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Twenty Questions with Artistic Director Wyatt Kent

1/3/2020

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Welcome to our TWENTY QUESTIONS series. Here, team members from administrators to designers to teachers answer questions about themselves. Have a question you want us to add to the list? Leave a comment!

About Wyatt

Before joining the administrative team as Artistic Director, Wyatt Kent toured with us as Uncle Henry and The Wizard in The Wizard of Oz, Mr. Orvendellis in The Jumping Jacks & The Beanstalk, and Starkey the Pirate in Peter Pan. He's delighted by the dancing cows in The Jumping Jacks & The Beanstalk (really, who wouldn't be?!) and says that right now, Jacks is probably his favorite Compass play.

Wyatt Kent and Jill Stuck pose with a whale's skeleton at the Whaling Museum in New Bedford, MA (Twenty Questions with Wyatt Kent, Compass Creative Dramatics Artistic Director)
Wyatt and his tour partner Jill with whale skeletons at the Whaling Museum in New Bedford, MA!

Wyatt's Twenty Questions

#1 What kinds of teams did you belong to when you were growing up?
I was trotted along in a number of youth sport leagues when I was elementary aged (soccer, basketball, baseball) but none of it really stuck. By the time I was out of high school I wished it had. I really enjoy recreational team sports, it turns out! In high school I did lots of non-athletic activities but being a part of the speech team was my biggest priority. "Duo" (basically a two-person, 10-minute play) and poetry were my main events.

#2 Soup or salad?
At home, soup. In a restaurant, usually salad.

#3 What's one play that kids should check out:
Where Have All The Lightning Bugs Gone? by Louis E. Catron. It was a play that my mom introduced me to when I was young, I think she did it in high school. It is a one act play that for some reason stuck with me for a long time.

#4 Top five favorite snacks:
Cheez-its
Chips and fresh guacamole
Potato chips of all sorts
A really good apple
Snack stick from Gene’s Sausage Shop

#5 Villain or hero?
As much as I want to be cool and say villain, hero. 

#6 What’s something you do to relax?
I enjoy playing board games! (and enjoy figuring out the rules to board games almost as much . . .)

#7 What’s your favorite kind of cookie? How do you prefer to eat it?
If I had to choose one, ginger snaps. Just eat them! 

#8 What’s your favorite thing to do in Chicago in the winter?
Complain about "dibs" with friends.
. . .
No, in seriousness I love walking around busy areas during the holiday season. I enjoy the hustle and bustle (as long as I’m not trying to actually accomplish something) as well as the lights of the city. Chicago at night can be really special.

#9 Why do you live in Chicago?
The theatre is the short answer! The longer answer is: I like being within a day’s drive of my family and I think Chicago is a comfortable place to live. I love exploring and I have yet to run out of new things to see and experience. 

#10 Tell us about your pet.
Perry the Rescue Terrier! He’s a darling dog full of personality that my girlfriend got as a senior dog from PAWS. It’s been great to watch him grow less and less fearful as he has had a stable environment over the last year. He even likes to play with other dogs now!
Perry, a small and scruffy dog, poses proudly by a sunny window. (Twenty Questions with Wyatt Kent, Compass Creative Dramatics Artistic Director)
Oh my goodness, y'all. Look at Perry.
​#11 What would you do if someone gave you a million dollars, no strings?
I’d like to design out a dream theatre space and use the money to establish a resident company.* 

*Usually, theatre companies hire different artists for each show they do. They might work with the same actor, designer, or other artist a bunch of times over the years, but they hire the artists for one show at a time, or a couple of shows at a time. Usually. With a resident company, the theatre uses (mostly) the same artists throughout all of their shows. That doesn't necessarily mean that there are parts for all of the resident actors in every show, but usually the shows get picked specifically for certain members of the resident acting company. Resident companies used to be pretty popular, but they're expensive to maintain, so they're pretty rare now.

#12 What’s the household chore that you would avoid forever if you could?
Taking out the trash is fine. You know what I hate doing? Putting a new trash bag in after you take the old one out. I have no idea why, I just don’t like it. 

