultural activities and more.
“We wanted to do something for the arts, which we are passionate about,” Debra Jenkins says. They purchased the old Merrimack Hall textile mill and started with $2.5 million. They remodeled and created a 302-seat theatre similar to Birmingham’s Virginia Samford Theatre.
Though Merrimack started off as booking only professional shows for performances there, it quickly became evident that there was an outreach opportunity as well.
In 2007, Merrimack extended its outreach to children and adults with special needs, and to provide professional entertainment to the community. Today, the performance theatre still sees a few traveling shows, but performances, classes and even day care for Merrimack’s special needs students have virtually taken over.
About 267 volunteers and 503 students later, the center is now host to 21 classes each week – music, theatre, dance, tap, choir, creative writing, yoga and general fitness for people with special needs. Its DayHabilitation Program for young adults (day care), serves about 60 adults from age 18 to middle 60s. A day program also serves these adults in music therapy, yoga therapy visual arts, life skills and even field trips.
“We really want to grow all the activities,” Jenkins says. “We need to grow the day activities, because when these young adults graduate, there is rarely anything for them.
“Creating jobs will give them a sense of pride, accomplishment, and there is independence in a job,” Jenkins explains. “This is our five-year goal.”
In 2010, the Johnny Stallings Art Program was born – a tribute to Coach Gene Stallings’ late son with special needs and to serve children and teens with special needs. On July 10 that year, Gene Stallings came to Merrimack Hall to speak about his son and raise money for Merrimack Hall’s arts education programs for children with special needs. This is when the folks at Merrimack decided to dedicate its three outreach/arts education programs to Stallings’ son: Dance Your Dreams, Camp Merrimack and Project UP.
John Mark “John” Stallings, son of legendary Alabama coach Gene Stallings, defied the odds he was given at birth and became a beloved figure on the Alabama sidelines and in the locker room, as well as serving as an assistant to the Dallas Cowboys, where his father later coached. Now, Johnny Stallings is honored and remembered with the programs that carry his name: Dance Your Dream, for ages 3-12; Project Up, a show choir, for ages 13 and older; and Inspired Hearts, a visual arts program, for ages 10 and up. Also, Camp Merrimack for ages 3-12 is a half-day day camp every summer.
Jenkins, a winner of the prestigious Virginia Hammill Simms Award for outstanding contribution to the arts, has been on the faculty of such institutions as the Montgomery Civic Ballet, the Birmingham Ballet Company and the Huntsville Community Ballet. She’s served in many philanthropic and volunteer positions, and was the first director of public relations for the Arts Council of Huntsville. She said she didn’t know this was her life’s calling, but it is. “Special needs people are only limited by the label we give them, “Jenkins points out. “And normal is a dryer setting.”
Recently Merrimack Hall began the Merrimack Hall Leadership Academy, offering basic leadership development for high school students to help start the next generation of leaders.
For more information about Merrimack Hall and its programs, visit http://www.merrimackhall.com.
For additional information, visit http://dreamingwithyourfeet.com.
Carol Muse Evans is publisher/editor of Birmingham Parent.