Creative Arts Theatre and School News
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Apr 25, 2009 |
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Thirty years is a long time to run a business. It takes a lot of dedicated and passionate
people to create a vision that lasts that long. The people of CATS have trained young people
about theater for 30-years and in that time they've exposed thousands of
kids in North Texas to live theater, kids
who might never have had a chance to see a live theater show, much less be
in one. We're proud of that heritage.
CATS is staging the last weekend of Into The Woods this
weekend, May 8-10, with a cast of older CATS kids and alumni, teachers and community
actors. Please come see this outstanding
show with wonderful vocalists, energetic songs, and great acting. Viewers have agreed that this is one of the
best shows CATS has done. During this
month we're graduating 200 students during classroom and stage showcases. Come see advanced acting students
showcase on May 16 at 2:30, our dance students on May 16 at 7 pm, and singing students on May 20 at 6:30. In June, we
begin 3 months of exciting acting workshops and summer performance shows for
our young children through high school kids.
Come watch these young people grow.
We now have a major challenge at CATS. Over the past 30-years, our community has
seen times of growth and decline and now the world is coping with a deep
recession that has an uncertain end. CATS
has operated many years at or below income, but has always had a grant,
loan, or angel to help us. Now we are
faced with the reality that we may not be able to survive this economic
recession. We are cutting operations expenses
and making major changes to reopen in September. CATS will not look the same in
fall 2009.
Families at CATS have experienced their own personal down-turns
and have cut back on discretionary spending, including tuition and live
performances. Companies, grantors, and state
agencies cut back on donations, sponsorships, and grants and funding has become
scarce. For child-run
theater, where kids do most of the stage and tech work, a major attraction for youth
taking classes at CATS, the economic downturn has reduced attendance at our
shows significantly and cut back on classroom attendance, and yet our costs have continued to rise. That affects our ability to operate CATS as we've
done for 30-years and now we must change how we do business. We are subject to the same business pressures all companies are experiencing now.
The Board of Directors decided to actively seek a buyer for our building
on Randol Mill and we're in talks. We
hope to do this in a way that allows us to use the building. There will be further changes during
summer; to the organization and staff, to educational programs, and to a
new production season. None of these details
have been determined, but we are working to create an organizational structure
and programs that supports our singular vision - exposing young people to
theater arts, so that they can pursue an education, perhaps a career, in the arts,
or develop a life-long appreciation of the power of artistic vision in our
world. Once the Board makes decisions
and negotiates deals, we will make information public and begin a transition
to a new way of operating CATS. If the
Board cannot find adequate funding through summer, we will be faced with the
ultimate decisions about whether CATS can begin a new season in September or
close.
The only thing that's consistent in life is CHANGE and,
while change is often difficult to handle, the one thing that doesn't change
is our Vision - our young people - our passion for showing them the joy of stage theater. Thank
you for your long and continued support. It's through your caring that we may begin a
new tradition. Please come see this
wonderful show and help us to meet our goals of teaching youth to express themselves through theater arts.
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