#13 How do you like to spend a rainy day?
Avoiding getting wet. I hate having wet feet and no matter what, I always feel unprepared for it. A rainy day where I have nothing to do and nowhere to go is great, but they never seem to get scheduled that way.

#14 Morning person or nightowl?
Night, but for certain kind of projects I’ve found sleeping on it and resolving things in the morning to work well for me. ​

#15 What’s your favorite day of the week when you are teaching a performance residency?
I really like Tuesdays. They are frenetic but structured, everyone gets to be introduced to what their piece of the play is going to look like, and I love getting to know all the actors again in the context of their character groups.
Wyatt and Cathlyn, in sunglasses, stand in front of a mural of a grimacing spider mascot. Wyatt and Cathlyn try to match the spider's fierce expression with moderate success. (Twenty Questions with Wyatt Kent, Compass Creative Dramatics Artistic Director)
Wyatt and his tour partner Cathlyn practice their game faces for the Dock Spiders minor league baseball game they attended in Fon Du Lac, WI
#16 What’s your favorite holiday? How do you celebrate it?
I like New Year’s Eve. I haven’t always done the best job of it, but I like to try to either be in a new place or do some sort of new event to ring in the New Year. I think it is fun to be a part of the celebration in a new city. People are in a good mood, and the next day is usually sleepy and relaxed.

#17 What did you want to be when you grew up?
When I was young I wanted to be a teacher! I really enjoyed school and told my teachers that I wanted to work in the school when I grew up.

#18 Cake or pie?
Pie!​

#19 What’s your favorite kids’ movie?
The Iron Giant. Does that count as a kids’ movie? (note: we think so!) It’s just a beautiful movie with an incredibly heartfelt message. I cry pretty much every time.

#20 Tell us all of the towns you’ve lived in.
Orlando, FL; Auburn, NE; Scottsbluff, NE; Ogallala, NE; Columbus, NE; Lincoln, NE; Tempe, AZ; and Chicago, IL.

Keep an eye out for more from our TWENTY QUESTIONS series. Questions vary a bit each interview, so if you have a question you want us to add to the list, leave a comment!
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5 ways to support small businesses that don’t cost a nickel (and you can do right from your phone)!

11/24/2017

1 Comment

 
By Cathlyn Melvin          ||           Community, Small Business, Holidays
updated 5/8/2019
On Monday we received an email from Emmaline Vu and LinkedIn letting us know that it's National Small Business Week. What? Who knew?

Now that we know (and you do, too) we challenge you to honor the more than 28 million small businesses in the United States (and so, so many more across the globe) by signal-boosting their products and services. It won't cost a thing, and it can mean so much to the individuals who are working hard to deliver those services and products!

Here are 5 ways to support small businesses that don’t cost a nickel (and you can do right from your phone)!


Follow your favorite small business on social media. 5 Ways to Support Small Businesses That Don't Cost a Nickel (and you can do right from your phone!)

Follow your favorite small businesses.

​Think of your top three favorite small businesses. Do you follow them on facebook? Instagram? Twitter? Snapchat? Pinterest? 
​What about your top five?

No?

Let's start there, then.

(No, no, go ahead. I can wait.)
What? You're not following us online?! (Lost Boy in
What? You're not following us online?
If you like it, comment and share! 5 Ways to Support Small Business That Don't Cost a Nickel (and you can do right from your phone)!

If you like it, comment and share!

​Okay. So now that you're connected, you're probably going to see some articles, photos, memes, or other stuff that you think is fun / inspirational / interesting / enlightening / et cetera.

​In other words, you like it. So here's what to do:
First: Like.

Next: Comment.

Then: Share.

This is the trifecta.


​Facebook, Instagram, and other platforms assess user interaction in order to choose which posts are worthy of being shown to wide audiences. When you like, comment, and share a post, your network is more likely to see it, increasing the post's reach across the entire platform. [source] Simply, put, if you like a post, other followers should get to see it, too! But if a post is met with crickets, no one will see it, even if you’re staring at your phone going, “O.M.Goodness. That is so, so true. lolz.”

