Sarah Shelton Finds Her Purpose in Diamondhead

Noteworthy Women - October 2023

Sarah Shelton, founder of the Diamondhead School of Fine Arts (DSFA), is passionate about her enjoyment of dance and wants to ignite a love of the performing arts with her Hancock County community.

- by Maurice Singleton

Sarah Shelton, far right, at the Hancock Chamber of Commerce awards dinner. Shelton was named one of the 2023 Top Ten Outstanding Citizens of the Year for Hancock County.

 
Murder’s in the Heir will open at the Randolph Center in Pass Christian this Friday night, and it’s the third theatrical production of the Diamondhead School of Fine Arts this year. In past years, there have been only two theatrical productions by DSFA, but this is just one way the organization has grown recently.
 
DSFA started in the fall of 2020, during the early stages of the Pandemic. It began with a Monday night ballet class for adults, and it has since grown, hosting multiple dance, performance, and art expression classes involving people of all ages, from children three and above to seniors. At present, more than 1,000 students from across the Mississippi Gulf Coast and Louisiana take part in a variety of art-based classes and productions.
 

 
Sarah Shelton, the founder of DSFA, chose to settle in Diamondhead because she wanted to reside in an area where her son could play golf. Even Sarah is amazed at the response her classes have received from the wide-ranging communities the classes serve.
 
“My parents’ energy is leading me, as well as the energy of the communities that stood around me as a young child,” Shelton recalled. “I remember my mom, as a single parent, taking me to dance rehearsal. When she couldn’t do it, her friends would take me.”
 

 
By the age of 16, Shelton had lost both of her parents; her father passed when she was nine, and her mother passed when she was 16. She moved to Memphis to live with an aunt and eventually enrolled in Northwest Community College, where she studied Hotel and Restaurant Management. This led to work in restaurants that sustained her until she was able to realign herself with her passion.
 
She credits the COVID pandemic as the spark to reconnect with her desire to get back into the arts.
 

“During COVID, I had time to reflect,” said Shelton. “Who would have thought I would be where I am? I have been selected as one of the 2023 Top Ten Outstanding Citizens of the Year for Hancock County. I am very proud of that.”
 
Gail Trahan, the director of Murder’s in the Heir, is someone else who is amazed by Shelton. She said that Shelton does not accept ‘no’ for an answer.
 
“If it’s something she has made up her mind to do, she will never let a negative get in the way of her success,” said Trahan. “She accomplishes things that I can’t see most 34-year-olds doing. She’s incredible, and she’s full of great ideas.
  
“She has a very large support group,” Trahan added. “She has a dream of building and growing fine arts in Hancock County, and she has never let anything get in the way of that.”

 
Shelton is very clear about who she is reaching out to for participation in her classes. She says DSFA is an all-inclusive, multicultural school. “Everyone always has a place at DSFA,” said Shelton.
 
Some of the current DSFA offerings include yoga, senior balancing classes, music, acting, theater, art, language, tutoring for all ages, and mentoring and training for roles in theater and dance productions. Shelton says that sign language is a part of everything that DSFA does.
 
“We’re training the kids to be global thinkers,” said Trahan. “She has interns that work closely with her, and they are learning so much.”
 
“It’s my time to give back,” said Shelton. “Diamondhead has given me a garden to tend to my purpose, and it has guided me to cultivate my purpose.”
 
Murder’s in the Heir will run for three showings at the Randolph Center in Pass Christian: 7:00 pm on Friday and Saturday, October 20-21, and 2:00 pm on Sunday, October 22.
 
Check out DFSA online and follow on Facebook to see the classes and upcoming shows! 

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