Good Shepherd Program Proposal

May 15, 2024

Dear Good Shepherd,

What role do the arts and the performing arts centers play in our society today? Are they solely here to entertain and provide an escape from daily life, or do they contribute significantly to the economic engine of local economies, stimulate creative learning for our youth, and help improve the health of our communities?

Zoellner Arts Center, as a university presenter, has a storied history of bringing high-quality, world-class multidisciplinary art forms to the greater Lehigh Valley. We celebrate the excellence of traditional art forms and connect art visionaries to the community including renowned performers such as the New York Philharmonic, The Philadelphia Orchestra, Yo Yo Ma, Sphinx Virtuosi, Leslie Odoms Jr., Cirque Eloize, and more.

We take pride in being the premier performing arts organization in the Lehigh Valley, bringing together K-12 school-age children for transformative arts experiences and integrated curricular learning. We are the lead partner for the Kennedy Center’s Any Given Child program. Last year we engaged with over 8,000 students from 15 different school districts. We are a trusted resource for arts professional development for area school teachers.

We are committed to being an early adopter of a new vision of arts in our community by facilitating meaningful dialogue across our urban, suburban, and rural communities. Through initiatives like “Traveling While Black,” a cinematic virtual reality experience addressing historical and contemporary restrictions on movement for Black Americans, we collaborated with organizations across the Lehigh Valley to engage new audiences and spark discussions about race and intersectionality. The success of this initiative demonstrated Zoellner’s unwavering committment to addressing societal challenges through art, igniting a dialogue that trascended our walls and reverberated throughout our community.

By leveraging our position as a university presenter, Zoellner Arts Center is committed to challenging inequalities, inspiring new perspectives, and bringing diverse groups together through transformative experiences with the arts. Through a holistic approach that combines education, research, and the intrinsic value of the arts, we can foster meaningful dialogue and drive positive change.

Recently we worked with the Office of Senator Bob Casey to create the first ever Pennsylvania Arts & Humanities: A Statewide Convening. This event was intended to benefit all of Pennsylvania’s arts and humanities organizations whose resources were severely impacted by the pandemic, by bringing them together to meet, exchange ideas, and gain insights and inspiration about the future of our creative sector. We partnered with organizations like the NEA, NEH, IMLS, PA Humanities, PCA, PA Museums, and other state organizations to provide attendees with the knowledge and connections to develop new collaborations.

The pandemic prompted arts organizations to reconsider their role in society. We believe this is an opportunity to reimagine the relationship the arts have within our communities. Your financial support is instrumental in enabling us to realize our vision of bringing together urban, suburban, and rural communities. With your help, we will expand and extend our programs designed to heal the divisions exacerbated by the pandemic and reignite the connections that bind us together.

We invite Good Shepherd to partner with us, as a financial supporter and community connecter, to help us advance our work that preserves and celebrates community through cultural activities and practices. Your support will help recognized arists and speakers who represent our full community. Together, through our dedication to fostering meaningful partnerships and leveraging the transformative power of art as a driver for positive change, we can create a more inclusive and just Lehigh Valley for all.

Thank you for considering Zoellner’s proposal to support our presentation of Temple Grandin and Kinetic Light.

Sincerely,

Mark F. Wilson Executive Director Zoellner Arts Center | Lehigh University

Executive Summary

The Lehigh Valley is a mosaic of urban, suburban, and rural communities, each with its unique demographic backgrounds and economic landscapes. Yet, access to the arts often varies based on one’s zip code. At Lehigh University’s Zoellner Arts Center, we are dedicated to fostering a community where high-quality arts are accessible to all, regardless of geographical location, cultural or economic background.

Through various funding initiatives, we strive to dismantle barriers to arts participation. These efforts include offering free or reduced-price tickets, providing transportation assistance, and facilitating artist engagements across the Lehigh Valley.

