We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Dr. Alicia Sloan a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Dr. Alicia, appreciate you joining us today. To kick things off, we’d love to hear about things you or your brand do that diverge from the industry standard

Our Center is a place for kids to come, not just for classes/lessons, but to be part of a community. Many of our students come from afar just for the sense of community they feel when they are at the Center. People have come through the doors, both children and adults, and have found their new best friend at our Center.

There is something much more special than just classes going on at Nova’s Performing Arts Center. Sure we offer a plethora of performance opportunities throughout the year, but the people come for the camaraderie, the fellowship, the conversations, and the feeling of belonging. Then comes the art!

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

There is a lot to tell. I am the geographer/nerd that just happens to love art, especially dance, music, and foreign languages. I have always loved school. I found out at an early age that I am addicted to learning and information. I love sharing information with the world. That may be how I have ended up with 5 college degrees and currently working on my 6th. Along with my passion for academic learning, I also grew up with a passion for learning many different art forms. I started dancing formally when I was five. I attended a local studio in Cleveland Heights Ohio and stayed there until I graduated high school. I even returned to the studio for every break when I was home from college. I’ve tried many things in my life and I have had a lot of jobs, but no matter what I was working on, I always returned to the dance floor. Fast forward several years. I was a dance program director for a non-profit organization. I had worked with them for about 10 years before realizing I wanted my own organization. Coming up with the name was easy. I was really close with my father before he passed, so I wanted to dedicate my first official business to him. He named me Nova, so that’s where the first part of Nova’s Performing Arts Center originated. Then I didn’t want to be Nova’s Dance Academy, or Nova’s Dance Center because eventually I wanted the place to be more than just a dance studio. I wanted to be a staple within the community, a center if you will. Then the name came together!

The studio I originally grew up in taught me a lot. I owe all that I have to Mr. Fredrick Moodie. He taught me everything I know about running a studio. Even though I left his studio in 2004, when I’m in a crunch, the first thing I think is “What would Mr. Moodie do?” I appreciated how the students exposed students to many different styles of dance. I wanted to do that as well, but with many different types of art. I also wanted to expose the families to many different types of experiences. All this of course a very affordable pricing. We are probably the most affordable Center in Northeast Ohio, probably all of Ohio actually. We do our jobs for the art, not the money. We also do it for the kids’ expressions. We’ve had kids breakdown in tears of joy because they were proud of the jobs they did. We have had kids scream with extreme happiness because of the job they did. That is why we exist.

I am most proud of what we have accomplished in our 4 short years of existence. We started in June 2018. Since then we have been to competition, we have won a couple of the competitions, we have danced for the Cleveland Cavaliers, performed at several nursing homes for their residents. We have participated and performed in many Cleveland Heights and University Heights events and festivals, and have sponsored several community events. When our students take lessons, they not only learn a new art form, the learn confidence, self esteem, discipline, compassion, team building, they learn so much about themselves. The kids are one of the major reasons I get up everyday and go to the studio!

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

Covid hit and we had to close for several months. I didn’t know if we would survive. Luckily I had another job to supplement my income, but I didn’t know what would happen when everything reopened. We reopened the center in July 2020. Before Covid we had over 70 students, only 13 returned. Of course I had to keep going for the students that returned, but I didn’t know how I was going to make rent with only 13 students. I left it up to the Universe. I did what I have always done, I taught dance. I think that is the point when I decided to showcase what we could do regardless of our size. I took a few students to competition. We arranged for the students to perform at Cleveland Metroparks Zoo, and we held our normal Spring Recital. We had changed our protocols for sanitation and showed families that they could come into our facility and be sure that the kids would be safe and remain healthy. It has still been a journey battling the effects of Covid, but we have grown and will continue to do so. We will continue to offer our students new and exciting opportunities and face any adversity head on!

Do you have multiple revenue streams – if so, can you talk to us about those streams and how your developed them?

Yes, as a brand I have diversified the revenue streams by not only offering classes at the Center, but NOVA also has partnered with daycares, schools, churches, and nursing homes to offer dance and Spanish programming within community facilities. We have recently began to test the market for offering newer programming such as Geography for Kids and music and movement classes where the kids explore musical instruments and incorporate dance while playing the instruments.

As a facility, NOVA rents out the Center to other entities who offer modeling workshops, survival training workshops, and other one day events. There is also a small boutique within the center, that offers dancewear and accessories. The boutique is called All Things Pretty.

We are also in the works of remodeling the facility so that daycares can plan trip to the facility for classes such as the music and movement, as well as soft play entertainment. This phase goes into effect for the Summer of 2023!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.thenovapac.com
• Instagram: @novasperformingarts
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/novasperformingarts