Community Theater Green Room Discussion Board: 40th Anniversary Fundraiser

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Shannan
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Joined: 10/10/10
Location: United States
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Topic: 40th Anniversary Fundraiser
Posted: 10/10/10 at 8:13pm

Our community theater will be celebrating our 40th anniversary with our 2011 season. I am trying to think of creative marketing and fund raising events to help with this. Does anyone have any suggestions?

Shannan D
www.genesiustheatre.org
http://www.facebook.com/genesiustheatre

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jtonner
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Joined: 2/02/04
Location: United States
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Posts: 56

Posted: 10/11/10 at 7:37am

You do not say if your group does musicals or not, but if so you have a built in program. When we hit our 40th in 2008 we did a program we called 40 By IV (our name ends in Theatre IV, thus the name).

We asked some of our performers to come back and sing songs they had sung in various shows, almost all the way back to our first season. We even had one of our earliest members drive to Michigan from his current home in Tennessee to take part. We asked each performer to come up with a list of songs they would like to sing, the producers and music director came up with some, then we developed a program.

We spread out the solos among the 12 performers and used the remaining singers as chorus on number that required them. We made sure in duets, trios, etc. we had at least one original. For instance we presented "Lilly's Eyes" from The Secret Garden with our original Dr. Craven but a new Archie. It eneded ups we only had one song where there was not an orginal performer available, and we did use a replacement. (We made sure we did songs from every show we had done more than once, which is why we use a replacement.)

We then broke the songs in to roughly ten year segments with a narrator giving a history of the group as we went. In addition, we had one night as a dinner theatre and the second night was standard seating.

This show was a great success. Past members we had not seen in years returned to see the show.

Hope this helps. (Just remember you need to pay ASCAP and or BMI for the right to the songs unless you have a AACT blanket contract)

If you have any questions, let me know.

John

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vickifrank
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Joined: 9/21/07
Location: United States
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Posts: 332

Posted: 10/11/10 at 9:06am

You could treat the theater like a person and have an "over-the-hill" party. Make sure to invite cast members from all the shows. Ask them to tell their favorite stories.

Have pictures of the theater at age 1, 16, 21 and 30.

Donations go to 'the retirement fund' to be spent on "fun and lots more living'.

_____________

http://www.studio-productions-inc.com
1-800-359-2964

The theater scrim people

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Shannan
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Joined: 10/10/10
Location: United States
Online Status: Offline
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Posted: 10/11/10 at 9:50pm

Our theater does approx 5 musicals, 1 straight play, 1 kids show, and a benefit or concert type show per year. We have done the traditional basket party fundraiser which was a success and will be done again this year. We have done the golf outing in the past, but with the economy it's getting harder to find participants. We are doing a benefit show this year and are trying to get some of the older theater people to come back. I'm loving any kind of quirky fun ways to celebrate yet fundraise! I appreciate all suggestions!!!

Shannan D
www.genesiustheatre.org
http://www.facebook.com/genesiustheatre

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Theatermama
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Joined: 7/23/10
Location: United States
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Posts: 60

Posted: 10/16/10 at 5:33pm

Our theater just had it's 30th year and we planned a year of fundraisers. We are a new play theater. They did a short playfest call a Blizzard where they asked 30 past playwright's to write a less than 3 minute play on a specific year from the past so all 30 years were covered and they did them out of order based on what the audience wanted in a certain amount of time. We did Vintage Scenes with scenes from past performances this is done at a winery and is actually done every year but this one had a special focus. For the final event they had a huge Gala with $100 per person tickets. They rented out our local downtown mall after hours that has a Ball Room on the upstairs - , they had 3 areas one was Heritage, one was Caribbean and one was French where they had musical guest, a special drink and food all of which were donated. You had a passport that had to be stamped in each area and your name was then put in a drawing for a trip to San Franscisco that was also donated. They then had a wonderful 3 course dinner in the ballroom that was catered and then entertainment. Several of the numbers were songs from our past youth musicals put on by the old stars of them (some of which are now adults), scenes from winning youth mini plays acted by adults, a scene or two from some memorable shows of the past. Interspersed were auction bids for some of the big prizes and then in the lobby were the smaller silent auction items. Most everything was donated or given at a special rate. I think there were a couple of other events but those are the 3 that stood out to me. Good luck - we actually started planning our 30th year a year before it happened and met monthly for a year to make it happen. As I said, I think there were 5 or 6 events scattered through out that year aside from our normal season.

My other theater celebrates its 25th year next year and we are not so organized but hope to at least do a letter canvassing and some kind of a celebration.

