American Musical Theatre Of San Jose

Programs: AMTSJ was founded in San Jose in 1934; is one of the oldest musical theatre companies in the nation; and is the largest professional not-for-profit musical theatre in the Bay Area. Our primary program is our main-stage musical productions, which are presented from October through June at San Jose's 2,540-seat Center for the Performing Arts. AMTSJ has over 15,000 season ticket holders. We anticipate that attendance for our upcoming 2007/2008 season will be over 150,000. Seventy-eight percent (78%) of our patrons live in Santa Clara County, and the remainder travel from the greater Bay Area. In addition to enriching the local community through our art, AMTSJ plays an integral financial role in Silicon Valley, making a $6.8 million direct economic impact on San Jose and hiring hundreds of artists, designers, stagehands, musicians and ushers every year. For our 73rd season, AMTSJ is producing four musicals (Guys and Dolls, Little Shop of Horrors, Cabaret, and Disney's Beauty and the Beast) using a combination of local and New York-based Equity and non-Equity actors and nationally recognized creative teams. AMTSJ's goals for 2007/2008 include creating our productions locally, while collaborating with regional theatres across the country to share resources, which will increase the quality of our productions while streamlining production costs. AMTSJ is also focusing on increasing contributions to cover 20% of its $9.8M budget, up from 15% in 2006/2007, to diversify its income sources. Lastly, we are revitalizing our Education and Outreach programs, establishing evaluation processes and using California State Standards and participant feedback to make sure that they inspire creativity and make the arts accessible to everyone. AMTSJ's Education and Outreach department nurtures relationships with the community at large, thereby strengthening the importance of the arts in our lives and framing a future that celebrates creativity. Our Education programs will reach more than 7,000 young students and adult learners in 2007/2008. Additionally, our Accessibility programs make it possible for 5,000 traditionally underserved populations to experience the magic of live performance each year. AMTSJ is proud of its Education and Outreach programs, some of which are: Theatre Art Conservatory and Technical Theatre Institute, which train the next generation of theatre artists; ASL-interpretation and personal captioning systems for Deaf/hard-of-hearing patrons; audio-description for Blind/low-vision patrons; Writing a Musical, an arts and literacy program that is brought into Title I middle school classrooms; and Community Fundraising Assistance, a program that provides gift certificates to AMTSJ-produced shows to schools and other not-for-profits for use in their fundraising activities. AMTSJ is committed to making the arts accessible to everyone and to developing and maintaining a strong artists' community.