Compass Arts Creativity Project 2024 Annual Appeal
This is How Change Starts.
It starts when you realize that your voice deserves to be heard. You discover you can bring something into the world that wasn’t there before, that your ideas can become reality. You learn that you can be scared, and mess up, and that’s where transformation begins. Change starts when you understand that you’re not alone, and if we can face the brokenness of this world as a community, we can all begin to heal. At Compass Arts, we are creating change. Read on to find out how.
Beacon Rising Choir
The Beacon Rising choir was founded in 2017 as one of many resistance choirs that grew out of the Women’s March. Open to adult female-identifying and non-binary treble singers, the choir performs a variety of styles and genres with an eye toward interesting, powerful, and artistic literature. The repertoire is predominantly contemporary and comes primarily from female, LGBTQIA+, and BIPOC composers and arrangers who speak to the choirs’ social and environmental justice, compassionate community, and radical self-love and healing ethos. From 13 founding members, the choir is now 70 members strong.
“I haven’t sung in an organized group in years, and joining the choir brought back the joy of music and singing into my life. It also brought me a beautiful community of kind, caring, and strong women, and within weeks I felt like a welcomed and loved member of a new family. Singing these deeply spiritual and empowering songs with this group of women helps me feel grounded and connected, and I’m so grateful to be a part of it.” – BRC member Daria Morganstern
“At a time when things were really dark and lonely in my life I was lucky enough to hear about the choir. Joining Beacon Rising changed my life, it honestly brought me back to life. This circle of women are an extension of my family.” – BRC member Lisa Andretta
Drama Club at South Avenue Elementary School
The South Avenue Drama Club is a free program for students in grades 3-5, bringing the values of inclusion, resilience and teamwork to the creation of a musical theater production. In 2024, Compass Arts piloted free after school arts programs in three Beacon City School District elementary schools and Beacon High School.
“Being part of the South Avenue drama club with Compass Arts was the highlight of my child’s school year. Gwynne and Gina did an incredible job of making the program fun and accessible to all the kids and fostering a supportive community. What amazed me most was seeing my sometimes reserved kid perform in front of large audiences with no anxiety or hesitation, only excitement to share what he and his castmates had created. This is truly a testament to [Compass Arts’] ability to nurture each child’s creativity and give them a safe and encouraging space to explore and try new things.” – Jessica Spiegel, South Avenue parent
Photo by Flynn Larsen
Music and Art Classes at Astor Head Start
Since 2022, Compass Arts has been bringing free art and music classes to Astor Head Start, a federally funded program that offers early childhood education, health, nutrition and social services to children from low-income families and children with disabilities. The program serves a total of around 65 children between the ages of 2 and 5, including two self-contained classrooms of preschoolers with disabilities. Compass Arts’ classes use developmentally appropriate lessons created to align with the Head Start curriculum, guided by ongoing conversations with the Astor teaching staff. The hard-working educators at Astor have responded enthusiastically to the classes, during which they gain a moment to step back from their leadership role, enjoy the company of their students, assess how students are meeting their curriculum standards, and spend valuable one-on-one time with the children who need it the most.
“Compass Arts has helped integrate so many aspects of what we already do. It is really nice because it’s enhanced the social skills of the children. It’s also enhanced them working together, working in a group.” Michelle Wintenburg, Early Head Start Teacher
“The beautiful thing about Compass Arts [at Head Start] is the fact that it really encourages the right side of the brain that works with all of the rhythm and intonation and things like that, and brings it together. The children are able to develop concepts from a holistic perspective, and it actually formulates and helps with the language, which drives the speech.” – James Reynolds, speech language pathologist
Sliding Scale Fund
Compass Arts offers year-round, arts-based classes and workshops for all ages, from infants to adults, at our two locations in Beacon. In order to make these programs as accessible as possible, while still paying teachers fairly and supporting our operating costs, we offer sliding-scale financial assistance to all participants. If a potential student is experiencing financial hardship, they can fill out a form telling us the amount they can afford to pay, and our sliding scale fund will cover the rest. Our sliding scale fund is replenished annually by a spring fundraising campaign. So far this year, we have given away $5,437 in sliding-scale assistance and full scholarships.
“I am forever grateful to Compass Arts for creating a space for my children to experiment, play, co-create and deepen their love and understanding of music and performance, but most of all for creating a community within which my children felt seen and loved.” – A sliding-scale financial assistance recipient
Community Partners
At CACP, we are firm believers in the power of collaboration over competition. We believe that working together and sharing resources makes us all stronger. Here are some of the local organizations and institutions that have partnered with us on programming:Astor Head Start, Beacon Climate Action Now, Beacon City School District, Beacon LGBTQ Liberation, City of Beacon Recreation, Common Ground Farm, Dutchess County Office for the Aging, Fable and Sow, Fareground, Foundation for Beacon Schools, Howland Chamber Music Circle, Key of Q, I Am Beacon, Mid-Hudson Proud Families, Wee Play and area libraries, including the Butterfield Library, Desmond-Fish Public Library, Howland Public Library, and Newburgh Free Library.
Compass Arts is Committed to…
…creating programs that are accessible and affordable for students of all ages, and especially for youth who may not otherwise have access to arts programs. Exposure to the arts as a young person is life-changing. According to a National Endowment from the Arts report, youth from underserved communities who participate in arts education have more positive outcomes in academic achievement and civic engagement than their peers who aren’t involved in the arts. Furthermore, deep involvement in the arts was shown to narrow the achievement gap between students of high and low socioeconomic status.
… responding to, and evolving with, the needs of our community, especially in challenging times. We call ourselves a “creativity project” because we believe in the fundamental power of creativity to solve problems, bridge differences, energize groups of people, and empower us to work towards a better future. Our main focus is arts education, but we are dedicated to channeling that creativity into whatever support is most needed in our community. We aim to be responsive instead of prescriptive, which means constantly asking questions and trying to evolve our programming in response.
… creating learning spaces that are welcoming to all. Our ongoing efforts towards radical inclusion include staff trainings in restorative justice, anti-racism, and building skills that help us meet every one of our students where they are.
Photo by Flynn Larsen Where Your Donation Goes
Compass Arts is a 501c3 non profit organization. We are funded through paid programs, ticketed events, grants, donors, sponsorships, and two annual fundraising campaigns (the Sliding Scale Fundraiser in the spring, and the end-of-year Annual Appeal).
Our staff consists of one full-time employee and three part-time employees. Our additional teaching artists and assistants (currently 12 in total) work as independent contractors. We believe that artists and teachers are too often underpaid so we strive to keep our hourly pay rates competitive for our region. Compass Arts is overseen by a board of volunteers.
Our annual appeal fundraiser helps us with our operating costs for the coming year, including such unsexy essentials as rent; insurances; website maintenance; bookkeeping, accounting, and payroll services; registration software; grant writing; marketing; and the administrative staff hours required to organize and manage our many programs. Like many small non-profits, our organization operates on a tight margin, so every donation truly makes a difference.
Compass Arts by the Numbers
In 2024, Compass Arts Creativity Project:
– provided $5,437 in sliding scale and scholarship assistance
– ran 93 classes and camps, serving over 900 students
– offered free arts exploration activities to over 300 people at community events and farmers markets
– produced 8 performances and events, reaching over 925 people
– brought 25 weeks of music, art and movement classes to 80 toddlers and preschoolers at Astor Services Head Start
– ran 5 free afterschool arts programs in the Beacon City School District, serving 95 students
Please help us meet our $20,000 end of year goal!