Your presence in our audiences and your presents in our coffers have made this year possible. We hope you will continue both.
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Dear Friend,
The weather is cooling down, and we are turning the corner that leads to the end of 2011. At Ashé, we are preparing for an end-of-the-year flurry of activity which culminates with the 12th Annual Holiday on the Boulevard Festival, December 9-11, 2011. Watch for our calendar of upcoming events on our Facebook page (Ashé CAC) or our website www.ashecac.org.
More than 20,000 individuals have visited Ashé so far this year, and we have served an additional 5,000 people through our off-site activities. We've hosted 750 events so far this year, and we have an active rooster of over 200 regular program participants. We've shared our performance works in Louisiana with Jefferson Parish, Baton Rouge and Crowley. We've brought our performance works to Southern University in Baton Rouge and Xavier University in New Orleans. We have strategic partnerships with Loyola University, Dillard University and Tulane University. We've brought performances to Houston and Santa Fe, New Mexico. We have been doing our best to contribute to the cultural economy in New Orleans and to provide livelihoods for nearly 100 artists, contractors and staff.
Our network of partnerships and collaborations continues to flourish in New Orleans, across the country and around the world. Ashé has received three awards and commendations this year. We have traveled to Japan to share cultural healing with victims of the Tsunami. We have continued to nurture and connect with our colleagues and friends in South Africa, the Congo, Haiti, Ecuador, Venezuela, Mexico and Japan.
We are proud to have established a critical partnership with College Unbound, a national alternative education program, and Roger Williams University in Rhode Island which has launched Ashé College Unbound, a distance-learning model. The program is aimed at helping eleven New Orleans artists, culture bearers and activists earn bachelor's degrees in General Studies from Roger Williams University in two years, with a community and cultural development emphasis.
This year has been full of our efforts to create more and more ways for art and culture to serve human and community development. We are writing you to share our efforts to date and to ask you to be a part of helping us to live up to the meaning of our name (ashé: the ability to make things happen).
Please become a donor or a paying member of Ashé Cultural Arts Center, and become a part of making things happen in New Orleans and for New Orleanians. Your contribution will make a difference. The times are hard, but an ever-growing number of small donors can accomplish as much as, or more than, a few large ones.
Your contribution will assist us to:
- Complete the financing of the Venus Gardens/Ashé Apartments;
- Support our expanded hours of operation, after 6PM weekdays and week-ends; and
- Support our many cultural and creative projects with artists and culture bearers.
Your gift can be unspecified, or you are welcome to specify one of the fundraising focuses above.
We accept cash, checks, credit cards, stocks, bonds and life insurance assignment. Visit our website at www.ashecac.org for credit card donations. You can send your payment by mail to us at 1712 Oretha Castle Haley Blvd., New Orleans, LA 70113. Make check payable to Efforts of Grace, Inc./Ashé Cultural Arts Center.
Call 504-569-9070 to discuss your gift or to ask any questions.
Best wishes for a wonderful holiday season full of many warm and memorable moments.
With Sincere Gratitude,
Carol Bebelle Lloyd Dennis
Co-Founder & Executive Director Board President
Ashé Cultural Arts Center Efforts of Grace, Inc.
