STEAMBOAT SPRINGS | YAMPA VALLEY | NORTHWEST COLORADO
Meet the Board • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
Kristen Jespersen, President, Board member since 2011 Krista Colby, Vice President, Board member since 2011 Gina Toothaker, Secretary, Board member since 2007 Rachel Radetsky, Treasurer, Board member since 2012 Pamela Turner, since 2010 Loren Parsons, since 2010 Emma Simmins, since 2011 Janne Siegel, since 2013 Elisabeth Mullen, since 2013 Kat Johnson, since 2012 Cassie Piper, since 2012 Michael Smith, alternate Meg Hyslop, alternate Nikki Inglis, alternate
Our Mission: Steamboat Dance Theatre’s (SDT) mission is "to engage, educate, and enrich the communities of Steamboat Springs and Yampa Valley through dance."
Our Vision: SDT fosters a vibrant culture of dance in the Yampa Valley Community by inspiring a passion for and appreciation of diverse dance experiences.
2015 Annual Concert! Save the Dates! February 26th
February 27th
February 28th
Thursday Opening Night of our 43rd Annual Concert
Friday Matinee Showing
Saturday Two Showings! Children’s Matinee and our Final Performance
PO Box 880924 Steamboat Springs, CO 80488 | 970.819.1710 | info@steamboatdancetheatre.org | www.steamboatdancetheatre.org
STEAMBOAT DANCE THEATRE
2014 ANNUAL REPORT
Message from the President Welcome to Steamboat Dance Theatre’s 2014 Annual Report. We have accomplished a lot this year and are proud to share the many successes achieved, as well as our goals for the future. In a community that self-identifies as a skiing, biking, fishing and kayaking destination, it is hard for dance to compete as an attraction. However, it is an attraction, and a strong one. Steamboat Dance Theatre hopes to continue to tap into the existing enthusiasm and talent in this community and enhance it through our current and future programs
Meet Meg Last year we went through a Strategic Planning process, which helped us outline our long-term programmatic goals and strategies. One of our big goals was to hire a staff person to provide us with some much-needed capacity. We were excited to welcome Meg Southcott (pictured right) to our team in August as our Marketing & Fundraising Coordinator. Another big goal that we set is to establish and grow a fund that will allow us to bring a professional dance company to Steamboat Springs to put on a large performance and to conduct master classes. We feel this program will bring a new level of dance culture to Steamboat Springs and will help put our city on the map as an arts destination. We also hope to be able to offer more Scholarships and bring summer dance programs to our youth, as there is a great need in the community. With our newly hired staff, we believe we can fundraise in such a manner that we can grow our program portfolio and have a bigger impact on the dance culture in Steamboat.
Happy Dancing! Dance is a thriving component of the Yampa Valley culture and Steamboat Dance Theatre aims to help it continue to grow. We hope that this Annual Report will shed light on our organization and open up conversation about how you can be a part of Steamboat Dance Theatre. Thank you for reading,
Kristen Jespersen President
PO Box 880924 Steamboat Springs, CO 80488 | 970.819.1710 | info@steamboatdancetheatre.org | www.steamboatdancetheatre.org 2
STEAMBOAT DANCE THEATRE
2014 ANNUAL REPORT
Our Programs
Annual Concert The Annual Concert is a community dance performance that SDT hosts, organizes, and funds each year. We invite the entire community to choreograph and audition for our Annual Concert and pride ourselves on being able to cast dancers of all levels in the show. Each year we have about 200 volunteers dance, choreograph and produce our concert and nearly 2,000 community members attend. The theme for our 2014 Annual Concert was Dance Inspired By‌ (each choreographer filled in the blank). As a result of this loose theme, we had our most diverse assemblage of dance pieces to date. We had a total of 19 pieces and the dance styles varied from: breakdancing, Hawaiian, belly, hip-hop, contemporary and others. We had 120 dancers and sold out two out of four performances. We were able to raise a total of $50,727 from the concert and received rave reviews. The Annual Concert continues to be both a successful program and our biggest fundraiser.
Scholarships Through the Scholarship Program, SDT provides dance class scholarships to community members of all ages in need of financial assistance. This year we created a new category of dance scholarships called "Fifth Position" Scholarships, which are larger scholarships, offered to dance students planning to participate in competitions or more advanced dance workshops. We were able to fund 100% of applications received with an average of 50% per applicant’s requested funds. Over the past four years, the amount we have awarded has grown by 295% in response to the growing demand for this program.
