My Nonprofit Reviews

In December of 2008 I approached Stageworks about the possibility of volunteering for them in the area of Marketing. As a PhD Student in Fine Arts, I needed a project for my dissertation. Stageworks’s Founder/Producing Director, Anna Brennen, graciously offered me the opportunity to write a marketing initiative for the company. As part of the marketing audit process I became intimately familiar with this incredible organization. One of Stageworks’s most impressive characteristics is its uncompromising commitment to MISSION. In each of its programming areas, the idea of “challenging the thresholds of intolerance and insensitivity,” is paramount. I believe the company’s outreach programming is its most important and socially significant program area. Always aimed at the community’s most severely disadvantaged (indigent senior citizens, at-risk youth, and youth in the Juvenile Justice System), to date Stageworks raises much of the money to run these outreach programs as opposed to simply acting as a contracted player-- they are truly invested. Interestingly, Stageworks’s commitment to the most disadvantaged of our society/community is in some ways coming full circle. I was an underprivileged kid from this community. By providing me with access to their organization for my graduate work, Stageworks is serving yet another “disadvantaged kid,” (me) by helping him complete his education. I hope to pay this kindness forward by serving the organization for many years to come. Additionally, during this time of recession, Stageworks refuses retrench by giving up on its goal of moving into its first permanent space—they refuse to abandon the dream. When many non-profit organizations are cutting programs, Stageworks is dreaming about new programs. This non-profit understands that the arts are not merely entertainment and diversion; they educate, provide hope to a community, and give vision for the future. This new space will serve not only as performance venue, but also as headquarters for the outstanding outreach programs. Stageworks has a lot going on with an award-winning mainstage season, vital outreach programs, and fully-functioning playwrighting program; however they never lose sight of their distinctive MISSION. I am grateful Stageworks exists to serve the Tampa Bay community. ~Jeffrey Wells~

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