Makin� a�
AUTUMN 2020
Photo by Adam Fenton.
IMPACT
News on how VVF supporters like you are elevating arts, athletics, and education in the Vail Valley
YouthPower365 YouthPower365 Lifts hearts and minds » page 2 Doug Rippeto plans for the future » page 8
Sneak Peek at winter » page 9
YOU can make an impact today!
Support the VVF on Colorado Gives Day! » page 10
DISCOVERING what matte�� mo�t Welcome to our Making an IMPACT newsletter. In the following pages you are going to see the positive impact from some of the work of the Vail Valley Foundation during the past six months, all accomplished due to YOUR generosity. In our organization’s nearly 40-year history, your support has never been so important. In this year where uncertainty and adversity is the norm, we remain steadfastly committed to serving our community. We look forward to continuing to deliver on our mission in arts, athletics and education as we head into the winter season and throughout 2021. With your continued support, we will help lead the way back to better times. The execution of our important mission has had to evolve and adapt to an ever-changing landscape this year, but what has not changed is our commitment to responsibly steward your generosity. As we ask for your continued support, please keep in mind the newly-created Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act ("CARES Act"), which includes provisions designed to encourage charitable contributions during this time when needs are greater than ever. With thanks and appreciation, Mike Imhof
President, Vail Valley Foundation
Sarah Johnson
Senior Vice President, Philanthropy & Vail Dance Festival, Vail Valley Foundation
YOUTHPOWER365 Sometimes great challenges blow away the outer layer to reveal the best in people. The same can hold true for organizations, especially if they are part of an unbreakable network of support that builds strength through all aspects of a community. Take, for example, YouthPower365. Numerous summer camps, educational and sports programs across the nation were canceled in 2020 due to COVID-19.
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VAIL VALLEY FOUNDATION | VVF.ORG
Photo by Laurel Broy Sanders.
Becomin� 'whole' agai�
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VAIL VALLEY FOUNDATION | VVF.ORG
Photos by Alix Miller.
YouthPower365 received OUR IMPACT incredible support from the Vail Valley’s philanthropic community and was therefore 78% of parents reported their empowered to forge ahead with incredible child displayed better emotional well-being creativity in programs like summertime Magic as a result of attending new “Family Gathering” events Bus Family Gatherings, Human Foosball, PwrHrs 362 participants in Girl PowHER and The CLUB programs Summer Camp, The Steadman Clinic COPA, PwrOn college and career-readiness, all safely aligned with 984 participants in PwrHrs afterschool and COVID-19 protocols. summer programming After facing financial struggles, job losses and 57% of PwrHrs students are low income childcare challenges, families were overjoyed when in-person programs were given the green light this 939 students and families reached by PwrOn programming summer, and more so because they were offered, to $340,000 awarded to 29 seniors in 37 scholarships those in need, free of charge. through PwrOn’s Dollars for Scholars “PwrHrs was a great relief for the community after a very stressful time with limited daycare options, many people losing their jobs and having their children at home for an extended period of time,” “As parents, the piece we witness the most in the said one PwrHrs parent. “This program was a huge help for pandemic is the decline in social interaction. Children are both the children and the parents of our community.” uniquely social,” said YouthPower365 program director Jenn Martinez. “They want to be together. PwrHrs was the CONNECTING TO BECOME door back into children actually being whole again.” WHOLE AGAIN "From PwrUp, to PwrHrs, to PwrOn, it has been a year We’ve all had to find new ways to come together with our where exceptional circumstances have revealed exceptional neighbors in the Vail Valley, and YouthPower365 has been efforts from everyone at YouthPower365." helping that happen in a million different ways.
VPAC leads the wa� March 2020 at the Vilar Performing Arts Center was as busy and fastpaced as ever when the COVID-19 pandemic swept swiftly through the United States, forcing an unexpected shut-down.
OUR IMPACT 15 Ghost Light Sessions performances held 100,000 VIEWS of “Ghost Light Sessions” streaming performances
1.4 MILLION jobs and $42.5 BILLION in sales lost in the performing arts nationwide due to COVID-19 closures and cancelations according to the Brookings Institute.
50+ TICKETS made available, free of charge, to front-line workers through “Tix for Medics” program The Elephant
Very quickly, the VPAC knew that “the show must go on,” even if that meant a virtual-only approach for the time being. After leading the way in livestream performances in the Rocky Mountain region through its acclaimed “Ghost Light Sessions” series, the VPAC became one of the first venues in the nation to welcome an audience back into its theater. “We worked with public health, we worked with other venues, and we found a way to offer livestreaming, and then socially-distanced events, at our venue. I could not be more proud of our team and our incredible support network,” said VPAC Executive Director Duncan Horner. The results were surprisingly spectacular. “It’s like having a huge box seat to yourself,” said Ghost Light Sessions ticketholder John Ulbrich. “This has been the highlight of the pandemic for us.” VPAC continues to lead the way in offering a place for artists to perform, and for the community to safely see live shows, whether it be in-person at the theater or in the comfort of their own homes.
