Welcome to the United Performing Arts Fund 2012 Education & Community

Outreach Presentation!

What is UPAF?

• United Performing Arts Fund (UPAF) is a nonprofit, umbrella organization that supports 36 performing arts groups in Southeastern Wisconsin through its annual fundraising and awareness campaign.

• UPAF raises funds through a community-wide based approach, receiving contributions from over 20,000 donors and over 350 corporations in 2011.

• UPAF has provided $334 million in unrestricted operating support to the performing arts over its 45 year history.

UPAF’s Mission & Vision

United Performing Arts Fund’s mission is to secure community resources, promote the performing arts as a regional asset

and improve the quality of life through responsible investment in and financial support of the performing arts in southeastern

Wisconsin.

Our vision is to shape a diverse, vibrant and sustainable cultural life for all. 

Your Support of UPAF allows our Member Groups to help create community and foster educational impact throughout Milwaukee.

UPAF Affiliate GroupsBoulevard Ensemble Studio Theatre

DanceCircusEnsemble Musical Offering

Festival City SymphonyFrankly Music

In Tandem TheatreKenosha Symphony Association

Ko-Thi Dance CompanyLatino Arts

Milwaukee Chamber OrchestraMilwaukee Choral ArtistsMilwaukee Opera Theatre

North Shore Academy of the ArtsPianoArts of Wisconsin

Racine Symphony OrchestraString Academy of Wisconsin

Sunset PlayhouseTheatre Gigante

Wild Space Dance CompanyWindfall Theatre

Wisconsin Philharmonic  

The Bel Canto Boy Choirs emphasize

the development and understanding

of singing skills. They perform several

times throughout the year, and have

worked with the Vienna Boy Choir,

Midwest Vocal Express, Vocal Arts

Academy, and Bel Canto Chorus.

Mad Hot Ballroom and Tap (MHBT) is

Danceworks’ signature youth arts education

program, serving nearly 2,000 students. MHBT

teaches life skills and impacts school

attendance and academic performance by

integrating tap and ballroom dance classes

into the regular school curriculum. The

majority of the schools participating in the

program are central city schools in low-

income neighborhoods.

The First Stage Community Partnership

Program “opens new doors for City of

Milwaukee youth,” by providing

thousands of traditionally underserved

children the opportunity to experience the

profound benefits of innovative theater

education programs. This year alone the

program had a positive and lasting impact

on 4,794 children and their families.

Opera Inside Out is an interactive,

customizable program that gives middle and

high school students a behind the scene look

at the many facets of opera production and

opera-related careers. This modular program

introduces students to stage direction,

costumes, stage make-up, lighting, design,

props, vocal performance and arts

administration.

Young Playwrights Festival (YPF)

provides free playwriting workshops

for 200+ high school students in the

metro-Milwaukee area and gives a

diverse group of individuals a hands-

on opportunity to contribute to the

collaborative process of creating

theatre.

The Harmony Program brings free music

instruction and performance experiences to

roughly 250 children who live in the City of

Milwaukee and attend Milwaukee schools. The

children receive weekly music classes for several

months each year, and join MCC and other

choirs at a spring Roots & Wings Choir Festival

where children are able to celebrate in song and

dance.

Tap the Potential celebrates the talent and

vision of individuals with special needs by

providing the local community with art shows

and performances by poets, musicians,

storytellers and theatre artists. All the

performances are intended to challenge

preconceptions of people with disabilities and

advocate for full inclusion in the life of the

community.

Teen Council is an organization that promotes

a love and appreciation of theater for a

younger generation. Bringing together teens

from all over Southeastern Wisconsin,

students fully plan their own events, including

marketing, fundraising strategies and

budgeting. They are learning the

administrative side to creating fun things to

do as well as celebrating their love for

theater!

The Arts in Community Education (ACE) program

integrates the arts into daily subjects through an

innovative curriculum which serves as the basis

for other components of the program. Nationally

recognized as one of the largest and most

comprehensive education programs among

American orchestras, ACE challenges students to

connect subjects using the arts and music as a

common thread.

The Progressions program identifies the issue of access

as a key aspect necessary for changing the image of the

arts from elitist and irrelevant to empowering and

constructive. Because of this, young students in

underserved communities are able to experience the

power and influence of the performing arts first-hand by

participating in high impact and high intensity individual

and small group lessons, master classes, and a string

orchestra.

Summer Theatre for Teens is a six week

theatre program that offers 20 Milwaukee

area teens a free opportunity to work with

professional artists to create an original hour-

long musical theatre piece. Along with arts

education, this unique program emphasizes

creativity, collaboration, and mutual respect.

The Creation Project, a new program called Music

of Nature allowed young students, whose schools

lack formal music programs, to team up with

Present Music musicians to explore Washington

Park’s wild sounds and translate them into their

own original piece of music. On Earth Day, students

were given the opportunity to perform their

composition at the Washington Park as an Earth

Day celebration.

Diversity Series presented their new production,

Crumbs from the Table of Joy, which showed the “face”

of our community by reflecting Milwaukee’s cultural

diversity through a theatrical experience.

The production collaborated with UPROOTED, a new theater program that explores and expresses

African American voices and cultural experiences with

the performing arts, and PEARLS for Teen Girls, a local

mentoring program for at-risk girls.

The Enlighten program instills an appreciation of the

arts, encourages and guides aspiring young artists,

and establishes arts education as a vital component

of a well-rounded curriculum. Programming

promotes skills essential to success in school and

life, such as collaboration, creativity and critical

thinking. This program is also unique in its focus on

creative writing and literacy. Enlighten served

10,019 students last school year.