Vail Valley Foundation's Empowering Possibility Capital Campaign

Vail Valley Foundation’s Mission

To provide leadership in arts, athletics, education, and address community needs to enhance our Valley as a place to live, work, and visit.

Dear VVF Supporters,

We are honored to serve as the Vail Valley Foundation’s Empowering Possibility Campaign Co-Chairs. Although each of us may lean into a specific area or areas of the VVF, whether that be education, arts and culture, athletics, or community supports, our commonality lies with the respect and admiration we have for the breadth of the VVF’s mission, and the incredible impact the organization’s work has across our Valley.

The goals and objectives outlined within these campaign materials, once achieved, will be transformative for our community. We are honored to serve our Valley and humbled by the generosity of our supporters. As with everything the Vail Valley Foundation has done since 1981, we cannot do this without you.

We hope you will join us and help us achieve our vision of an extraordinary mountain community with quality of life for all.

With gratitude,

Alexia Jurschak

Steve Coyer

John Arnold

EMPOWERING POSSIBILITY

CAPITAL CAMPAIGN

The astounding natural beauty of the Rockies is what attracted so many of us to these mountains, but it is the magnificence of our culture and community that always calls us back.

The Vail Valley Foundation has embodied our community’s bold vision and spirit of giving since its inception in 1981. Now, the organization is leading an effort to build upon the bedrock of excellence that has defined our culture for decades—to create a better future for everyone who is a part of our beloved community.

The world is not a lonely place, there is light and life and love enough for all of us.

President Gerald R. Ford

“Let’s take on challenges and embrace opportunities that will enhance our community for the next generation.”

The Vail Valley Foundation empowers possibility. Our campaign is a multi-million-dollar initiative that will propel our community forward in the areas of arts, athletics, education, and community supports. With your support, our campaign will ensure a thriving, prosperous future for our community by investing in the following key areas.

Transforming arts & entertainment

The opportunity: The Vilar Performing Arts Center and Gerald R. Ford Amphitheater are two of our Valley’s greatest assets. These iconic venues are powerful economic drivers for our community. The type, caliber, and volume of programming that is now offered at our venues has eclipsed our facilities’ infrastructure.

What we will do:

We envision capital improvements that will ensure a grand future for our iconic venues. These improvements will significantly improve the experience of our guests, allow us to attract the greatest artists in the world, extend our programming seasons, and offer even more diverse programming during our peak season and off seasons.

Capitalizing on our ski racing legacy

The opportunity:

The Vail Valley has built an international ski racing legacy over more than 50 years of producing world-class events. Since 1981, the Vail Valley Foundation has been the steward of these events. We have an opportunity to ensure our ski racing legacy not only lives on, but expands to include men’s and women’s FIS World Cup racing under a festival structure unmatched anywhere in the world.

Empowering possibility for youth and families

The opportunity: The needs of the youth and families of our community are great. While YouthPower365 programming strives to meet those needs, our Valley does not have the reliable and consistent resources to meet the current needs or accommodate growth. Our Valley does not have a family and youth engagement center to provide a permanent place to reach our constituents, nor does it have enough indoor or outdoor year-round soccer facilities to meet the needs of today and the significant increase of these needs in the years to come.

Building community supports

The opportunity:

The Eagle River Valley is classified as a childcare desert. The lack of affordable and accessible childcare is at a crisis level, just like our need for workforce housing. Currently, we can only provide childcare for 50% of the need in our Valley. We desperately need high-quality, incremental, affordable, and accessible childcare.

What we will do:

We will create a worldclass ski racing festival to include men’s and women’s World Cup races, celebrity and ski legend pro-am races, VIP experiences, live entertainment, youth and collegiate ski competitions, and more. This festival will create stronger economic footing and secure our place in the world of international racing for decades to come.

What we will do:

We can provide a quantum step forward in facilities, scholarship funding, and program expansion, specifically in the areas of year-round soccer, family engagement and academic support, and a permanent home for YouthPower365 located downvalley to best meet the needs of the youth and families we serve.

What we will do:

The Vail Valley Foundation is uniquely positioned to embrace private and public partnerships to bring together local businesses, government, and private partners to build additional high-quality childcare facilities starting in Avon, and creating additional sites downvalley in Edwards, Eagle, and Gypsum.

TRANSFORMING ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT

The power to amaze

Few things can measure up to the experience of witnessing artistic mastery. The people of our community have long invested in the idea that we are home to some of the world’s finest performing arts venues and performances. As times change, so do the needs of the venues, artists, and audiences we serve.

• Classical Ballet Endowment

The Carol F. Storr Endowment for Classical Ballet was established to ensure the inclusion of classical ballet in the Vail Dance Festival in perpetuity. We currently have raised $2 million toward our endowment goal of $4 million. As performance rights, artist fees, transportation and production costs rise, this endowment fund will guarantee that classical ballet offerings are always part of our Festival, and allow the Vail Dance Festival to continue to honor the legacy that President and Mrs. Ford created around cultural exchange through dance.

