Why Give?
The questions any donor wants answered when asked to give are ‘Why?” and “Why your organization?”
Every donor wants to make sure that they give to a worthy cause, and that their gift is used wisely.
“WHY YOUR ORGANIZATION?”
Dance Alive National Ballet has been in the community as a professional ballet company for 44 years. The company is comprised of an international roster of award-winning dancers who are on contract with DANB and make their homes in Gainesville.
Here are some of our proudest accomplishments, and what make us distinctive in this community:
- DANB is the Official State Touring Company of Florida and has been for 34 years consecutively
- DANB was unanimously named the official ‘Arts Ambassadors for the City of Gainesville’ by the Gainesville City Commissioners
- DANB has toured the United States and Costa Rica under the auspices of the NEA, SouthArts, Allied Concert Services, Conciertos Internacionales and the State of Florida.
- DANB presents an annual series of outstanding performances and family shows, including ‘The Nutcracker’, the most popular ballet on record.
- DANB has a creative team in Directors Kim Tuttle and Judy Skinner who are both three time fellowship winners in choreography from the State of Florida, and who provide a fertile environment to artists of all genres.
- DANB is one of only 18 agencies in the state to receive a Recovery Grant from the NEA.
- DANB has an award-winning outreach program that provides services to area schools and local agencies. Included among the service agencies are the following:
Alachua County Victim Services Interface Youth Program
CAPP Nurturing Program ARC
Big Brothers/Big Sisters HIPPY
Meridian Behavioral Health Ronald McDonald House
Foster Grandparents Pleasant Place
Gainesville Area AIDS Project Pace Center for Girls
HUD facility for seniors and disabled Another Way, Inc. Shelter
Center for Independent Living Child Care Resources
Florida Crown Career Center Catholic Charities
Department of Children and Families
DANB is a fiscally responsible organization that presents the highest level art product and programming available to the community.
“WHY GIVE?”
Here are some answers.
According to the Florida Arts and Culture Division of Cultural Affairs, where the slogan is “Arts and Culture Build Florida’s Future”, the arts and culture are essential to quality of life in Florida and provide answers to challenges in strengthening the economy, learning and wellness, leadership and design and development.
THE ECONOMY
- For every $1 that Federal, state and local governments invest in the arts, arts organizations create $8 in revenue for the public sector. (2)
- In January 2008, the Florida Chamber identified quality of life as a key component to Florida’s economic recovery. The Chamber specifically cited arts and culture as a way to attract business and improve quality of life for Floridians.(3)
- As of January 2008, Florida is home to $40,081 arts-related businesses that employ 168,468 people.(4)
- Florida’s cultural industry is part of a national industry with over $166 billion; $63.1 billion spent directly by cultural organizations and $103.1 billion spent by attendees on event-related expenditures. (4)
- The average amount spent by cultural event attendees is $27.70 plus admission. (6)
- Cultural resources have been considered by Scripps Research and the Burnham Institute for Medical Research in reports on where to locate new businesses in Florida. (7)
TOURISM
- The direct spending of cultural tourists in Florida is $4.5 billion annually. This amounts to $9.3 billion in total economic impact annually. (8)
- 74.9% of visitors to Florida participate in cultural activities. (9)
- Cultural tourists spend twice as much as local attendees in non-event related expenses ($40.19 to $19.53).Florida’s cultural tourists spend more than tourists not attending cultural events. ($631 to $457). (10)
EDUCATION
- In high-poverty and urban settings where schools developed arts integrated curricula, there has been improvement in reading and mathematics. (11)
- At-risk youth participating in the arts increased ability to communicate effectively, improved ability to work on tasks from start to finish, improved attitudes towards school, and decreased frequency of delinquent behavior and court referrals. (12)
- Young people who consistently participate in comprehensive, sequential and rigorous art programs are: (13)
~ 4 times more likely to be recognized for academic achievement
~ 3 times more likely to be elected to class office within their schools
~ times more likely to participate in a math or science fair
~ 3 times more likely to win an award for school attendance
~ 4 times more likely to win an award for writing an essay or poem.
Charles W. Duval Elementary School in Alachua County went from an F to an A school in one year after implementing the “Whole School Initiative”, a learning system which encourages learning by and through the arts. (14)
Dance Alive National Ballet participated for 11 years in month long residencies at Duval Elementary School, resulting in former Principal Lea McNeely determining that the dance program DANB instituted proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that the arts improved her students scores. She therefore instituted the well documented “Whole School Initiative”, making Duval Elementary School an Arts Magnet School,. The resulting scores for the second year of her program resulted in the school going from an F to an A. Pofahl Studios, the Official school of DANB, offered $20,000 worth of dance scholarships ANNUALLY to deserving Duval dance students through a difficult audition process. The EMMER FOUNDATION contributed an inestimable sponsorship to this program. Pofahl Studios continues their scholarship program to this day.
PLEASE GIVE to this worthy organization.
For more information please contact DANB: dalive@bellsouth.net or 352/371-2986 phone/fax
1-National Governor’s Watch; 2,4,5,6,8- Americans for the Arts; 3-Florida Chamber of Commerce; 7,10,13-Florida Cultural Alliance; 9-Florida TaxWatch; 11-John D. and Catherine MacArthur Foundation, the Arts Education Partnership, and the President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities;14-Florida Department of Education.
