A THRIVING ARTS MARKET helps to drive a thriving economy. Without it, a region's prestige and quality of life suffers.
     Hampton Roads is one of the fastest-growing metropolitan areas in the world, and yet its performing-arts community is one of the most underdeveloped for any region in the nation of this size and density. Virginia is dreadfully underfunded in the arts, a situation made worse by state budget cuts. Performing arts companies survive on sponsorships and would vanish without them. Even the most popular events do not recoup all the costs of producing a professional-quality performance.
     In our area, music, opera, and dance have managed to survive by creating a supply-and-demand market of talent and employment opportunities—but no such strong market exists for local theater. Instead of making itself known as a bustling, modern, culturally-rich region, Hampton Roads pushes its brightest talent out to enrich other communities. The larger arts festivals and productions have to hire talent from other states, and our region's cultural richness diminishes, and its reputation and economy suffer.
     Summer Shakes is one of the few professional theater companies and does a great deal to not only hire talented local performers but also to apprentice younger students and invest in the future of the community. We have elementary-school programs which work with at-risk children, and not only expose them to the great history and literature of our language, but actually teach them how to perform the plays themselves, to the delight of their schools and families. Our "Theatre for Kids/Teens" programs, which are expanding past Virginia Beach this year into neighboring cities, provide the same benefits to older kids.
     Your support of our company will keep alive the budding hope for professional and reptuable theater in this area. Bit by bit, our region is catching up in the arts, and Summer Shakes is helping to lead the way. Support us, and you will lead the way too.

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