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Collective's Bonnie Paine plays an Aug. 27 Ghost Light Sessions concert at the VPAC. Ghost Light Sessions
A SEASON TO LOOK FORWARD TO
features livestream and inperson performances. Photo by Barry Eckhaus.
This winter season, the VPAC will continue its programming through an innovative and distinctive new approach: offering top-tier artists the opportunity to come to our valley, safely collaborate, and perform during a multi-day “residency.” The venue is also continuing it’s outreach to local students through “STAR Pwr” and a new S.T.A.R.S. program, ‘Meet the Experts,’ helping bring young people face-to-face (virtually!) with professional artists while providing students with a “back-stage” view of the many careers available to those that have a passion for the performing arts.
VAIL VALLEY FOUNDATION | VVF.ORG
Ampli�ied
GRATITUDE at The Am� In April of 2020, the Gerald R. Ford Amphitheater was facing a moment of truth. Throughout the country (and the world), performing arts centers had shuttered their doors and cancelled all activity throughout the summer, and beyond. “The simplest decision would have been to remain closed throughout the summer,” said Ford Amphitheater Director Tom Boyd, “but we decided to pursue our mission in whatever shape or form we could, even if that meant at a greatly reduced capacity.” It took hard work, quick planning, and plenty of support from our partners, sponsors, and the Town of Vail, but the venue opened Above, Robert for its first event July 11, helping Randolph and Family bring a spark to the community and play a special, physicallyoffering some of the first public, distanced concert at the Gerald physically-distanced performing R. Ford Amphitheater. At right, arts programming anywhere in 2020 Vail Valley's Citizen of the Year, the state of Colorado. Donna Giordano, led the way in “The enjoyment from those supporting the concert activity at concerts went farther, and did the Ford Amphitheater in 2020. more to lift hearts, and frankly to Photos by John-Ryan Lockman and help keep businesses afloat, than Axel Media Solutions. perhaps any summer of events we’ve hosted,” Boyd said. Perhaps the seminal moment of the season came through a partnership with the Vilar Performing Arts Center, also a venue of the Vail Valley OUR IMPACT Foundation, which presented the phenomenal classical duo of Joshua Bell 31 Concerts and events and Larisa Martinez (with Peter Dugan 175 maximum capacity allowed accompanying), at the GRFA on Aug. 14. Throughout the summer, the $60,000 raised for the community showed its support, “Turn Up the Amp” fund donating to the “Turn Up the Amp” 125 workers and artists fund and helping raise $60,000 to keep employed full and part time the performing arts alive during its most difficult summer ever.
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VAIL VALLEY FOUNDATION | VVF.ORG
VAIL DANCE FESTIVAL UPDATE: The Vail Dance Festival was one of many beloved live events to be impacted by the pandemic. It moved forward with a free, eight-night, eight-program Vail Dance Festival: Digital Edition that yielded more than 105,000 views, and worldwide media attention, over a 21-day span. In total, over 40 dance works were showcased, 3 of which featured Vail Dance Festival-commissioned scores and 2 that were commissioned works by Robbie Fairchild (A Summer Place) and Bobbi Jene Smith (Mercy) filmed during the COVID-19 pandemic. While the Vail Dance Festival reinvented itself for summer 2020, countless festivals and performing arts venues shuttered leaving artists without work. In response, the Vail Dance Festival launched the Artist Relief Fund initially funded by the Vail Dance Festival Committee and then dancers, musicians, production staff and interns – received grants in the amount of $3,000 each. Visit: vaildance.org
ATHLETICS UPDATE: In 2020, it could be hard to see the forest through the trees. The Vail Valley Foundation made some difficult decisions, including canceling two events that put our community in the global spotlight each year: the 2020 GoPro Mountain Games and the 2020 Xfinity Birds of Prey Audi FIS Ski World Cup. Thanks to tremendous, continued, support from donors and our community, the VVF was still able to host several "GoPro Mountain Games: Elements" events throughout the summer, and we look forward to bringing back both of these marquee athletic events in 2021. Visit: bcworldcup.com
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VAIL VALLEY FOUNDATION | VVF.ORG
Photo of Ted Ligety at the 2019 Birds of Prey by Alexis Boichard/Agence Zoom. Vail Dence Festival photo by Erin Baiano.