So like it, comment on it, and then share it to your own page!​

A couple of pointers for when you click:

​When you share a post, add your own ideas. Voicing your opinion on a post is going to make it much more effective for your own followers than if you “blindly” share (by using the “share now” option or something similar).

If you’re a member of a group on facebook, share relevant posts to your groups as well as your personal page.

Is your favorite play cafe hosting an event? Share the post - with a note - to your parent meet-up facebook group.
​
If your gym is offering a membership special, share the post (yes, with a note) to your health-conscious or fitness facebook group.
When you share a post, include your own ideas | 5 Ways to Support Small Business That Don't Cost You a Nickel
Post to your favorite businesses' pages whenever you experience something good. 5 Ways to Support Small Businesses That Don't Cost a Nickel (and you can do right from your phone!)

Post to your favorite businesses' pages whenever you experience something good.

It doesn’t even have to be an experience using their products or services!
​If you:

- Saw an ad for their company that spoke to you,

- Observed a positive interaction with another customer, or

- Noticed an interesting new product, then:

Write them a note on their page (and share it back to your own page)!
When you have a positive experience with the business's staff or product, write them a review on their official review page (facebook, google, their own website review section). Include a photo (of you with the cupcake you enjoyed at their bakery, or paperback you bought at their bookstore, or just you wearing their branded gear)! People love pictures, and yours can tell a thousand words about your experience.
​
And then (I bet you can guess . . .) Share your review to your own social media pages!
Send a shout-out! 5 Ways to Support Small Businesses That Don't Cost a Nickel (and you can do right from your phone!)

Send a shout-out!

Choose a social media platform that your favorite business uses regularly.

Tag the business in a post encouraging your friends to follow them!

Be specific about what you love about the organization and what is great about following them on that platform. What kind of information do you get? Behind-the-scenes looks? Sneak peaks? Discounts?
Tag it! 5 Ways to Support Small Businesses That Don't Cost a Nickel (and you can do right from your phone!)

Tag it!

Tag your favorite businesses' "handles" in your posts about them. When our customers use "@ccdramatics" on a public post on instagram, facebook, or twitter, we receive a notification that we've been mentioned in a post, just like you would if you were personally tagged. Post with "@" tags are 56% more likely to receive likes, comments, and shares! Tagging us also helps keep us in the know about the conversations around our business, and just as importantly, allows other potential customers to easily click through that post to find our profile!

And while you're tagging . . .

Geo-tag your posts. Simply adding your favorite business’s location tag can increase engagement with you post by up to 79%. [source] Crazy, right? And the more folks that engage with your posts about your favorite businesses, the more folks with know about your favorite businesses, and the happier the world will be!

Also, hey, include businesses’ personalized hashtags! At Compass Creative Dramatics, we search #oneplayoneweek to follow along with our customers’ experience - and potential customers do, too. If you’re not sure if your favorite business has a personalized hashtag, just ask. They’ll be glad to let you in on it. I promise.

This National Small Business Week, set aside 15 minutes to engage with your favorite small businesses online. With your positive interactions, you'll help boost their visibility, their network, and, let's be real, you'll also boost their warm-and-fuzzy level every. single. time.

And, hey. It won't cost you a nickel.

Cathlyn
Student actors in a production of
Student actors in
Student actors in
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Why Small Business? Well, It's a Personal Question.

11/9/2017

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by Cathlyn Melvin      ||      Small Business, Entrepreneurs, Education, Community
updated 5/9/2019
It's National Small Business Week! What? you might wonder? What's that? What's so great about Small Business?
​

Well, it’s a personal question.

Back in 2012, Cassandra gave me a proposal (no, not that kind of proposal!): she said she wanted to start a children’s theatre, and asked if I would partner with her to help send week-long theatre experiences to kids across the country.

When we sat down to create our business plan, one area that tripped us up was our volume goal: how big, exactly, did we want our organization to get?

