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City Shaper: Dina Slawson

This week's City Shaper is Dina Slawson. She's the founder of the Academy of Theatre Arts in Williamsville.

WILLIAMSVILLE, N.Y. -- Each week in our City Shapers segment, we introduce you to someone who is part of Western New York's resurgence.

This week, 2 On Your Side's Kelly Dudzik takes us to Williamsville to meet a woman who's using the stage to teach children life skills.

"I was a fulltime mommy, and there was no kind of drama program at my kids’ school," explains Dina Slawson.

Slawson already had a theater background when she decided to start that drama program at her kids' elementary school. It kept growing, and after four years, other parents convinced her to start her own business. That's how the idea for the Academy of Theatre Arts was born.

"I literally woke up one morning, and I said to my husband, 'I'm going to take a leap of faith, and I'm going to start my own program,' and he said, 'Okay, let's do it. Let's see what happens,'" said Slawson.

ATA started off as a one-room studio on Main Street in Williamsville. Slawson had 92 students and nine classes a week. That was in 2002. Now, she has more than five-hundred students and 24 classes a week.

She also runs elementary, middle, and high school theater companies and has a company called Young Performers of America, which connects Broadway stars with students across the country.

"Not only do I have my little corner of Western New York where I provide theater for the youth of Western New York, but I also am able to do it all over the country. So, it's really, really great," says Slawson.

ATA's ten-thousand square foot home on Transit Road includes a 185 seat theater, several studios, and a quiet room where students can study. Slawson says getting involved with the arts allows children to learn how to communicate in any situation in life.

"Being able to look somebody in the eye. All of those things are really life skills that they learn through theater that I don't even think they realize it at the time. I'm not sure the parents realize it at the time. It isn't until after that, that we really have a sense of how far reaching and powerful theater is," she says.

Slawson also says it makes her feel great knowing that she's impacting so many young lives.

"It is not only gratifying, but it kind of makes you put your head down on your pillow at night and say, okay, I'm one of those people who, because I've been blessed with being able to do what I love and see how it has effected other people, it's just truly, truly, truly been my life's greatest blessing I think," Slawson says.

She has a lot of big projects coming up. She's in the process of writing a musical in New York City and is getting involved in producing musicals.

If you'd like to nominate a Buffalo business owner or not-for-profit agency to be a City Shaper, email Kelly Dudzik.

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