Since we became an official non-profit project in 2013, Retreat to Broadway has facilitated 45 programs and events, serving 1,780 people across the country and offering over 200 financial hardship scholarships to allow any interested individual attend our programs. From corporations to congregations, book clubs to birthday parties, we inspire, renew and transform individuals and organizations via innovative custom-designed programming and experiences of live theater. Our Speakers Bureau, comprised of 11 Broadway actors with a combined 35 Broadway shows among them, make themselves available to attend our programs and share their personal and professional stories with our retreat participants. We also have countless volunteers who help make our events special, welcoming and memorable.
Retreat to Broadway is launching our second national Arts Education Initiative, and we're developing a Resource Guide based on the award-winning musical,
RENT. Not only do we want to increase viewership for the national telecast of
RENT Live! on January 27, but we also want to provide a unique framework to discuss the important themes
RENT presents: Empathy, Cultural Diversity, Creativity, Bullying, Addiction, Conflict Resolution and Acceptance of Self & Others.
We've set our goal of raising $10,000, and we cannot do this important work without you. All tax-deductible donations from this Campaign will go directly to: Resource Guide Development and Distribution, growing our Program Offerings, and increasing our Financial Hardship Scholarship Fund. Every dollar raised will help offset expenses like program space rental, Broadway speaker stipends, event production costs, retreat supplies and will help keep program costs as inexpensive as possible for our program attendees.
In addition to increasing our financial hardship scholarship fund, we've also made a firm commitment to allocate 25% of our crowdfunding proceeds to provide Retreat to Broadway programming to a deserving non-profit arts organization in an underserved community. We have chosen Sprout U School of the Arts in Trenton, NJ. No matter how much money we raise, we will gift 25% of our Retreat to Broadway time and resources to provide Sprout U with our innovative programming and Speakers Bureau access.
Finally, we invite and encourage you to share this crowdfunding campaign with your networks and anyone who thinks that live theater and arts education can change the world! http://retreattobroadway.com