Community Enrichment The goal of the Community Enrichment Program is to outreach to the local community at large (dancers and non-dancers alike) to share and create diverse dance experiences. To accomplish this goal, SDT coordinates a number of events and sub-programs. Through our School Outreach Program, we bring professional dancers and performers into the local schools to educate students about styles and cultures of dance and mentor high school choreographers and dancers. Through our monthly Dance on Film series, Steamboat Dance Theatre proudly collaborates with the Bud Werner Memorial Library and Perry-Mansfield to exhibit a free dance documentary. Other such community enrichment programs include: the Community Dance and Movement Series, National Dance Day, and Master Classes.
PO Box 880924 Steamboat Springs, CO 80488 | 970.819.1710 | info@steamboatdancetheatre.org | www.steamboatdancetheatre.org 3
STEAMBOAT DANCE THEATRE
2014 ANNUAL REPORT
Program Impacts The impact of most of SDT’s programs are measured through qualitative evidence in the form of testimonials or written feedback. However, with our Scholarship Program we are able to measure our success by comparing the number of scholarship requests received and the amount granted on a year-byyear basis. In 2014 we granted the greatest number of requests in the organization’s known history – 145 scholarships amounting to a total of $11,814. As shown in the diagram “Year by Year Comparison of Dance Scholarship Requests versus Awards”, the demand for this program has continued to grow at a substantial rate over the past five years. We have been able to keep up with this demand and fund requests at about 50% but we aspire to provide more scholarships and to fund a higher percentage of requests in 2015.
Scholarship Recipient Testimonials “I started dance when I was about 4 years old and have loved it ever since. The SDT scholarship has allowed me to continue my passion of dancing. This scholarship has also allowed me to perform in the recitals. Lastly, the SDT scholarship has allowed me to try different styles of dancing to see which I enjoy most, such as hip-hop or jazz. A few of the things that I love most about dance are: getting to decide what your favorite style of dance is, learning a new fun but sometimes challenging dance every month, and getting to perform the dance you've worked so hard on for so many months in the recital. My future aspirations about dance are to continue dancing until I go to college, try out even more styles of dance and choose the one I am really passionate about, and possibly keep dancing in college or even when I graduate “My family has financial challenges due to my younger from it.” - Caitlin, SDT scholarship recipient brother. We take many trips to Denver for him to see the Doctors at Children's Hospital. The scholarships that I have received from SDT have allowed me to take more than the one class a week that my family could afford. This has truly allowed me to really continue to grow in dance and help inspire more boys to take dance. I love that dance helps me let go and forget about all of my worries. My dream is to become a professional dancer. I would like to be on Broadway someday. SDT has really helped me see that this is my passion and a career in dance could make me happy and fulfilled.” - Marty, SDT scholarship recipient PO Box 880924 Steamboat Springs, CO 80488 | 970.819.1710 | info@steamboatdancetheatre.org | www.steamboatdancetheatre.org 4
STEAMBOAT DANCE THEATRE
2014 ANNUAL REPORT
Success Stories from the Stage Steamboat Dance Theatre measures the success of our programs through testimonials. Therefore we would like to share more stories from people who have benefited from our programs to illustrate the positive impacts we are having in the Steamboat
Watching Students Grow “As the Chair of the Steamboat Dance Theatre Scholarship Committee, I can say without a doubt our scholarship program is an integral part of the Steamboat dance community. For many students, our funding makes the difference between the ability to attend classes or not. I am so grateful to be a part of the positive impact dancing has on the students, adult and children alike. Each period after awarding funds, we receive such an outpouring of appreciation for our funding. Over the past 3 years, I have been blessed to watch the students grow and progress both on a skill and personal level.” - Janne Siegel, SDT Board member
Lucky to live in a Community with Dance! “I just would love to tell the Board how amazing I think it is that you all do what you do. So many of these kids truly owe their whole dance career to SDT. If it wasn't for you there would just be NO WAY for them to dance and these are the kids I personally know need it the most, and have fully committed all their free time to dance [especially one child]: I'm sure there are more. And knowing how much [this child] loves dance, going on her 4th year, and her dad is just so sick with Hodgkin’s and God willing a good prognosis in the future...I mean what you're all doing for these families. I'm tearing up writing this.... I just want you all to know how I try to do my part to make sure these kids stay in dance when they love it so much, by discounting their rate significantly and allowing them to pay me when they can. But thanks to SDT or they wouldn't be able to do it at all. SDT board members should smile everyday knowing how happy they make those who so need both dancing and the financial aid in which to do so. On behalf of them I am forever grateful and will never forget how lucky we all are to live in a community with STEAMBOAT DANCE THEATRE!!!” - Dance Studio Owner in Steamboat Springs PO Box 880924 Steamboat Springs, CO 80488 | 970.819.1710 | info@steamboatdancetheatre.org | www.steamboatdancetheatre.org 5
STEAMBOAT DANCE THEATRE
2014 ANNUAL REPORT
More of our Programs Master Classes – Donna Mejia This year SDT was honored to bring Ms. Donna Mejia to Steamboat to host a community class for Partners and Horizons, give a lecture, and teach a Tribal Fusion Master Class. Ms. Mejia teaches, choreographs, and performs an emerging genre of dance that dialogues Arab, African and nomadic traditions with American hip hop and electronica. She is currently based at the Department of Theatre and Dance University of Colorado, Boulder and she lectures and teaches for colleges, private organizations and dance festivals internationally such as Jacob’s Pillow and the Bates Dance Festival. Donna is the first person to hold a position in Tribal Fusion in the higher education system. Her lecture “For the Love of the Craft” was a compelling discussion of the ethics of cultural appropriation in dance and the responsibilities we all have as dancers to learn about the traditions we are emulating. We hope to bring her back next year.
