There is no denying that the last few years have produced a real shake out in the world of school shows and school assemblies. The economy has eliminated funding for educational school shows in many places. Coupled with a well meaning but seriously misguided attempt on the part of many principals to meet the needs of increased testing by greater “time on task” (read: fewer school assemblies), demand has been way off among all performers and companies in our field. We have witnessed many companies go under, and individual school show performers are suffering, too. As the largest company in the country producing high quality educational school shows and assemblies, in the past we typically received inquiries from established performers seeking our representation about five or six times a year. During the last three years this number has risen dramatically and we now receive such communications as often as five or six times a month. Obviously, the world of school shows is suffering a reduced demand causing more and more difficulty for performers trying to schedule themselves. Add to that the fact that massive layoffs in other job sectors have caused many people to try to enter the market seeking an easy solution to joblessness, and you have a bad situation for poor performers trying to make a living.
So, having survived, and even witnessed a mild improvement in business during 2011 we indeed have cause for celebration in these bleak times.
But Mobile Ed has done more than survive this past year. Besides managing to keep perhaps the world's greatest crew of school assembly performers busily working, we also added several awesome new programs and have experienced great success with all of them. Among them, the most requested has certainly been Stronger Than A Bully! Virtually sold out for the remainder of this year and with a long and growing waiting list for next year, this awesome show has, of course, benefited from a growing demand from schools for assistance in the area of anti-bullying programs nationwide. Happily our first stab at such a program has proven to be an enormous success, garnering rave reviews and recommendations everywhere.
Additionally, we have been very pleased with reaction to our new social studies program Piankeshaw Trails, concerning the Native American woodland tribes of the midwestern states. With so many states including this component in state mandated educational goals, and with such an awesome format and implementation, Piankeshaw is expected to grow in popularity strongly as word of mouth spreads and more and more schools fall into an "every year" rotation.
But we also returned to our roots this year with an amazing and creative new science assembly. As one of the pioneers and strongest proponents of science assemblies, Mobile Ed has been amazing kids with how cool science can be since 1979! This year we created a new science assembly entitled the Invisible Wonder: All About Air! And schools are loving it!
Well we are now looking ahead to 2012, and though I cannot tell you everything, I can share a few tidbits. It is all very secret so far, but word has it that the Mobile Ed Skunkworks located in our back room is up to something in the science field again. I cannot tell you which, just yet, but one of our oldest and most popular basic science assemblies will be premiering in an entirely new form with new experiments, new graphics, new activities and a whole word of new excitement in 2012. The world of science assemblies is about to be turned upside down!
So stay tuned for additional information. 2012 is shaping up to be a banner year in the world of school science assemblies!
Geoff Beauchamp is the Regional Manager of Mobile Ed Productions where "Education Through Entertainment" has been the guiding principal since 1979. Mobile Ed Productions produces and markets quality educational school assembly programs in the fields of science, history, writing, astronomy, natural science, mathematics, character issues and a variety of other curriculum based areas. In addition, Mr. Beauchamp is a professional actor with 30 years of experience in film, television and on stage. He created and still performs occasionally in Mobile Ed's THE LIVING LINCOLN.