enrich. Since then we have also produced some of our most promising programming, including the unique, site-specific Dance At the Stone House and created a totally new family program - the entertaining and educational The Better to Bite You With. We also managed to do residency activities at multiple schools each year, have three-four other schools bussed to our field trip offering each season, and perform at major festivals and at new theatres. Last season we showed a major new work in progress Baggage, but have not yet been able to present the official premiere.
However, things cannot continue this way. Though we have applied for numerous national, regional and private grants, and are exploring other sources of earned income, we are in dire need of support from individual and private donors like you, both to match funds we have already received, and to make up our losses from last season. Our confirmed grants received so far this year are from the Los Angeles County Arts Commission, Department of Cultural Affairs City of Los Angeles, County Supervisor Don Knabe’s Educational Partnership Grant, an ARC grant from CCI for Reichlin, and the Milken Family Foundation. But all government grants need to be matched. That’s where you come in.
Our programs have made a lasting difference in the lives of children and adults alike. We punch far above our modest funding level, having provided an average of several hundred programs, workshops and full performances annually for 30 years. Last season, funds we received went towards our touring in schools (which needs more than ever your help), another free performance at the TriArt Festival in San Pedro, new Dance at the Stone House performances. The Frida Kahlo presented our revival of The Patchwork Girl of Oz (where we also gave free workshops to a local school who performed within the piece) and we took the work to New York where we were presented at the Long Island Children’s Museum (also giving free workshops to students who performed with our professional company), and we did three showcases at the Ailey Theater during the APAP conference for the first time. And currently, we are teaching curriculum and after school classes in four school districts (see our News page).
A school administrator asked me with disbelief how the state of CA could give money to an arts organization in this financial climate. But in truth, the arts are so important they deserve to be a priority even in uncertain times. Well, in case you don't know, CA state arts funding actually comes mostly from license plates where an extra small fee goes directly to the arts. It's a way all of us can support ART, an area that allows us to look within ourselves and to each other, and relate to what we have in common as human beings. And it allows for an expression of that humanity. Data from The College Boards shows that students who take four years of arts and music classes while in high school score 103 points better on their SATs than students who take only one-half year or less, but to me the most important thing about the arts is that they open us up to creativity and thinking "outside the box." Art allows us to look within ourselves and to each other, and relate to what we have in common as human beings. It allows for an expression of that humanity - it supports young (and even not-so-young) people in creating their own place in our world. At the end of a workshop in central Los Angeles, a 2nd grade teacher said to me, "Today you were an inspiration to our students. They have never had the focus and motivation that you helped them find today - your words and movement examples have provided them with something I, their regular teacher, had never found for them during our (academic) classes."
Please consider supporting our company.
Even if you are unable to support us
financially, LA C&D welcomes
in-kind donations and volunteer work.
The Woozy and Ojo from Reichlin’s
The Patchwork Girl of Oz. Dancers are
Shannon Schwait and Adrienne Fisher.
Photo: Sallie DeEtte Mackie
