Thank you to everyone who helped make this year’s Giving Tree a huge success!

This year we received a total of $1,892.30 through our Giving Tree initiative. This is up from $1220.00 last year and will allow an additional 189 students to attend a matinee show at the Sandler Center!

We started the program last year as a way to educate more people about our ACCESS the ARTS program and encourage them to give during a special time of the year.

Through the Sandler Center Foundation’s ACCESS the ARTS program, funding is provided for underserved students from local Title 1 schools to attend student matinee performances at the Sandler Center. For a donation of $10, you can give the gift of the arts to one child to experience a matinee performance at the Sandler Center. For $30, you can send a carload of children. For $60, you can send a vanload of children, and for $400, you can send an entire busload of children to see a show! Your pledge will go entirely to funding the tickets for these local children.

Driven by a passion to reach students who might not otherwise have the opportunity to experience the great works of music, dance and theatre the Sandler Center has to offer, the Sandler Center Foundation developed an innovative program entitled "ACCESS the ARTS" to reach the at-risk and underserved students in Title 1 schools throughout Hampton Roads. The funding provided by this program is used to assist Title 1 schools in our local region with the costs associated with arts education programming at the Sandler Center. In Virginia Beach alone, there are sixteen Title 1 schools that have at least 40% of their student population receiving reduced lunches and living in low-income conditions. In some schools, this number is as high as 80%.

Last year, the ACCESS the ARTS program provided funding for 3,023 elementary-aged students (grades K-5) to attend matinee education programs at the Sandler Center. This is a 54% increase over the previous year’s Title 1 schools participation. We have expanded the program’s reach and have invited underserved children from Title 1 public schools in Chesapeake, Norfolk, Hampton, Newport News and Portsmouth to apply for the ACCESS the ARTS program. We aim to bring in 5,000 underserved children through our performance hall doors in the 2012-2013 season. Greater funding will allow us to do just that. We would be honored to add you as a contributor to this special program.