It took us a few years to iron it out, honestly. But I think we’ve gotten a good idea of how big we want to get. And the answer is:

Not very.

And it doesn’t have to do with revenue, and it doesn’t have to do with workload, and it doesn’t have to do with fame and fortune (ha!). The bottom line is, as a small business, we can serve our families and our sponsors better.
​

Here’s why.
Why small business? Small Business Saturday at Compass Creative Dramatics
She's trying to figure it out.

We’re the end of the line.
When we started this endeavor in 2012, it seemed simple. Past Cathlyn and Past Cassandra thought it would go like this: Write a play. Hire designers to create sets, props, costumes. Buy a van. Get the show on the road. Literally.
The
See, look at us all fresh-faced (and vacationing! what?!) in 2012,
​just 5 months before we began this business adventure.
Well, thanks to Past Cathlyn and Past Cassandra, Present Cathlyn and Present Cassandra are now wiser for the wear, and through insurance, taxes, marketing, coding, plug-ins, spreadsheets, et cetera et cetera et cetera, one thing has stayed the same: because Compass Creative Dramatics reflects our goals, our views, and our aspirations, because we don’t answer to an executive committee or a governing board, we are able to be relentless in our goal to serve as many students the highest-quality theatre education that we possibly can.

That means that if there is any way we can make something happen for you, we will, because we are the decision-makers. End. Of. Story.

​Well, maybe there is a little more story, because:
Being small means we can be flexible.
Our larger competitors in the market have established systems in place that force them into more rigidity than we want our program sponsors to experience. Cassandra and I both take pleasure in problem-solving and finding creative solutions. We pore over feedback from families and program sponsors, and regularly make adjustments to our processes, whether that’s with regard to curriculum, registration, material provisions, anything. If there is something that will make your experience better, we’re eager to have a real live conversation about it and brainstorm how we can make it happen. Sometimes we can, sometimes we can’t -- but this flexibility encourages creative problem-solving, allowing us to continually improve our service.
Quote: We regularly make adjustments to our curriculum, registration, materials, anything. Why Small Business? Small Business Saturday at Compass Creative Dramatics
Earlier this year, we worked with St. Andrew the Apostle School in Romeoville, Illinois for the very first time. Margaret, the school’s PTO volunteer, and Carol, the principal, were enthusiastic about offering the program because with the pressures of curriculum, their students (preK-8) don’t have much of an opportunity to explore public speaking and presentation in the classroom.
​

Leading up to their residency, we spent time on the phone kicking around ideas about the different options for programming, boosting enrollment, scheduling, and anything else that Margaret wondered about. “I appreciate that you always responded to emails and phone calls,” Margaret shared with us in her end-of-program survey, “and that you were always willing to schedule dedicated time for discussion. Organizing a program like this, no matter how small, brings a lot of questions!”

We totally get that -- and we want to make sure your questions all get answered! So like Margaret said, we’re totally willing to schedule time that’s just for you to ask your questions, and for us to brainstorm the best way to serve your community. It’s this adaptability that allows us to make theatre programming more accessible to organizations and individual students year by year.
Children learn dance moves from instructors David Smith and Cathlyn Melvin during theatre camp, Why Small Business? Small Business Saturday at Compass Creative Dramatics
Put your hands in the air and wave 'em like you really care about good customer service!
Being small means we can afford to be picky.
We’re picky about our theatrical designers, our musicians, the words we use in our emails, the articles and photos we post on facebook and instagram . . . you get it.

