Help ARCA in WEEK OF GIVING

Allegheny RiverStone Center for the Arts is proud to be joining the WEEK OF GIVING fundraising initiative of the Bridge Builders Community Foundations from March 20 to 24, 2017 – not only to attract new donors, but also to to tell its story more widely, about all the work ARCA does in presenting enriching arts and cultural events in the region – AND in bringing arts education services to the Allegheny-Clarion Valley Schools.

Please consider making a first time gift to ARCA or adding to your donation during this WEEK OF GIVING to help ARCA continue this important work in the community.  To make a contribution, you can visit www.bbcfgives.org this week – from March 20 – 24 – and choose ARCA as your non-profit of choice!  This is the first time Bridge Builders Community Foundations is launching a Week of Giving event to spur collective charitable giving, allowing donors to give to nonprofits throughout Clarion, Forest and Venango counties as well as the community of Punxsutawney.

Allegheny Riverstone Center for the Arts’ participation in this multi-county initiative is a natural; even though ARCA’s prime venue, Lincoln Hall, is situated on the banks of the Allegheny River in Clarion County, ARCA presents concerts in several venues in Emlenton, in Venango County; operates the Red Brick Gallery and Gift Shop in Foxburg, showing work of Cooperative Artists hailing from six counties in the region; provides significant arts education services in the Allegheny-Clarion Valley Schools with students from four counties in the region; and attracts concert and event attendees from a broad community of residents in the greater six county Region and particularly in Venango and Clarion Counties, part of this initiative.

River City Brass in The Crawford Center, Emlenton, PA

ARCA is joining the Foundations’ multi-county endeavor not only to attract new donors and engage with current ARCA Members, but also to be able to tell its story more widely, increasing visibility and awareness of all the work that ARCA does in the community – particularly in the area of arts education.  Your gift to during this WEEK OF GIVING, will help ARCA continue its important work.  To make a contribution, you can click here – and choose ARCA as your non-profit of choice!

“The Music That Make Us Dance” – ARCA 2014 Educational ArtReach Residency in A-C Valley Schools


Why Give to ARCA in the WEEK OF GIVING?

WHY GIVE NOW – or MAKE ANOTHER CONTRIBUTION?  Because when you make a contribution during the WEEK OF GIVING, it opens up MATCHING FUNDS from the Bridge Builders Community Foundations as a multiplier effect for YOUR contribution.  You can MULTIPLY the power of your generosity!  AND help ARCA win additional monies awarded to non-profits with the greatest participation and results!

The WEEK OF GIVING event kicks off on Monday, March 20 at 8 AM and will run until 11:59 PM on Friday, March 24.

Trenton Moulin, executive director of Bridge Builders Community Foundations, says, “Other communities in Western Pennsylvania such as Erie and Pittsburgh have successfully launched giving campaigns and we believe now is the perfect time to develop a similar campaign that will address the needs of our rural communities and the charities that support them.”

Professional C Street Brass Teaching Artists coach A-C Valley band students in after school workshops

The WEEK OF GIVING campaign was the next natural step in supporting area nonprofits after Bridge Builders Community Foundations launched their “Community Wish List” initiative a few years ago.  Moulin said, “We had dozens of nonprofits who weren’t eligible for grants through the foundation’s funds or who needed additional funding to complete a project, so we began posting an up-to-date list of those nonprofits on our web site and tracking their needs. We also offered to accept donations on their behalf and manage those donations at no cost to them.  We just wanted to spur more philanthropy and more positive outcomes for the communities we serve.  The Week of Giving takes that idea to the next level.”

Attack Theatre in A-C Valley H.S. Auditorium
A-C Valley H.S. Students in Attack Theatre workshop

While ARCA is grateful for generous grant its received from Bridge Builders Community Foundations in 2015 in support of an Arts Education residency by the internationally celebrated Teaching Artists and dance company Attack Theatre in the A-C Valley Jr-Sr High School, as Trenton Moulin noted, subsequent grants from Bridge Builders have not been possible both within the Foundations’ guidelines and because of the limited funding pool for Clarion County, in which ARCA physically resides.  

The WEEK OF GIVING helps ARCA tell its story to all those who have attended concerts and events in its first ten years 0f performances, who value what it brings to the region and who want to help ARCA continue its important work bringing world class entertainment and arts education resources to residents in the greater Allegheny River Valley Region.

Through its extensive work with nonprofits, Bridge Builders has fostered this initiative to help nonprofits with the challenges they all face in raising money, establishing change and making a contribution in their communities.

What ARCA Does in the Community

ARCA presents up to 24 concerts a year in a wide variety of musical styles in venues in Foxburg and Emlenton (Clarion and Venango Counties) from February to December, owns and operates the Red Brick Gallery in Foxburg, and brings arts education to the Allegheny-Clarion Valley Schools.  

For  ARCA, your gift will sustain our important mission to bring  and open the potential of growth and capacity for tomorrow.  AND – every donation to ARCA during this WEEK OF GIVING means that ARCA can continue its powerfully effective arts education program in the Allegheny-Clarion Valley Schools – which is ONLY supported by donations, because there is not ticket revenue for these events in the A-C Valley Schools.

Pittsburgh Youth Symphony Orchestra in A-C Valley High School Auditorium

Your gift also will help ARCA celebrate and present the work of regional artists in exhibits in its Red Brick Gallery from April to December each year at 17 Main Street, Foxburg.  ARCA’s Artists Cooperative also runs a gift shop, that brings revenue and livelihood to fourteen artists:  Cheri Lee Anderton-Yarnell, Mark DeWalt, Donna Edmonds, Cindy Ford, Blanche Hall, Angela Taylor Hardwick, Nick J. Karellas, Dennis Keyes, Jason Floyd Lewis, Paul O’Neil, Ray Rossi, Glenn and Linda Thompson, and Cathy and Jack Trzeciak.


HOW “YOU” CAN HELP ARCA THROUGH THIS WEEK OF GIVING

Pittsburgh Symphony Brass Holiday Concert in Foxburg’s Church of our Father

Here’s what you can do to Help ARCA:

1. You can follow our social media pages on Facebook and Twitter. When you LIKE our Posts, comment and share our posts with your friends, you are helping us tell our story and make lots of new Friends for ARCA who will be uplifted and inspired by the concerts, events and educational resources we bring to the community.

2. Use your influence in person, via email or social media to encourage your network of friends and associates to consider a donation to ARCA becoming an ARCA Members during this week. Let them know that you support us and why.

3.  Invite a friend to join you in attending one of ARCA’s next concerts:

  •  On Saturday, March 18 at 7:00 PM celebrating St. Patrick’s Day with Carnival of Souls;
  • On Sunday, April 2, the Grove City Touring Choir, featuring local Emlenton singer Zak Klassen, in Lincoln Hall at 2:00 PM.
  • On Saturday, April 22, a joyous New Orleans evening of blues and jazz with “Saturday Fish Fry” with Red Beans and Rice – dressing in your 50’s vintage finery.

4. Make a donation to ARCA during the Week of Giving on March 20-24 at www.bbcfgives.org – selecting your gift for ARCA. Your donation will be prorated through Bridge Builders Community Foundations match fund. If we are successful in meeting our goal we might also win additional cash and prize packages beneficial to our mission for the most individual donations and the largest grand total raised.

Scottish International Rock Band – Big Country – outside at RiverStone Farm