Kasser Family Offers $500,000 Challenge Grant to Arizona Theatre Company to Build on Artistic, Financial Momentum

 

From: scarr51@gmail.com [mailto:scarr51@gmail.com] On Behalf Of Steve Carr
Sent: Monday, March 7, 2016 7:31 AM
Subject: Kasser Family Offers $500,000 Challenge Grant to Arizona Theatre Company to Build on Artistic, Financial Momentum

 

NEWS RELEASE

 

For Immediate Release

 

KASSER FAMILY OFFERS $500,000 CHALLENGE GRANT TO ARIZONA THEATRE COMPANY TO BUILD UPON 2015 ARTISTIC AND FINANCIAL MOMENTUM 

 

            TUCSON/PHOENIX, Ariz. (March 7, 2016): Leveraging an artistically powerful season generating equally powerful reviews from media and audiences alike and following a strong financial performance that provided an operating surplus for the 2014-15 season, Arizona Theatre Company (ATC) board member Mike Kasser and his wife, Beth, have offered a generous $500,000 challenge grant to keep the momentum charging forward.

            "This incredibly generous gift will enable ATC to make a big leap toward long-term success and stability," said ATC Artistic Director David Ira Goldstein.  "Given the extraordinary success we've experienced during the current season, our financial achievements last year and the tremendous lineup planned for next season, the momentum continues to build at a terrific pace."

            To access the Kasser gift, ATC must raise $500,000 in matching funds by April 30.  Goldstein said that nearly half the goal has already been raised through 100 percent participation from the ATC Board of Trustees and a group of generous donors.

            "It's a wonderful start to this campaign and we hope the community will join in our effort to achieve this crucial match by the April 30 deadline," he said. "Every gift, large or small, will make a difference as we work toward this important matching goal – and will help us continue to bring great theatre to Arizona, beginning next season with our 50^th anniversary year-long celebration." 

            ATC's operating surplus at the end of the 2014-15 season was the first since the 2008 recession and only the second time in the last 15 years, and coincides with "our board and staff working successfully together to provide the resources necessary to fully support and sustain our mission and programs well into the future," Goldstein said 

            To make a donation, visit www.arizonatheatre.org or call (520) 884-8210 in Tucson or (602) 256-6899 in Phoenix.

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Contact:

• Steve Carr, The Kur Carr Group, Inc., (602) 317-3040; scarr51@gmail.com.

 

About Arizona Theatre Company:

Arizona Theatre Company (ATC) is the preeminent fully professional theatre in the state of Arizona committed to inspiring, engaging, and entertaining - one moment, one production, and one audience at a time. Boasting the largest seasonal subscriber base in the performing arts in Arizona, ATC is the only resident company in the U.S. that is fully based in two cities providing its wide array of programming and community outreach across the region. Now in its 49th season, more than 130,000 people a year attend our performances at the historic Temple of Music and Art in Tucson, and the elegant Herberger Theater Center in downtown Phoenix. Each season of home-grown productions reflects the rich variety of world drama—from classics to contemporary plays, from musicals to new works—along with a wide array of community outreach programs, educational opportunities, access initiatives and new play programs. Designated The State Theatre of Arizona, ATC is led by Artistic Director David Ira Goldstein and a dedicated Board of Trustees.