San Juan Community Theatre raises over $100K at holiday festival

Submitted by San Juan Community Theatre

San Juan Community Theatre held its annual holiday festival on Saturday, Dec. 1, raising over $114,000 in support for the 2018-19 season. Attendees were treated to 1920s-themed decor by Susan Williams, Anita Welch and Cyndy Gislason, and a menu inspired by popular dishes of the same era from owner Anna Maria de Freitas and executive chef Ryan Lockhart of Coho Restaurant.

“We are so grateful to all the folks who came out to support the mission of San Juan Community Theatre,” said executive artistic director Nathan Kessler-Jeffrey. “Our holiday festival co-chairs Madelyn Busse and Susan Mazzarella did a wonderful job coordinating this event; Pat Nieman and the members of CATS were instrumental in preparing the silent auction and decorating; Cathi Nett led a gorgeous octet of Festival Singers; and a small army of volunteers all pitched in to make the night a great experience. We were thrilled to see an increase in ticket sales of more than 15 percent over last year and we want to express our thanks to everyone who helped us raise over $114,000.”

Like many nonprofit theaters, only about one-third of SJCT’s annual budget is reached through ticket sales, tuition and rental fees. The rest is supported through grants and the generous support of individual donors, especially during the holiday season.

“The most important question to me is: ‘How do we effectively steward the generosity of our holiday festival attendees to fulfill the mission?’” said Kessler-Jeffrey. “Because that’s what we’ve committed to do. So if you’re a donor, we thank you. If you’re not a donor, we hope you’ll consider becoming one this holiday season. We hope that you’ll join us in pursuing the mission of SJCT: enriching community through performing arts.”