Got Amex? Do Some Good for the World!

I also received this bit of encouraging propaganda from Theatre Communications Group:





THEATRE COMMUNITY COLLABORATES ON AMEX PROGRAM TO BRING YOUNG AUDIENCES TO LIVE THEATRE

Dear Friends:

We need your help! We need your vote today to Bring Young Audiences to Live Theatre!

We have just learned that Theatre Communications Group (TCG) in collaboration with the National Corporate Theatre Fund (NCTF) has been invited to partner on American Express’ The Members ProjectSM, an exciting new initiative that brings American Express® Cardmembers together to do something good for our world.

Selected among the Top 50 projects (out of 7,000 submissions) is one called Bring Young Audiences to Live Theatre. Should this project be voted as the final winning idea, TCG will serve as the “fulfilling organization,” and with NCTF, will support programs enabling more theatres to engage young people through free and reduced price theatre tickets, educational programs and other means. If this project is the final winning project, between $1million and $5million will benefit both NCTF members and the larger TCG universe of theatres.

American Express Cardmembers may vote for their favorite of the Top 50 projects through July 15! We are seeking to generate as much support as possible for Bring Young Audiences to Live Theatre, and ask for your help to spread the word to potential voters across the country and the world. These voters may be your audiences, staffs, trustees, donors, colleagues, friends… anyone who already holds an Amex card (or wishes to register for one).

In order for this project to advance to the next round, we need our community to be ready to vote now and often over the next month. The first round of voting goes only through July 15, at which point the projects will be narrowed to the Top 25. From July 17 to July 22, voting will begin to reduce the field to the Top 5 finalists, and from July 24 through July August 5, voters will select the final winning idea.

Following is a summary of the project:

Through The Members Project's Bring Young Audiences to Live Theatre initiative, the not-for-profit theatre community will collaborate on an effort to introduce more young audiences to the joy of live theatre through student matinees, family programming and other educational initiatives that make theatre accessible to children and families who would not otherwise be able to attend.

In addition, many theatres have developed special access programs aimed at encouraging college age and young adult audiences to continue their relationship with theatre. Reduced price access, special marketing programs, and other initiatives have helped ensure that young audiences don't lose the theatre-going habit as their lives get busier.

Live theatre helps build vital social skills in today's youth. Providing much more than just an appreciation of the arts, theatre exposes young people to unfamiliar cultures, new ideas, and diverse viewpoints while providing a pathway to self-expression, confidence and creativity.

Every day our world grows smaller. Tomorrow's leaders must embrace the very essence of tolerance and humility; they must develop heightened faculties of creativity, confidence, listening and debate. Live theatre and arts education programs are excellent ways of cultivating and strengthening these skills.

TCG and NCTF are uniquely positioned to access a national network of hundreds of not-for-profit theatre companies that can reach hundreds of thousands of American youth. But, we need your help to achieve the goal of providing more opportunities for young people to participate in live theatre at least once a year!

Please forward this email to a friend, an organization or group. In fact, distribute this email throughout your entire theatre community network and encourage them to go to membersproject.com, then Vote Now, then click on Arts & Entertainment and then vote for Bring Young People to Live Theatre, and help us effect positive change in young people's lives. Together we can do something good for our world and effect positive change in young people's lives!

For complete details on Theatre Communications Group and its participation in The Members Project please visit http://tcg.pmailus.com/pmailweb/ct?d=DSSB-wCJAAEAAADCAAFF8w.

For details on the National Corporate Theatre Fund, visit to http://tcg.pmailus.com/pmailweb/ct?d=DSSB-wCJAAEAAAFgAAFF8w.

Sincerely,

Teresa Eyring
Executive Director

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