From the desk of - ADMIN

Monday January 9th, 2023

Dear volunteer board members, staff, cast members, and parents;

I am hoping that you all are well, peaceful, and in good spirits. I am writing to you today in continuing our commitment to keeping you up to date on the happenings of the Academy, be it about the past, present, or future.

I consider you all a very important part of the Academy Theatre, not a member of the general public or a guest, but an important family member of our unique organization. When we succeed we all succeed and reap the benefits of this incredible community we have built here. But, when we come short of our successes or have failures threatening our existence, then we all lose; and most and primarily importantly, the students, our children, will lose the most.

Currently, we are still short of meeting our 2022 budget by 5k. There are many reasons why we have not met our yearly budget and those reasons are seemingly becoming a pattern. A pattern that we can all help not to continue. But, we are working diligently to secure these remaining funds, albeit with not much success... yet.

To avoid such a stressful time at the most joyous time of the year, a time when I take time off to plan our new year with great events, student curriculum, scripts, shows, etc, I am instead stressing about our budget. So this year, we have to work together as a family to ascertain that we don't have this conundrum. If you know a business, local company, wealthy relatives, or friends, let them know about us and what we do, we may get a contribution out of it and possibly bring them into the Academy family as continuing supporters.

Also to ascertain that the Academy is providing for itself as much as it can to meet its own budget, you will notice that there will be a few changes to the organization. So I wanted to give everyone a heads-up.

Unfortunately, we will have to reinstate yearly student tuition effective next enrollment period, August 2023. The new yearly tuition for all youth students will be $150. Weekly student dues of $5 will remain the same. There will be scholarships for those in need, and we will be offering a 3-month installment plan of $50 for those who may need that.
Admission ticket prices to all shows and productions will reflect an increase of a dollar or two.
Cafe item sales will also reflect an increase in prices.
Effective this year we will be instituting a small Participation Program Fee for all adult programs as the ADP, WDP, and Directors Troupe of $25 per person to help offset printing and royalties.
The 9-week Summer Drama Program will now be $75 from $50 per child.

We have also changed the following to lower expenses;

We changed our Card payment gateway from PAYPAL to BetterWorld. BetterWorld is an organizational platform that missions itself to a philosophy that other non-profits should receive 100% of funds or donations by offering the donor/purchaser the option to pick up the transaction fees instead of having it come out of the non-profit's income. Keep in mind, that these are just options, and you can opt-out of this offer when you check out.
We will be offering local business advertising space in our programs and show bills.
We have enrolled in the WALMART Round-Up program as another income-generating platform and also the WALMART grocery registry to offset expenditures on cafe items and general supplies. You should have received this information earlier this week.
We have planned different and new events already scheduled for the first quarter. All this information is in our latest newsletter that you should have received via text or you can CLICK here.

How you can help.

Attend/Participate in the many shows, events, and activities at the Academy.
Spread the word, bring people with you, and be our spokesperson when talking about the Academy. Remember we can't afford traditional advertising.
Sign up for the free funding platforms of companies that give us money just by you shopping there. They are the following; SmileAmazon, Frys Food Store, Walmart, and eBay. Information on how to sign up for these programs are on our website HERE.
Get involved. We have many volunteer duties and positions that are crucial but yet vacant. You can view/read the many duty positions that need filling HERE.
And be sure to join and attend our general board meetings held every EVEN month on the 2nd Monday, 7pm.

On a different note, I wanted to clear up and announce that you will notice or have noticed that there are 3 telephone numbers coming from the Academy Theatre and I want to clarify. Because networks now report to the FCC when they see a pattern of many text messages going out, they report your number as SPAM and the FCC blocks your number from texting anyone for up to 10 days. So please add these numbers to your contact list as the Academy Theatre.

My personal number and individual texts are: 602.434.9265
For group texts for board members, parents, students, and casts: 602.536.3933
Our MASS BROADCASTING text messages: 1.844.235.4112 - This is a DO NOT REPLY number

I know that I get wordy with these newsletters, but it makes me feel that I get to talk to everyone one of you on a personal level that I don't have time to do in person.

Let's make this a great year all the way around!

Angel