Because we’re not trying to assembly-line our process, we have the ability to take our time and make sure that we are choosing just the right artist, just the right material, just the right image.
​

Every detail is important to us, so you won’t see us making any decisions lightly.
Small = Gritty. Small = Spunky. Small = Up-and-Coming.
We work with some of the best artists in Chicago and around the country who are developing their own businesses in set design, musical composition, and costume construction. They are determined, they are tenacious, and they are dedicated to giving us (and, as a result, our families and program sponsors) the best work possible. Because they, too, are their own small businesses, all of the qualities that describe us also apply to them and to their work:
​

They’re flexible. They’re picky. And it’s personal.
Elementary school students in Chicago goof around backstage before a performance of The Princess & The Pea with Compass Creative Dramatics
Spunk is contagious.
To us, this is personal.
We have students who have been with us since year one or year two, who have performed in a Compass Creative Dramatics play every year since we began producing them. And we look at those kids, and we think, man, how did they get to be high schoolers? Wasn’t it last year they were just nine years old?

And then we also look at those kids and think, man, remember when they were nine? Whoa, that was a zillion years ago.

We kind of look at our organization the same way. It was just seven years ago that Cassandra and I applied for legal help to officially file Compass Creative Dramatics with the State of Illinois. Just seven years ago that we opened a Compass Creative Dramatics checking account. Just seven years since we wrote our very first Compass Creative Dramatics play, Peas & Harmony: The Princess & The Pea (Remixed).

(It’s a good one.)

But it also feels like we’ve been doing this for a lifetime. The connections we’ve built, the relationships we’ve made . . . thinking back on those elements, this experience feels timeless.

This thing, we built it. And that means we’re personally invested in its success. We make personal sacrifices to ensure that our students are getting the education they deserve, and that our program sponsors are getting the support they need to help us make that happen. We’re not working for an organization; we’re not punching a clock. When we go to work each day, it’s because our students matter to us. Our program sponsors matter to us. Our mission and our work matter to us. We are personally inspired to better serve students across the country each and every day.

And each and every day, we are able to serve them better.

Because we are small.

​- Cathlyn
A student in Columbus, Wisconsin poses, wearing her Wizard of Oz t-shirt, with teachers Cathlyn Melvin and Cassandra Quinn, who hold the pineapples they received as teacher gifts.
Thank you so much for your students, your energy, your business (and also these pineapples).

For more information on Small Business Saturday, please visit www.americanexpress.com/us/small-business/shop-small/
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The Stories Behind the Statistics

12/4/2014

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By Cathlyn Melvin          ||          Education, Community
The original publication of this blog was distributed on January 4th, 2013, by Americans for the Arts.
2012 was a big year for Compass Creative Dramatics.

In fact, it was the first year for Compass Creative Dramatics. That spring, Cassandra approached me with an idea: to bring immersive theatre programming to schools and organizations across the country. Would I join her, she asked.

Of course I would.

That summer, we wrote a script. We developed a business plan. We contacted designers and educators and business consultants and performance spaces, utilizing every connection we had to get our programming off the page and into kids’ hands and brains – the places where this company comes to life.

In the fall, we worked with our first group of Compass Creative Dramatics students - eight kids joined us for a script development workshop in Evanston. Several of the students had never been in a play before. A couple were old pros, recalling memories of school plays and acting classes they had taken at various theatre companies across Chicago.
Picture
The following summer, several of those students joined us again, this time to perform a full production of “Peas & Harmony: The Princess & The Pea (Remixed)”.  

And this time, it was our own stories we heard them telling.

“When we did this last time . . .”

“Do you remember when . . .”

“My favorite part was . . .”

As our summer campers chatted together about past experiences, Compass Creative Dramatics became part of those memories. And that’s great to hear.

See, Cassandra and I don’t focus on readying kids for careers in theatre, and we won’t “Make Your Child a Star.” We concentrate on stretching kids creativity and bravery muscles – so they can be bold enough to raise their hands in class, or imaginative enough to problem-solve in real life. And over the course of a week-long program, we see those skills develop, and we witness those memories taking shape, so that some day, they’ll want to tell those stories.
Picture
“I was in a play once!”

I’m standing in line at a bookstore in my neighborhood, and the woman behind me is telling me her story. She recognized me from a show I did the previous season, and her eyes light up as she tells me about her high school musical—how she almost didn’t audition, but in the end, it turned out to be the best eight weeks she had that year.

