Regis Jesuit High School will host a special screening of Alive Inside, winner of the 2014 Audience Award at the Sundance Film Festival, on Thursday, April 9, 2014 at 7:00 pm in The Z Theatre in the school's Performing Arts Center & Student Commons. This powerful film demonstrates music’s ability to combat memory loss and restore a deep sense of self to those suffering from it. Following the screening, there will be a question and answer session with representatives from Juniper Village at Aurora, a long-term memory care community. The screening is free and open to the public, thanks to funding from Regis Jesuit's Year of the Arts.
In conjunction with the screening, the school will conduct a drive throughout the month of April to collect used iPods (all generations), new iPod Shuffles, iTunes gift cards and cash to benefit the Music & Memory Foundation and the implementation of Music & Memory programming at Juniper Village at Aurora.
Serendipity played a significant role in the coming together of the screening, associated drive and partnership with Juniper Village at Aurora. One of the school's music teachers, Karen Wuertz, was browsing Netflix looking to watch a documentary. Alive Inside kept surfacing as a recommendation, so she watched an excerpt. "I was immediately and profoundly moved by what I saw," she said, continuing, "Two of my passions, music and service, were coming together in this beautiful, emotional story." After watching the documentary, Wuertz visited the Alive Inside website and started following them on social media. She kept seeing information about hosting a screening. Knowing that Regis Jesuit had named 2014-15 a Year of the Arts, she wondered if hosting a screening at the school could be part of the special programming planned for it. Funding provided by an anonymous benefactor of Year of the Arts was available to make the screening possible, and so it was scheduled.
The relationship with Juniper Village at Aurora came later. After getting the screening scheduled, Wuertz began researching facilities locally using programming from Music & Memory. When she foundone in the same city as the school that was beginning implementation of the program for its residents, it again seemed destined. She reached out to Valerie Valdez, the Executive Director of Juniper Village Aurora, to see if they needed help. Valdez jumped at the prospect to work with students and staff from Regis Jesuit on setting up playlists and other technical aspects of the program for their residents. Of the relationship, Valdez states, "It has been a pleasure having Karen and the students at Regis Jesuit partnering with us on this incredible project! The assistance we have received has allowed us to meet our goal of getting the program up and running. We also want to partner with the students on other intergenerational activities. Music does bring people to 'life,' and we experience that on a daily basis because of the amazing program!"
The hope is to draw a significant crowd for the screening. "I think the students will really enjoy it; and for those with grandparents who might be dealing with memory issues, the message is one of hope," said Wuertz. The film should also appeal to current parents who may be dealing with these issues with their parents, as well as the school's alumni, many of whom are in or approaching their Golden Years. "Everything just seemed to align to make this event possible – our Year of the Arts, seeing this film when I did, the availability of funding, and finding we had people in our own backyard who could benefit from the school's culture of giving and service. It all gives me goose bumps," says Wuertz.