• Vail Dance Festival Artistic Direction Endowment

The artistic direction of the Vail Dance Festival is critical. We have extraordinary artistic leadership today with our Artistic Director, Damian Woetzel. Damian is a former New York City Ballet Principal dancer and the current President of The Juilliard School. This endowment will allow us to ensure that we always have the greatest artistic direction possible for our next 35 years.

The Vail Dance Festival is a place where artists and fans, dancers and dreamers, come together and challenge each other to push the boundaries of artistic excellence, attain new heights, and explore what the best of all possible futures may hold.

Damian Woetzel, Vail Dance Festival Artistic Director

25 years of making history

For two and a half decades, the Vilar Performing Arts Center has brought worldclass arts and entertainment to Beaver Creek.

Vilar Performing Arts Center Renovation Project

Upon celebrating our 25th anniversary in 2022, the Vail Valley Foundation began a renovation project at the VPAC to ensure that we can continue to offer the highest quality arts programming to our community for another 25 years. We are well on our way to meeting this campaign goal.

Renovations include:

• Sound system and acoustic panel improvements

• Front and back of house upgrades

• Lighting upgrades

• New HVAC system

• New projector and screen

We need to evolve with the performing arts and provide what our audience desires.

Alexia Jurschak, Chair of the VPAC Committee

Mountains of potential

The Gerald R. Ford Amphitheater (The Amp) is one of most stunning natural amphitheater environments in the world. Its architecture is renowned and its stage has been host to the world’s greatest orchestras, dancers, rockers, comedians, and more.

It took great vision to build a summertime venue in a town known for its wintertime activities, but even those present at the Gerald R. Ford Amphitheater’s 1987 grand opening didn’t anticipate that the venue would become the bustling entertainment destination it is today.

Gerald R. Ford Amphitheater – A Renewal for The Next Generation of Performing Arts Enthusiasts

We have an opportunity to renew The Amp to meet the needs of our growing audience base and provide for our next generation. Our why is simple:

It will be good for you, our audience. The overall Amp experience will be better—better seats, improved food and beverage offerings, better acoustics, and of course, significantly increased programming from April to October, and more.

It will be better for our artists. Our improvements will provide a better back-of-house and green room experience, better production, sound, lights, and food and beverage, and an overall better stage experience. These much needed upgrades will allow us to attract the best artists in the world.

Much of the The Amp was designed for a shorter, less active season. By focusing our resources on upgrading and expanding, we can ensure all elements of this iconic venue will meet the needs of our audience, artists, and community for generations to come. Our Empowering Possibility campaign will allow for a series of exciting capital improvements to include:

• Multi-use studio and special event space

• Box Office upgrades

• Green room, dressing room, and artist dining and lounge improvements

• New expanded storage areas

• Remodeled and expanded concessions

• Increased office space

• Expanded loading dock

• Replacement of pavilion seating

• Safety railings

• Roof repair and replacement

• Lighting upgrades

• Acoustic improvements

• Installation of solar panel system

These improvements will allow us to achieve the following:

• Grow our operating season from 80 days to 130+ days

• A 30% increase to our food and beverage operations and revenue

• A 25% increase in diverse programming during the highest peak of our summer season— between late June and late July

• The ability to attract the most iconic artists in the world

• A competitive advantage for Vail in the highly competitive landscape of live entertainment in the state of Colorado

• To allow Bravo! Vail Music Festival to maintain its position as one of the world’s greatest classical music festivals

• An annual increase of up to $3 million in economic impact for the Town of Vail

The Amp Operating Fund

To ensure the health and vitality of The Amp and guarantee artistic excellence for generations to come, our Empowering Possibility campaign will create a nonpermanent, board directed Operating Reserve Fund for facility and artistic reserves. This Operating Reserve Fund will provide the VVF with critical financial support and allow The Amp to continue to make bold artistic programming decisions and be sustainable for another 35 years.

North Concessions / Studio Addition

South Concessions Addition

Seat Replacement

East Concessions Addition

Box Office Addition and Green Room Upgrades

Proposed rendering of Gerald R. Ford Amphitheater renewal

Hosting the world’s best

Our goal to sustain our ski racing legacy is to bring our athletics and ski racing history to the next level. To do so, the VVF will establish a longterm calendar position for a women’s and men’s FIS World Cup festival in early December in Beaver Creek. This festival, which will be the first of its kind for our community and within the USA, will include a celebrity and legends of skiing pro-am race, live music, community engagement and celebration, youth or collegiate races, and VIP hospitality. This festival will further expand the VVF’s legacy in world-class athletic events, expand opportunities to celebrate our local mountains and skiers, and yield a direct economic impact for Beaver Creek and Avon of $8 million per year.

