Through education and outreach programs, CU Ballet exposes children to the history and beauty of ballet. Working with local teachers, the company provides tickets to underprivileged youth who attend performances for free. The company also subsidizes cast member involvement where families have financial need, and provides scholarships for dancer training – including boys’ scholarships. CU Ballet boasts the highest number of male dancers in a non-professional company in Illinois.
Tickets for Families
Founded in 2001 as Tickets for Kids and renamed in 2017, Tickets for Families (TFF) is CU Ballet's arts outreach program. TFF awards Nutcracker ballet tickets to veterans and their children, as well as elementary and pre-school students who are defined by their schools as "at risk" because of financial difficulties and/or hearing, speech or physical disabilities. Over the past years, CU Ballet has donated from 150 to 200 tickets per year.
Ticket recipients, who hail from both urban and rural communities, attend The Nutcracker ballet with their families. In addition, CU Ballet donates dance-related outreach to all TFF schools to enhance ticket recipients' experiences at the theatre. Volunteers from CU Ballet administer the program and provide in-school outreach at no charge to the ballet company or to the participating schools.
The goal of TFF is to provide a rich, family arts experience to children unlikely to otherwise have access to the performing arts. Moreover, the in-school outreach aspect of the program gives these children an artistic context for the performance which they can share with their parents and siblings. We strive to provide these children and their families with an experience identical to that enjoyed by families with greater resources and/or easier access to the performing arts.
This intensive form of outreach touches children's lives. Over the past years, several children introduced to ballet by TFF have danced in CU Ballet's Nutcracker at Krannert Center for the Performing Arts, with proud family members and classmates able to watch their performances courtesy of TFF.
To donate to CU Ballet’s Tickets for Families,
Champaign Urbana Ballet is a not-for-profit organization, and contributions are tax-deductible.
Tickets for Families Premier Sponsor
Iroquois Federal Foundation