Dance Education – Dance on Film Series Steamboat Dance Theatre proudly collaborates with the Bud Werner Memorial Library and Perry-Mansfield to present a free, monthly Dance on Film series. The educational series features groundbreaking dance documentaries and independent works along with the finest classic dance films from a variety of genres filmed throughout the ages. In FY14 we exhibited the following films: • • • • •
October: Nrtiyagram: For the Love of Dance December: The Hard Nut January: A Movement of Movement February: Giselle April: Ms. Hill: Making Dance Matter
• • • • •
May: The Man Behind the Throne June: Tap or Die July: Paul Taylor: Creative Domain August: How Like an Angel September: Dance For Me
We feel this series offers a great opportunity for Steamboat Dance Theatre to provide dance culture to dancers and non-dancers alike in the Steamboat community.
PO Box 880924 Steamboat Springs, CO 80488 | 970.819.1710 | info@steamboatdancetheatre.org | www.steamboatdancetheatre.org 6
STEAMBOAT DANCE THEATRE
2014 ANNUAL REPORT
Dance Awareness - National Dance Day This year, under the auspices of National Dance Day, Steamboat Dance Theatre offered a full week of free dance classes in all different styles to the Steamboat community. National Dance Day began as a grassroots campaignpromoting dance as a fun and positive way to encourage healthy living and fight obesity. In July of 2010, the last Saturday in July was officially recognized by Congress as National Dance Day. Steamboat Dance Theatre decided to make it a week-long event and engaged the dance and fitness community to offer a variety of free classes in the following styles: Improvisational Tribal Style Belly Dance, Dance to the Core, Vinyasa Flow Yoga, Mat Pilates, Modern Jazz, Aerial, Cardio Dance, Hoop Dance, Ballet Barre Jazz Dance, and Zumba. We had a great turn out and will plan to make this a tradition. A big thanks to all of the talented instructors who volunteered their time and to the studios that provided
Dance Recognition - Colorado Dance Legacy Award Ms. Noel Hefty, one of Steamboat Dance Theatre’s founding members, will be receiving the Carson Breirly Griffin Library Legends of Dance Award. Ms. Hefty is being recognized for her role as a committed dancer, educator, arts administrator, promoter, fund-raiser and donor to dance in Colorado. Her bio reads as follows: “Noel began her arts career as a dancer and then earned a degree in dance education at the University of Wisconsin. She taught for a while and then moved to Steamboat Springs where she began her association with Steamboat Dance Theatre and Perry-Mansfield Performing Arts School & Camp. She was part of the group that raised the funds to buy back Perry-Mansfield from Stevens College. She was Board President of the Colorado Dance Festival in Boulder for 10 years. Her degree in accounting kept her busy in fiscal management of both organizations. Today she conducts auditions for Perry-Mansfield and funds special projects and scholarships for dance students.” We are very proud that one of our founders is receiving such a prestigious award for her accomplishments in dance. PO Box 880924 Steamboat Springs, CO 80488 | 970.819.1710 | info@steamboatdancetheatre.org | www.steamboatdancetheatre.org 7
STEAMBOAT DANCE THEATRE
2014 ANNUAL REPORT
The Financials Resources & Financial Management 2014 Budget Summary
FY13
FY14
Income
$60,362
$60,674
Expenses
$47,737
$56,904
Net Income
$12,625
$3,770
Steamboat Dance Theatre operates on a cash basis, which means we try to only spend those monies that we earned in the prior fiscal year. In 2014, we were successful in earning at almost the same level as we did the year prior. Notably, our expenses this year increased due to a number of factors. We experienced some budgeted increases in program costs for both the Annual Concert and the Scholarship Program, to cover salary increases, equipment purchases, and the creation of the 5th Position Program.
