Funds will help Atlanta metro students attend Young People’s Concerts

Clayton State University’s Spivey Hall (www.spiveyhall.org), the Southeast’s premier recital hall renowned internationally for its superior acoustics and the excellence of its classical, jazz and world music artists, today announced its participation in Clayton State University’s first “#Give4Dreams” campaign, scheduled for Tuesday, March 1. Spivey Hall’s segment of #Give4Dreams, named “Buy a Bus,” will benefit the venue’s education programs, specifically the Young People’s Concerts (YPC), helping to underwrite transportation and ticket costs so that more Atlanta area students can attend the one-hour performances.

“Although many teachers are eager to bring their K-12 students to Spivey Hall for Young People’s Concerts, a recurring obstacle they face is funding for school bus transportation,” said Spivey Hall Executive and Artistic Director Sam Dixon. “Through #Give4Dreams, donors can make a real difference for so many students, enriching their lives and supporting their academic success.”

The CSU day of giving begins at 8:00 a.m.; for 24 hours straight, the university will raise funds to advance several projects around campus, including study abroad programs, scholarships, conferences, and emergency funds. A live webcast of #Give4Dreams will take place from the James M. Baker University Center Commons from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.; the event will be streamed on YouTube with constant updates on funds raised along with interviews with faculty, staff, corporate partners, retirees and many others. The webcast will be broken out in one-hour segments, each one dedicated to a different department; Spivey Hall and its Buy a Bus campaign will be spotlighted between noon and 1:00 p.m.

With funds raised through Buy a Bus, Spivey Hall will reimburse schools for bus transportation expenses and provide underwriting for free access to children, teachers and chaperones to attend its Young People’s Concerts.  Every $2 donation provides the means for a K-12 student to attend and be inspired by a Spivey Hall YPC, with programming that addresses classroom learning objectives, supported by free online study guides. A #Give4Dreams gift of $150 will “buy a bus” for up to 50 students to attend a concert, and $2,500 will provide transportation and tickets for 500 students – perhaps an entire school. Spivey Hall’s Buy a Bus goal for the 24-hour #Give4Dreams goal is $4,000. The Hall will gladly accept gifts at any time for any amount during the #Give4Dreams event, but gifts made to Spivey Hall during the 12:00 to 1:00 p.m. hour will leverage matching gifts. The #Give4Dreams project that has the greatest number of unique donors during its hour-long timeframe will receive an additional gift ranging from $500 to $2,000.

“Active engagement with the arts fosters cognitive development in children of all ages,” stated Melanie Darby, Spivey Hall’s education manager, “but with budget cuts, many K-12 public schools in Atlanta still can’t afford the school bus trip or tickets to attend a Spivey Hall YPC, and their kids lose out. We are hopeful that with the #Give4Dreams campaign, we can raise the money to help more students broaden their cultural awareness through a live music experience at Spivey Hall.”

For more information about #Give4Dreams, visit www.clayton.edu/give4dreams. Donors will be able to make a gift through this website on March 1 starting at 8:00 a.m.; all gifts made to Spivey Hall between 12:00 and 1:00 pm will garner matching funds. A full programming schedule for the event is available at www.clayton.edu/Give4Dreams/Programming-Schedule. Gifts are made to the Clayton State University Foundation and are tax-deductible as permitted by law.

About Spivey Hall 

Now celebrating its 25th season, Spivey Hall is the South’s most acoustically superior recital hall, presenting the best in classical, jazz and world music. Located on the picturesque campus of Clayton State University in Morrow, Georgia, just fifteen miles southeast of Atlanta, the hall has been praised by artists, patrons and journalists alike.

Spivey Hall also presents regular performances on its magnificent 4,413-pipe Albert Schweitzer Memorial Organ, custom-built in Italy by Fratelli Ruffatti. An intimate venue with just 392 seats, Spivey Hall promotes for the concert-goer a personal connection with the artist both during and after the performance.  Spivey’s extraordinary acoustics and reputation for distinguished programming attract outstanding international musicians who regularly perform at the nation’s major concert venues such as Kennedy Center and Carnegie Hall. For more information, visit www.spiveyhall.org.

Clayton State University’s Spivey Hall gratefully acknowledges the support of the Walter and Emilie Spivey Foundation, the Charles Loridans Foundation, Inc., the Chaparral Foundation, the Spivey Hall Friends and Steinway Piano Galleries of Atlanta.

Spivey Hall’s Season 25 is supported in part by the Georgia Council for the Arts through the appropriations of the Georgia General Assembly. GCA also receives support from its partner agency – the National Endowment for the Arts.

Stefon Harris’s March 2016 residency is funded in part by a grant from South Arts in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts and the Georgia Council for the Arts.

About Spivey Hall Young People’s Concerts

Spivey Hall’s Young People’s Concerts (YPC) are an integral part of its education program; the concerts are 45-50 minutes in length and designed for audience interaction. Each interactive age-specific program is tied to classroom curricula in science, math, geography, arts, history, and more.

While the concerts are intended for children and youth in pre-K to grade 12, Spivey Hall welcomes community members of all ages to the performances. Concerts cost just $2 in advance at the box office, $3 in advance online and $5 at the door.

About Clayton State University

A unit of the University System of Georgia, Clayton State University is an outstanding comprehensive metropolitan university located 15 miles southeast of downtown Atlanta. For more information, visit www.clayton.edu.