As an actor, I get that all the time. Not the being-recognized-on-the-street thing. That’s unusual. But when people find out I do theatre, so often I see their eyes brighten just like that lady’s, and they tell me about their third grade play, or an annual Christmas pageant, or being in the kids’ chorus of Joseph at their community theatre.

I love these stories.

Fall 2012. Still in the infancy of our company, Cassandra and I decided to take on another project: we started a campaign to collect people’s memories about participation in theatre, and how it affected them. We posted on YouTube asking for video responses, and watched the stories begin to trickle in, both through responses to our YouTube channel and through essays submitted through our email:
As active leaders in school communities, arts educators witness the development of students through programs like the residency we offer at Compass Creative Dramatics.

We interact with other artists who share our opinions, our passions, and our stories. Existing in this cocoon, it’s easy to forget that there are others in the world for whom the importance of art in education is not a foregone conclusion. There are people who don’t see that there is inherent value in what we do—and so we evangelize.

We’re constantly striving to spread the word that the arts are vital to child development, and to the development of our society. We push statistics—because that’s the language of administrators and policymakers.
Picture
But even administrators and policymakers aren’t only convinced by hard facts—by numbers and graphs and formulas. Those figures may help a person wrap their head around why what we do is so important, but numbers don’t tell the whole story.

​Rarely do we meet the faces behind the statistics—the doctor, the mom, the cab driver whose story has been enriched by participation in the arts. It’s those personal stories that help people connect to the work we’re doing. And it’s that connection that paves the way to comprehension.


Through our response project, the faceless statistics were given shape, names, and personalities:

Leona in Georgia described how doing theatre at school has taught her daughter that it’s cool to be who you are, and has helped develop her sense of self.

Marilyn in Arizona explained that high school theatre helped her cope with her mother’s death.

Robert in Illinois shared how a chance encounter with a theatre teacher guided him away from a relationship with a schoolmate who later ended up in prison for murder.

Shqipron in Wisconsin told us how being in a play shortly after he moved to the States helped him learn to speak English, and how to interact with his fellow high school freshmen.
Quote: Even administrators and policymakers aren't only convinced by hard facts.
The dozens of stories we received over the course of our 30-day project rang truer than any statistics could, and they reminded us of why we started this company in the first place: to lead by example, guiding kids’ toward healthy, happy, fulfilling lives.

Fast forward five years: It’s fall of 2017 now (well, fine, winter). We’ve successfully completed five unfathomably awesome summer camp seasons. We’ve worked thousands of students in dozens of cities across 16 states through our theatre camps and community residencies. 

But the best measure of our success are those stories that our students, their parents, their teachers, and their administrators tell.

In the years to come, we look forward to encouraging countless students to create memories they’ll reflect on, standing in line at a bookstore, or sitting at a coffee shop, or with their families later in life. I hope that in the end, they’ll have many stories to tell.


- Cathlyn
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5 Ways to Support CCD this #GivingTuesday

12/1/2014

1 Comment

 
By Cassandra Quinn​          ||          Community, Holidays
#GivingTuesday is not all about dollar bills or giving in the traditional sense. It's about finding ways to get with the #UNselfie movement and give back. Missed our blog about rebooting this from a season of spending to one of giving and why #GivingTuesday is important? Check it out here!

Here are 5 ways that you can commit to supporting CCD today (and only one of them involves cold-hard-cash, er, PayPal).

1. Donate stuff. Take a look at our Wish List Page. See anything you could donate? See anything someone else you know might be able to donate? Networking makes all the difference - even if you don't personally have an item, you may know someone who does! Have something that you think may be beneficial to Compass Creative Dramatics, but its not on the list? Let us know!

2. Donate time. Compass Creative Dramatics functions with two full time staff and an amazing team of freelance artists and teachers, some who donate their time. There is always something that CCD could use a hand with whether that might be doing a bit of data entry, hanging posters in your favorite kid-friendly hang-out, teaching a class, standing at a convention booth, or a plethora of other amazing ways you can pitch-in.

