Fundraising is a deeply weird thing that our society has come up with. I often like to blame my problems on capitalism, whether or not it’s justified. But I think that fundraising is a thing I can rightly blame it for. The idea that in order to put on a show we would need to ask people directly for donations, and that we can’t just receive that money directly from local systems of government is a bummer to me. We work with a lot of really talented professionals on these shows, and they deserve every penny we give them, but I can only imagine the feeling of the kind souls on my email list every time that another one of the musicals rolls around and another message pops up in their inbox entitled: “Donating to Nathan Hale Theatre”. I enjoy fundraising, and I consider myself to be pretty good at it (at least on this smaller scale). I think that it’s a great way to develop my skills in networking, and a pretty major part of why I’m going to college for Communications and Theatre comes from my time in this program. Last year I managed to get the most donors out of everyone in the program through my aggressive fundraising approach, and the most money in total (although some rather dubious means were employed for the last $240, victory was important to more people than just me). Fundraising is hard, but it’s incredibly rewarding, both in the sense that I get to put on a show and in the knowledge that the things around me were made possible in part by my own hard work, and the generosity of my community. I do not know if I will raise the most money, or have the most donors this year. This post will most likely be published after the campaign has ended. I extend my most genuine congratulations to whoever that winner may be, and to all the people who helped contribute to whatever I did end up raising. Fundraising is a deeply weird thing, but it lets this program work, and I appreciate it for that.
