(DECEMBER 16) – Shoppers at Circus Super Foodtown locations in Atlantic Highlands, Port Monmouth, Red Bank and Sea Girt can help bring joy to students of the Count Basie Center’s Turner Academy of the Arts.

From now until December 23, shoppers at these locations are invited to make a donation at checkout to help raise scholarship funds for Turner Academy students. The Turner Academy, part of the Count Basie Center’s nonprofit mission to promote and preserve performing arts education, affects the lives of thousands of students per year — through onsite classes and private lessons at the Basie Center’s Grunin Arts Education  building, its school trips program (which covers transportation and ticket costs for students at underserved schools), or its various outreach programs, such as professional development opportunities for teachers, classroom experiences from Academy teaching artists, and more.

The promotion kicked off Monday afternoon with a performance from Turner Academy students at Circus Foodtown’s Red Bank location. Academy students receive numerous opportunities to perform for the public; earlier this month, students of the Basie Center’s Conservatory of Music took the stage at  Red Bank’s annual Town Lighting and West Side tree lighting, and year-round, the students are featured mainstage performers as part of the Academy’s student productions program. This week, a student production of “Jungle Book” takes place at The Vogel, while “The Wizard Of Oz” Youth Edition and Disney’s “Newsies The Musical” will take place at the Basie Center’s Hackensack Meridian Health Theatre in January.

This year, the Count Basie Center’s scholarship efforts will more than triple, with $100,000+ going towards mwerit and needs-based scholarships to Turner Academy programs.

Registration for the Basie Center Turner Academy’s winter session is on now at www.thebasie.org/academy.