For the Kids and for the Arts
Most of the work and writing I put into LinkedIn is all about sales and sales management, but I do have another passion in life that is also part of my work. That passion has led to a wonderful role at a 501(c)3 non-profit company. Glow Lyric Theatre's mantra is "Art with social conscious" and through each of our performance seasons we partner with local charitable organizations to raise awareness and funds using the season's theme of shows to drive the message home. This years theme is one of diversity and new perspectives and this years partner is the Urban League of the Upstate. More specifically we will be supporting their youth programs through donating 800 tickets to our Festival Season of "The Wiz" and "The Hot Mikado" both being performing at the Peace Center for the Performing Arts Gunter Theatre.
Instead of a spring and summer of blowing up all forms of social media making pleas for donations, ticket sales, and community engagement, I am going to make one general request of my connections across the world here and now (and then, moving forward, I will share some progress as we go).
I am asking anyone who I am connected with who supports the ARTS or programs for educating and empowering kids for support in one of three ways. Glow Lyric Theatre and the Urban League of the Upstate are working together to raise awareness and funding for the arts and the urban youth of our community over the next three months. Should you want to: here’s how you can!
1. Donate
The donations levels are $5 to $750 and they all include a lot of perks and opportunities for anyone who is willing to help. We are not asking for thousands of dollars (although that would be nice). This is a grassroots campaign to support two local organizations and the website below has all of the information on how you can help. (https://www.glowlyric.com/support-us/ for details). Also if you are interested in tracking our progress over the summer or seeing the impact we have on our local community you can also like our Facebook page.
https://www.facebook.com/GlowLyricTheatre?ref=aymt_homepage_panel
2. Volunteer
If you are local (in the Upstate of SC) I am building teams to work on two events and three campaigns. The events and campaigns are already built, scripted, and ready to roll. I just physically cannot do all of the work myself right now and if you are local and can donate a little of your time, you can make a HUGE impact. Every event and fundraiser has a fun theme and are tied to an experience that the kids (and adults won't soon forget). Our major efforts are "Buy a Ticket to the Emerald City", "Building the Yellow Brick Road", Scholarships for the Kids Summer Music Camp (the kids all get to be in the "The Wiz"), A Day out with Dorothy in our beautiful Falls River Park, and a night out at "The Hot Mikado Lounge".
3. Call who you know!
If you are not local, can’t give, and don’t have time to volunteer – maybe you know someone who LOVES the arts or is passionate about helping young people. I promise if you put them in touch with me I have a great story to tell and plenty of ways to help them engage with our cause. I can be reached at [email protected].
Thank you connections and friends for taking the time to read this! As we all share our best practices in business and recommend/endorse each other for our successes, I hope each of us also has a passion and an avenue to give back to our communities and to the groups of people who are not as blessed as we are in our professional lives and opportunities.
If you are not in my area and want to support your own local arts or youth programs, reach out and make a difference. Even if those areas do not interest you, everyone has a story and that story should have opened up your heart to some group or idea that you could lend your time, money, or talent to in order to make a difference in the lives of the people in YOUR community.
#LocalArtsMatter