through generous ongoing donations throughout the digital festival. 65 deserving applicants – Vail Dance Festival
VVF COMMUNITY FUND UPDATE: The VVF Community Fund raised more than $1.2 million in May and to date has distributed over $900,000 to organizations helping Eagle County's most vulnerable residents weather the COVID-19 crisis. Visit: vvf.org
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VAIL VALLEY FOUNDATION | VVF.ORG
Dono�
PROFILE Doug Rippeto
When the going gets tough, the tough get creative. They also get engaged. They get inspired, and they get on the phone, making calls and dialing friends and neighbors to rally their community around a vision for what lies ahead. In the early 2000s, when the Vilar Performing Arts Center was at risk “The Vail Valley of failure, Doug Rippeto saw it as an opportunity. As Chair of the VPAC Foundation, for what committee, Doug led a team who “got seems like forever, has going” in a big way, building lasting financial support for the venue from been a leading nonprofit donors, businesses, and government in the Vail Valley.” entities, lifting it into the black and into the long period of success it now enjoys. —Doug Rippeto Doug has special insight into the value of the VPAC, and the Vail Valley Foundation, after his many years of board service experience working closely with the organization. “The Vail Valley Foundation, for what seems like forever, has been the leading nonprofit in the Vail Valley,” Doug said. “It has the overarching reach, it has excellent leadership, and One other big move it sets the example.” Doug made to secure the Diving deep into the inner workings of the organization future? Ensuring that Alexia Jurschak succeeded him as isn’t for everyone, and Doug agrees that for some, a financial Chair of the VPAC Committee. gift is the right approach, while others have expertise, “I did not want to step down until I had the right wisdom, and time that they can also give. replacement, someone who would ‘take it to a whole new level,’” Doug said. “…and Alexia is definitely that person.”
WHAT WILL THE FUTURE BRING?
It was hard work and heavy lifting to get where we are today, but what about tomorrow? “We don’t know whether the next generation is going to have the same passion we do about these incredible assets, not just the VPAC but everything the Vail Valley Foundation is about,” Doug said. Doug is one among many who are securing the future of the Vail Valley Foundation by creating a planned giving strategy. “We’ve got to have some assurance that down the road, this organization and its various parts are going to be on sound footing.”
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PLANNED GIVING Join Doug in his efforts to secure the future of the organization, and help it remain strong through the pandemic and any other unforeseen challenges in the future, by learning more about the VVF’s planned giving program. Contact your Vail Valley Foundation development officer, or contact Christina Miller at CMiller@vvf.org or 970.777.2015.
VAIL VALLEY FOUNDATION | VVF.ORG
Sneak peek int�
WINTER
Big challenges are best met with big creativity. That’s the approach the Vail Valley Foundation is taking across everything it does as we head into our snow season. Here’s a snapshot of what’s on tap for winter 2020-21: Vilar Performing Arts Center is already getting media attention for its exceptionally creative Residency program, which will bring top-name artists to Beaver Creek for multi-day, multi-artist collaborations that engender new creations and culminate with a series of small, physically-distanced performances. Major artists and overjoyed fans are already signing up to this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Learn more at vilarpac.org.
Magic of Lights Vail: Wintertime will be different this year, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be just as fun for friends and family gathering in Vail! The “Magic of Lights” display, beginning in December and running through January at the lower bench area of Ford Park in Vail, will take visitors through a (physically-distanced) wonderland of lights and magic, starting at the covered bridge by Manor Vail and working its way through Betty Ford Alpine Gardens to a grand finish near the Gerald R. Ford Amphitheater. Details coming soon at vvf.org.
Black Diamond Ball, Turkey Trot and more! The 14th Annual EagleVail Turkey Trot is open for registration. And this year there is a virtual option allowing runners to support from anywhere! Mark your calendars for the 2021 Black Diamond Ball. Various fundraising events are in the works for the week of February 7, with a virtual event taking place on Thursday, February 11, 2021.
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VAIL VALLEY FOUNDATION | VVF.ORG
We are the
Vail Vaey Founda on
because of YOU.
YOU
Donations will be maximized by a $50,000 matching contribution from proud VVF supporter
can make an impact today!
Support the Vail Valley Foundation this Colorado Gives Day. Schedule your donation at coloradogives.org/VVF
Vail Valley Foundation
Phone 970.777.2015
Fax 970.949.9265
Avon, CO 81620
Email info@vvf.org
Join us on:
Volunteer. Donate. Connect. vvf.org
P.O. Box 6550 90 Benchmark Road, Suite 300