$6.6 Million Grant to Support Family Programming
The Woodruff Arts Center announced today that it has a received a $6.6 million grant from the Lettie Pate Evans Foundation to support ‘Art From The Start’, a new three-year program designed to provide families and students greater access to the Arts Center’s core art and arts education work.
The funding will allow expanded family-oriented programming and greater activation of the Arts Center’s campus, including family festivals, art-making activities, drop-in acting classes and more on a weekly basis beginning later in 2015. ‘Art From The Start’ also will include designated family days with special access to the work of the Alliance Theatre, the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra (ASO) and free admission to the High Museum of Art.
“This gift from the Lettie Pate Evans Foundation will allow us to make our art available to a much broader base of the community and will build upon our commitment to arts education,” said Virginia Hepner, president and chief executive officer of the Woodruff Arts Center. “We are extraordinarily grateful for the generosity of the Foundation and for their belief in the value of the Arts Center as a community asset.”
The Lettie Pate Evans Foundations is one of the Woodruff Foundation family of foundations. The announcement of the gift from the Evans Foundation follows the Woodruff Foundation’s $38 million grant to the Arts Center in December, the largest in the Arts Center’s 46-year history.
“We are proud to be Georgia’s largest arts educator today, but our aspiration is to become one of the state’s premier destinations for families,” said Janine Musholt, vice president of Advancement for the Woodruff Arts Center. “We know that exposure to the arts benefits students in a variety of ways, from improved test scores to a better understanding of the world around them, and we want to offer those benefits to Atlanta, Georgia and the entire Southeast. The Evans Foundation gift will allow us to welcome these families to our home.”
Some examples of the family programming:
- Summer Artsplash: The High Museum of Art will present an exhibit by renowned children’s book author Mo Willems while the Alliance will produce a concurrent theatrical version of his book Knuffle Bunny.
- Sunday Family Series: Every Sunday beginning in June, free programming will be made available with families in mind, including performances from Theatre for the Very Young, art-making activities, artist demonstrations, gallery games and tours, concerts on the Piazza and musically interactive experiences. Additional arts education programs will be provided by the Alliance, ASO and High Museum.
- Toddler Takeover: We will produce the annual three-day ‘Toddler Takeover’ festival, an event involving performances of all of the Alliance's Theatre for the Very Young productions, workshops and art activities specifically designed for children 18 months to 5 years old.