Additionally, we hired the Marketing and Fundraising Coordinator, which had a significant impact on our standing reserves. Our goal for 2015 is to fundraise more aggressively to be able to earn a total of $81,000 to be able to fund all of our existing programs, increase contributions to the Scholarship Program, retain our new staff person, and initiate a Presenting Fund.
Strategy Information To date, Steamboat Dance Theatre’s income has been comprised primarily of proceeds from our Annual Concert (tickets sales, sponsorships, ad sales and merchandise sales). In 2014 our goal was to begin diversifying our income by increasing membership and private donations and applying to more grant sources. As the diagram “SDT Income Sources 2014” shows, the Annual Concert made up 73% of our earnings in 2014, as opposed to the 83% in 2013. This reduction shows a trend towards income diversification that we are continuing to try and achieve.
SDT Income Sources 2014 Total Dona/on Income
Total Events
Total Membership Dues
Total Miscellaneous Income Total Programs
Total Cost of Goods Sold
Total Interest 0%
0%
0%
Total Grants
4%
7% 9%
7%
73%
PO Box 880924 Steamboat Springs, CO 80488 | 970.819.1710 | info@steamboatdancetheatre.org | www.steamboatdancetheatre.org 8
STEAMBOAT DANCE THEATRE
2014 ANNUAL REPORT
We Invite You to Join Us in the Dance Community! Your Donation is More Important Than Ever Before We are very proud of our accomplishments this year; however, we have ambitious plans for next year and in order to make them happen, we need your help! We have completed a Fundraising Plan for the upcoming year and have set a goal of raising $81,000 total. To be able to meet this fundraising goal, we need financial contributions from you. We have a set forth an aggressive plan for applying for new grants but we won’t be able reach our total fundraising goals without donations from people like you. If you are interested in donating to SDT please consider doing so on Colorado Gives Day, December 9, 2014. To participate in this event please go to: https://www.coloradogives.org/cogivesday
Volunteer and Make a Difference If you are not in a position to be able to make a financial contribution, please know we are always seeking volunteer support in the form of dance teachers, program development, donated equipment, rehearsal space or storage space. Volunteer Opportunities: • • •
Participate in one of our Committees e.g. Programs, Marketing and Fundraising Connect SDT with Dance Events and Opportunities taking place elsewhere in the state Donate items such as used computers or storage space for our costume closet
SDT Wish List • • • • •
Clean, dry, affordable storage space for our costumes. A new laptop and Quicken software update. Part-time accounting services. Affordable printing services for posters, brochures and business cards. Discounts at local businesses that can be offered to our members.
Looking Forward 2015 offers some exciting opportunities for Steamboat Dance Theatre. Here is a sneak peak: Finances: We aim to raise approximately $20,000 more than last year to be able to retain our new staff person, offer dance classes, host a youth dance camp, and establish a presenting fund that will allow us to bring a professional dance company to Steamboat in 2016. Upcoming Events: We have joined Colorado Gives Day – please participate by making your donation on December 9th, 2014 SAVE THE DATE our Annual Concert will be taking place on February 26th, 27th, and 28th. PO Box 880924 Steamboat Springs, CO 80488 | 970.819.1710 | info@steamboatdancetheatre.org | www.steamboatdancetheatre.org 9
STEAMBOAT DANCE THEATRE
2014 ANNUAL REPORT
In order to further its mission, SDT accepts tax-deductible contributions from corporations, patrons, supporters, and dance fans and raises additional funds through direct solicitations, fundraisers, and other events. SDT is a non-profit, tax-exempt 501(c)(3) charitable organization. Your donation enables us to continue to sponsor, fund, and/or support dance education programs and provide scholarships to talented students and increase the quality of dance education within Routt County. Please notify us of your generous gift and of any special intentions. Thank you!
How to Give Online www.SteamboatDanceTheatre.org/Give www.ColoradoGives.org/SteamboatDanceTheatre/overview
By Mail Steamboat Dance Theatre PO Box 880924 Steamboat Springs, CO 80488
Save the Dates! CO Gives Day Annual Concert 12/09/2014
th
February 26 -28th
National Dance Day 7/25/2015
PO Box 880924 Steamboat Springs, CO 80488 | 970.819.1710 | info@steamboatdancetheatre.org | www.steamboatdancetheatre.org