Our vision for the future is one where systemic barriers to arts engagement are removed, and every member of the community actively participates in and contributes to the arts. To achieve this, we are pioneering community arts programs that transcend traditional models of passive spectatorship. Collaborating with innovators and early adopters, we aim to create sustainable initiatives that empower communities to engage with the arts in new and meaningful ways.

Moreover, Zoellner Arts Center is committed to extending its reach beyond its physical confines. By partnering with non-profit organizations dedicated to community building, we bring our programs directly into neighborhoods, ensuring that the transformative power of the arts permeates every corner of the Lehigh Valley.

About Zoellner

Mission

Our mission is to infuse the arts into the life of Lehigh University and the greater Lehigh Valley community by presenting high-quality multi-disciplinary programs, fostering life-long patronage of the arts, and integrating our educational resources to enhance our human experience.

Background

Over 25 years ago, Lehigh University envisioned designing a vibrant arts environment where students, artists, faculty, and the community could create and learn. It wanted to educate, captivate, and inspire performers and patrons by presenting a variety of outstanding performing arts events, exhibits, and educational programs, and to develop new works. In 1997, this vision manifested in Zoellner Arts Center—home to the Lehigh University Music Department, the Department of Theatre, the Art Galleries, and the Guest Artist Series—a place for creativity and innovation; for exploring all corners of artistic disciplines; and for opening up minds to new ideas and new ways of seeing the world.

In a recent year, the center held 240 events, including over 350 artists from 10 countries, and more than 50 campus and community events, lectures, business meetings, convocations, recitals, concerts, conventions, and more. In total, the center provided arts engagement and communal space to over 55,000 people in attendance from 12 states and over 8,000 local school children. Additionally, we created partnerships with 35 community organizations in the arts, sciences, health, and literacy.

We are committed to enhancing the role of arts education in the Lehigh Valley, through children’s, family, and school programming, partnering with local organizations, as well as connecting our artists, staff, and faculty with students of all ages. As we step forward, Zoellner Arts Center will continue building organizational partnerships like those achieved as the lead organization for the Kennedy Center’s Ensuring the Arts for Any Given Child program in Bethlehem. We will further expand into the community by focusing on K-12 education to deliver arts enrichment programs, cultural programs, social-emotional learning programming, and artist-in-residencies specifically tied to the school curriculum.

Zoellner Arts Center strives to go beyond our four walls and challenge people to think while encouraging them to see the world through a different lens to connect and understand our community. We seek to be a leader in the arts and culture scene in the Lehigh Valley by being bold, forward-thinking, and innovative, and by bringing our diverse community together through shared experiences. And we are dedicated to presenting arts for all through being inclusive, diverse, equitable, and accessible.

Scope of Work

Temple Grandin Description

The Way I See It: A Personal Look at Autism & Asperger’s: Dr. Temple Grandin gets down to the REAL issues of autism, the ones parents, teachers, and individuals on the spectrum face every day. Temple offers helpful do’s and don’ts, practical strategies, and try-it-now tips, all based on her “insider” perspective and a great deal of research.

Temple Grandin is a professor of animal science at Colorado State University and she has been a pioneer in improving the handling and welfare of farm animals. She was born in Boston, Massachusetts. Temple’s achievements are remarkable because she was an autistic child. At age two she had no speech and all the signs of severe autism. Many hours of speech therapy and intensive teaching enabled Temple to learn speech. As a teenage, life was hard with constant teasing. Inspired by her high school science teacher and her aunt on her ranch in Arizona motivated Temple to study and pursue a career as a scientist and livestock equipment designer.

Kinetic Light Description

Kinetic Light is an internationally-recognized disability arts ensemble. Working in the disciplines of art, technology, design, and dance, Kinetic Light creates, performs, and teaches at the nexus of access, queerness, disability, dance, and race. In their work disability is not a deficit, it is a powerful, intersectional creative force that is essential to our artistry. Access is integral to our art and creative process.