Mikaela Shiffrin Photo by Agence Zoom.

Ted Ligety Photo by Agence Zoom.

Growing to meet the needs of our community

For decades, we have provided young people, through the Vail Valley Foundation’s YouthPower365 expanded academic, social, emotional, and enrichment programming, a community that lifts up our youth and families every step of the way. We now want to make even bigger dreams come true by providing much-needed scholarship support that will allow young people to achieve their goal of going to a four-year university or a twoyear trade school program.

For many in our community the dream of higher education or a professional trade program is out of reach due to financial barriers. We can eliminate that barrier.

• YouthPower365 Scholarship Fund (Board Directed Operating Reserve)

In 2022, a $500,000 seed gift from Amy and Steve Coyer, along with additional funding from the VVF, launched the YouthPower365 Scholarship Fund providing transformative scholarships to high school graduates attending traditional four-year colleges and two-year trade school programs.

Our goal is to increase this fund to $5 million. The desired outcome and benefits are simple: establishing this $5 million scholarship fund allows dreams to come true. It will provide the opportunity for 120 high school seniors to embark on either a four-year university path or a two-year trade school program over the next 10 years.

A home away from home

Let’s build on great success.

For years, YouthPower365’s vision has given thousands of our friends and neighbors a sense of belonging. It’s time to give that community a home.

• YouthPower365

Family Engagement and Community Soccer Center

Soccer is a critical aspect of youth development in our community, but we significantly lack the yearround soccer facilities to address the need. In addition, the single greatest limitation to YouthPower365’s work is the lack of our own space. To address this, YouthPower365 will build a headquarters in Gypsum. This transformational facility will be strategically built in the Eagle/Gypsum area where youth and families need it most.

This facility will include:

• A center for YouthPower365 family engagement

• A safe and inspirational space for children to grow, develop, and thrive

• Offices for our dedicated staff

• A community indoor, year-round soccer center

Much more than a game

The game of soccer is central to the culture of our YouthPower365 organization. It provides a physically healthy option for youth during critical after-school hours, on weekends, and during the summer. It provides a teaching platform for many of life’s lessons, and a place for mentors and coaches to connect with kids.

The YouthPower365 Community Soccer Center will be a safe and supportive place to gather. More than 900 kids already participate in YouthPower365’s COPA and Middle School Soccer programs, but this new facility will allow us to likely double the number of youth we serve and expand our programming from several months per year to year-round.

• YouthPower365

Operating Reserve for Education & Sports

To ensure the health and vitality of all YouthPower365 programs from early childhood to career, college, trade programs, and our new facility, the VVF will create a nonpermanent Operating Reserve Fund for Education and Sports. This Operating Reserve Fund will provide YouthPower365 and our new Family Engagement and Community Soccer Center with the critical annual financial support we need to ensure our organization has the best staff possible, can continue to grow and operate at the highest level of excellence, and can serve our community in the ways they need us the most.

If one of our kids is having difficulties, or needs guidance, I don’t expect him to decide to stop by my office—but the soccer field? They will always go naturally to the soccer field. More often than not, it is on the sidelines that we are able to do our best work.

Ricky Luevanos, COPA Soccer

Proposed rendering of YouthPower365 Family Engagement and Community Soccer Center

Building a better community

Childcare centers in Eagle County are overburdened and thousands of parents who seek childcare are unable to find a space for their child.

• Eagle River Valley Childcare Initiative

There are approximately 3,000 children ages 0-5 today needing childcare in our Valley. Today, approximately 1,400 children receive childcare through licensed centers, another 850 manage informally through unlicensed friends, family, and neighbors, and roughly 900 children have no viable childcare solution.

To address this critical need, the VVF is piloting the Eagle River Valley Childcare Initiative by building a childcare center in Avon, CO. This childcare center will be an employer-sponsored, nonprofit center that will provide the highest quality childcare, learning, and development to approximately 175 children in our Valley.

• Childcare Tuition Assistance Scholarship Fund

Building new childcare facilities is step one, but new facilities will not work unless access to childcare services are affordable and accessible for our workforce. By creating a $5 million Childcare Tuition Scholarship Fund, the VVF will ensure that local businesses and the families and caregivers of our community who need it most will have affordable access to childcare.

Proposed rendering of Eagle River Valley Childcare facility

Our promise to YOU

We are sincerely appreciative of your generosity and you have our commitment that we will responsibly steward your support to maximize the community impact you expect and deserve.

Thank you for joining the Vail Valley Foundation’s transformational, once-in-a-generation campaign.

Together we will empower new possibilities and take one giant step toward our vision of an extraordinary mountain community with quality of life for all.

With respect and gratitude,

Chair, Vail Valley Foundation Board of Directors President, Vail Valley Foundation