3. Donate your network. Compass Creative Dramatics is seeking to grow its residency and camp programs. Know of a school, park, or other organization that might be interested in a week-long theatre experience? Tell us about them! Share with us how you know them, who they are, and, if you know, who the best person to contact would be. Word-of-mouth and referrals are our strongest marketing tools. Be a part of it by sharing with us your old elementary school, a girl scout troop you lead, or a community youth program that you know of.

4. Donate your talent. Are you an actor? Commit to auditioning for our fundraiser event that will be taking place May 4th! Are you a photographer? Donate to shoot at one of our events! Are you a seamstress? Donate a few hours of building costumes!Are you an accountant? Donate financial advice. Are you part of an artistic team at another company? Let's chat about cross-support! Are you a marketing Guru?Donate a few a bit of marketing advice! 

5. Donate money. CCD has committed to serving its community and offers dozens of free workshops to hundreds of students each year. We also offer financial aid to their numerous camps that is not financially backed by a grant or corporate monies. Your dollars go to help support these commitments as well as helping us with show responsibilities such as building sets, costumes, and props!

Consideration is a great step in the giving process. Commitment takes it to the next level. Are you ready to commit? 

Click here to commit to donate to Compass Creative Dramatics one or more of the ways above. Show your support to Compass Creative Dramatics this coming season! 

Thanks for your support this #GivingTuesday!



2014 Quick Facts for Compass Creative Dramatics
  • CCD served over 169 kids in 9 camps and residencies across 3 states in their 2nd year of business. This compares to the 52 students they served in 4 camps across 3 states in their first year
  • Over 15% of those students received financial aid or scholarship, several whom attended camp with $0 family contribution
  • 0% of families who applied for financial aid were denied
  • CCD's financial aid application implements a "pay what you can" method, so that families never are asked to contribute beyond their means
  • CCD served over 750 students across 6 cities in our free workshops -- a significant increase from the 300+ students they served in 2013
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Reboot with Us: An Advocacy for #GivingTuesday

11/24/2014

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By Cassandra Quinn          ||          Community, Holidays, Small Business
#Giving Tuesday - Support arts education with Compass Creative Dramatics
Two little letters can mean so much.

Re.

Redistribute, repurpose, reshape. Re-envision, renew, restore.

The third annual #GivingTuesday will take place on December 2, 2014, an opportunity to set aside a few dollars that would normally be spent on a Venti Latte or [insert your favorite splurge here] and instead redistribute those funds to your favorite organizations. The money that you repurpose can be reshaped and re-envisioned into something that renews – and restores – your community.

Consider this:

Thanksgiving Day kicks off a weekend of personal spending: Black Friday. Small Business Saturday. Cyber Monday. After an entire weekend devoted to holiday shopping and penny-pinching sales, #GivingTuesday motivates us to re-center, reconsider, refocus, and reboot.
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#GivingTuesday inspires personal giving and encourages focused, thoughtful giving throughout the holidays. If Black Friday is the kick-off for holiday shopping and the biggest spending day of the year, then we should aim to make #GivingTuesday the kick-off of a beautiful season of charitable giving.

And we get it.  Bills are tight. Holiday shopping is calling. That paycheck just doesn't stretch as far as we'd like.

That's why #GivingTuesday isn't just about monetary giving. This year its campaign is focused on the #UNselfie. GivingTuesday.org is encouraging people like you to take an #UNselfie showing how and why they are going to give back.

Give time.
Give insight
Give energy.
Give expertise.
Give connections.

Give because you can.
Give because you care.
Give because you believe.
#Unselfie: A show of support for Giving Tuesday
Compass Creative Dramatics gives free workshops and financial aid without any grant funding, or corporate sponsorship.

We give because Compass Creative Dramatics believes in offering dynamic, challenging theatrical enrichment programming and we strive to make our programming affordable and accessible.

There are so many ways and reasons to contribute this #GivingTuesday. How will you help reboot this season of spending into a season of giving?

Keep an eye out on December 2nd to learn 5 ways to support Compass Creative Dramatics on #GivingTuesday.
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