DESCENT (2018)

Performed on a custom-designed architectural ramp installation with hills, curves, and peaks, DESCENT explores the pleasures of wheeled movement and reckless abandon. Combining dance, architecture, design, and technology, this evening-length work challenges cultural assumptions of what disability, dance, and beauty can be. Inspired by the sensual writings and art of French sculptor Auguste Rodin, DESCENT gives the mythological characters of Venus and Andromeda new life as interracial lovers. Access: ASL, rich spatial audio description via Audimance app, expanded accessible seating, haptic soundtrack interpretation, audience welcome to exit and enter during the performance.

Outline of Activities

Tues, October 1, 2024 - Venue Prehang Lights + Soft Goods + Full KL Company Arrive Wed, October 2, 2024 - Load-in/Ramp Build + Workshops (1+2)

• Integrated Dance Workshop Level 1

• Disability Arts DESCENT Workshop Level 1 Thurs, October 3, 2024 - Tech, Focus, Cue to Cue + Workshops (3+4)

• FOH Workshop

• Inside Disability & Aesthetics

Fri, October 4, 2024 - Tech: Cue to Cue with Performers + No Workshops + Dress Rehearsal Sat, October 5, 2024 - Tech: Cue to Cue + Run through w/o costumes + 7:30PM

Performance DESCENT + Post Perf Meet and Greet + Strike (done b/f midnight) Sun, October 6, 2024 - 1:00 PM Workshop (5) + Full Company Depart (artists + Rachel evening)

• Access ALLways

Objectives

• Demonstrate to the community that the organization is listening to the community and understands their needs.

• Build a space for a full community to be connected together.

• Recognize artists and speakers who are representative of our full community.

• Demonstrate the value of diversity and inclusion.

Opportunities for Recognition and Impact

Corporate Benefits at the $10,000 Level: Temple Grandin/Kinetic Light

• Marquee recognition in the playbill for 2024/2025 Season

• Twenty (20) complimentary tickets to both Temple Grandin and Kinetic Light

• Private meet & greet with Temple Grandin for twenty (20) people

• 20% Employee discount to Presenting Series

• Logo visibility in 2024/2025 Season Brochure

• Visibility in marketing collateral for sponsored events, with hyperlink on event webpage

• Full-page acknowledgement in 2024/2025 Season playbill; premium spot

• On-stage introduction at sponsored events

• Opportunity to have tables in the lobby at sponsored events

• Complimentary use of a Zoellner space for a private corporate event

Corporate Benefits at the $5,000 Level: Temple Grandin

• Producer recognition in the playbill for 2024/2025 Season

• Ten (10) complimentary tickets to Temple Grandin

• Private meet & greet with Temple Grandin for ten (10) people

• 15% Employee discount to Presenting Series

• Logo visibility in 2024/2025 Season Brochure

• Visibility in marketing collateral for Temple Grandin, with hyperlink on event webpage

• Full-page acknowledgement in 2024/2025 Season playbill; premium spot

• On-stage introduction at Temple Grandin event

• Opportunity to have tables in the lobby at Temple Grandin event

• Complimentary use of a Zoellner space for a private corporate event

Corporate Benefits at the $5,000 Level: Kinetic Light

• Producer recognition in the playbill for 2024/2025 Season

• Ten (10) complimentary tickets to Kinetic Light

• 15% Employee discount to Presenting Series

• Logo visibility in 2024/2025 Season Brochure

• Visibility in marketing collateral for Kinetic Light, with hyperlink on event webpage

• Full-page acknowledgement in 2024/2025 Season playbill; premium spot

• On-stage introduction at Kinetic Light event

• Opportunity to have tables in the lobby at Kinetic Light event

• Complimentary use of a Zoellner space for a private corporate event

Contact: MARK FITZGERALD WILSON

Executive Director Zoellner Arts Center

610-758-5301 • mawa20@lehigh.edu

CANDI STAURINOS

Director of Community Engagement & Impact

610-758-3414 • zcs2@lehigh.edu

420 E. Packer Ave. | Bethlehem, PA 18015