Fundraising To Subsidize 'Music Circus' Tickets

Intrigued by the concept, but think the money is better spent at community theaters:

Lara Kong is fairly typical of a high-achieving high school student. ... What’s not typical about Lara, who is just 15 years old, is that she is an ardent fan of live musical theater.

...What bothered her most about their theater outings, however, was the noticeable absence of young people in the audience. “She said to us, ‘Everyone here is in their 80s!’” recalls Lara’s mom, Mindy. “She asked, ‘Why can’t we introduce my generation to musical theater?’” ... [H]er father contacted California Musical Theatre, the nonprofit sponsor of the Broadway Series and Music Circus. ... “He said that she wanted to raise money to buy tickets for kids who couldn’t afford to see our shows.”

Cagley was familiar with Breakthrough Sacramento, a yearround program on the Country Day campus that provides tuition-free college preparation for promising students from underachieving Title 1 schools who want to better their lives and stay on track for graduation and college admission. “When we tried to identify groups that would benefit from Lara’s program, this seemed like a natural fit,” she says.

...It was clear from the start that this would be a win-win for everyone.

...Through her own perseverance, as well as some of her father’s business and political connections, Lara succeeded in raising more than $27,000—enough to enable 17 Breakthrough students to attend ‘Wicked’ and to meet the cast and crew after the show, enough to send the entire Breakthrough middle school class to at least three Music Circus shows this summer, and enough to underwrite additional tickets for deserving arts students in San Juan Unified School District....