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Author	Message
Shannan Walk-On Joined: 10/10/10 Location: United States Online Status: Offline Posts: 0	Topic: 40th Anniversary Fundraiser Posted: 10/10/10 at 8:13pm
	Our community theater will be celebrating our 40th anniversary with our 2011 season. I am trying to think of creative marketing and fund raising events to help with this. Does anyone have any suggestions?
	Shannan D www.genesiustheatre.org http://www.facebook.com/genesiustheatre

	IP Logged

jtonner Star Joined: 2/02/04 Location: United States Online Status: Offline Posts: 56	Posted: 10/11/10 at 7:37am
	You do not say if your group does musicals or not, but if so you have a built in program. When we hit our 40th in 2008 we did a program we called 40 By IV (our name ends in Theatre IV, thus the name). We asked some of our performers to come back and sing songs they had sung in various shows, almost all the way back to our first season. We even had one of our earliest members drive to Michigan from his current home in Tennessee to take part. We asked each performer to come up with a list of songs they would like to sing, the producers and music director came up with some, then we developed a program. We spread out the solos among the 12 performers and used the remaining singers as chorus on number that required them. We made sure in duets, trios, etc. we had at least one original. For instance we presented "Lilly's Eyes" from The Secret Garden with our original Dr. Craven but a new Archie. It eneded ups we only had one song where there was not an orginal performer available, and we did use a replacement. (We made sure we did songs from every show we had done more than once, which is why we use a replacement.) We then broke the songs in to roughly ten year segments with a narrator giving a history of the group as we went. In addition, we had one night as a dinner theatre and the second night was standard seating. This show was a great success. Past members we had not seen in years returned to see the show. Hope this helps. (Just remember you need to pay ASCAP and or BMI for the right to the songs unless you have a AACT blanket contract) If you have any questions, let me know. John
	John
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vickifrank Celebrity Joined: 9/21/07 Location: United States Online Status: Offline Posts: 332	Posted: 10/11/10 at 9:06am
	You could treat the theater like a person and have an "over-the-hill" party. Make sure to invite cast members from all the shows. Ask them to tell their favorite stories. Have pictures of the theater at age 1, 16, 21 and 30. Donations go to 'the retirement fund' to be spent on "fun and lots more living'.
	_____________ http://www.studio-productions-inc.com 1-800-359-2964 The theater scrim people
	IP Logged

Shannan Walk-On Joined: 10/10/10 Location: United States Online Status: Offline Posts: 0	Posted: 10/11/10 at 9:50pm
	Our theater does approx 5 musicals, 1 straight play, 1 kids show, and a benefit or concert type show per year. We have done the traditional basket party fundraiser which was a success and will be done again this year. We have done the golf outing in the past, but with the economy it's getting harder to find participants. We are doing a benefit show this year and are trying to get some of the older theater people to come back. I'm loving any kind of quirky fun ways to celebrate yet fundraise! I appreciate all suggestions!!!
	Shannan D www.genesiustheatre.org http://www.facebook.com/genesiustheatre
	IP Logged

Theatermama Star Joined: 7/23/10 Location: United States Online Status: Offline Posts: 60	Posted: 10/16/10 at 5:33pm
	Our theater just had it's 30th year and we planned a year of fundraisers. We are a new play theater. They did a short playfest call a Blizzard where they asked 30 past playwright's to write a less than 3 minute play on a specific year from the past so all 30 years were covered and they did them out of order based on what the audience wanted in a certain amount of time. We did Vintage Scenes with scenes from past performances this is done at a winery and is actually done every year but this one had a special focus. For the final event they had a huge Gala with $100 per person tickets. They rented out our local downtown mall after hours that has a Ball Room on the upstairs - , they had 3 areas one was Heritage, one was Caribbean and one was French where they had musical guest, a special drink and food all of which were donated. You had a passport that had to be stamped in each area and your name was then put in a drawing for a trip to San Franscisco that was also donated. They then had a wonderful 3 course dinner in the ballroom that was catered and then entertainment. Several of the numbers were songs from our past youth musicals put on by the old stars of them (some of which are now adults), scenes from winning youth mini plays acted by adults, a scene or two from some memorable shows of the past. Interspersed were auction bids for some of the big prizes and then in the lobby were the smaller silent auction items. Most everything was donated or given at a special rate. I think there were a couple of other events but those are the 3 that stood out to me. Good luck - we actually started planning our 30th year a year before it happened and met monthly for a year to make it happen. As I said, I think there were 5 or 6 events scattered through out that year aside from our normal season. My other theater celebrates its 25th year next year and we are not so organized but hope to at least do a letter canvassing and some kind of a celebration.
	IP Logged

Topic: 40th Anniversary Fundraiser( Topic Closed)