ANNUAL FUND CONTRIBUTIONS ARE CRITICAL TO STARLIGHT'S SUCCESS
Did you know that Starlight Theatre is a not-for-profit 501 (c)(3) organization? That there is work we do here that is just as inspiring as what you see onstage? In fact, we believe in this work so strongly that we've included it in our mission statement: “The mission of Starlight Theatre is to present first quality professional entertainment and arts education to diverse audiences.”
A few highlights include: |
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Blue Star Awards: This program began in 2003 to recognize achievement and excellence in high school musical theatre in metropolitan Kansas City. That first year 19 schools participated. In 2009, 44 schools in Kansas City and surrounding communities entered the competition. And, for the first time ever, our Outstanding Lead Actor and Actress winners went on to New York City to compete against other teen theatre award winners from across the nation.
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The Vincent Legacy Scholarship Endowment:Greg and Rebecca Reid created the Vincent Legacy Scholarship program in honor of the memory of their son. Each year at least two talented minority middle school students are awarded scholarships that enable them to pursue professional training in the performance fields in which they excel.
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Community Ticket Program: Every year since its inception in 1951, Starlight Theatre has provided 364 free tickets for every night of every Broadway performance to charitable organizations that serve disadvantaged children, the elderly and the disabled in our community.
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Bob Rohlf Internship Program: Since the 1980s, this program has awarded college students paid summer internships that provide practical training in the fields of theatre administration, operations and production. It is the only program of its kind in Kansas City.
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Starlight on Site: Our newest educational program, Starlight on Site is an in-school and after-school theatre class offered free of charge to fifth- and sixth-grade students at the Afrikan Centered Education Collegium Campus in the Kansas City, MO school district. In a time of deep budget cuts in public education, Starlight believes this public/non-profit partnership can serve as a model for arts education in the future. |
It's important to note that Starlight ticket sales cover only a portion of the costs involved in producing and presenting the Broadway shows Kansas Citians enjoy each summer. The education and outreach offerings, in which we believe so passionately, are an additional expense. Yet, in this time of reduced funding for arts education, we feel a greater responsibility than ever before to maintain, and even grow, these valuable programs.
Oscar Wilde said, “I regard the theatre as the greatest of all art forms, the most immediate way in which a human being can share with another the sense of what it is to be a human being."
At Starlight, we believe performing arts opportunities should be available to all young people in Kansas City. Will you partner with us to make sure they are? Whether your gift to the Starlight Theatre Annual Fund is large or small, we promise it will yield results far into the future and well beyond the gates of our theatre. You can help fulfill the Starlight mission by making a gift to our Annual Fund!
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