San Francisco, Nayarit, Mexico – Circo de Los Niños de San Pancho (Children’s Circus of San Pancho), a non-profit organization designed to encourage artistic, technical and personal development of local children through circus and dance disciplines, needs your help to continue classes in 2020 and to plan ahead for 2021 programming. Glades Castro Perreras tells us how you can help:
Dear Friends of Circo De Los Niños,
2020 has been a very challenging year. As we all know, many organizations worldwide are suffering from Covid restrictions and closure of activities and Circo De Los Niños has faced the same struggles.
We are reaching out to you – members of our big Circo family – to ask for your help as we close the deficit gap for 2020 and plan ahead for continued programming in 2021.
Our goal is to raise approximately $3,500 dollars before the end of the December 2020. This amount will cover pending salaries and operating expenses in our current program cycle. Additionally, Circo de los Niños faces a financial challenge in 2021 due to the loss of important foundation support and limitations due to COVID that impact our ability to fundraise with live performances.
Why the deficit?
Much of our income was lost when COVID closures forced us to cancel our Spring benefit show and the entire program cycle that followed. We were fortunate that we were able to support our wonderful team of teachers at 50% of their salary throughout the COVID shutdown.
Once we received the green light to begin restricted activities, our Circo community opted to begin classes again – following all safety protocols to keep everyone safe – knowing we would be at risk of a deficit as we started with already limited funds. Forced to cut salaries and operating budget to 75% we now rely solely on student fees to cover ALL operations in this Fall cycle.
However as part of our Mission, we refrained from raising student fees. As always, our goal is to support any student who wants to participate at Circo. Despite the already low fees (approx. 100 pesos per week), more than 20% of our usual student population receive full or partial scholarships due to difficult family or financial situations.
Additionally in 2021, we will no longer receive sponsorship from the Foundation Cirque du Soleil which has recently closed. Hence, we are actively working on making a new strategic plan for the future of Circo de los Niños.
Our plan
Current strategies to increase support in the near future include:
• Parents helping other families in need. “Dream Catcher Neighbors & Grandparents” will reach out to families in our community willing to contribute an additional amount to sponsor another Circo student
• Continue the Dream Catcher Paypal Sponsorship Campaign via emails and social media
• Application to government and international grants
Worldwide, the art and cultural community is undergoing drastic transformations. Even more than ever, we believe it is critical to create opportunities for communities to come together as we do at Circo de los Niños. To do this we need your continued support.
How you can support us
A donation of any amount will help us close this years gap. A Paypal or bank deposit of $50 USD or more would go a long way and is greatly appreciated. However, if you or someone you know are feeling more generous please CLICK HERE BE A DREAM CATCHER to sign up for a Sponsorship via Paypal.
An annual sponsorship as a DREAM CATCHER DONOR is equivalent to:
• $120 USD per year = 20 weeks of play and games for our Little “Pequeños” Circo (our youngest age group is 5 to 7 years old)
• $240 per year = 9 months of Juggling and Acrobatics for 1 student (between 8 to 12 years old)
• $480 per year = 1 teen (ages 13-18) will be able to train in all the Circus disciplines including Acrobatics, Aerials and Theater for an entire year as well as fund a “Circo Social” program which takes classes outdoors in neighboring communities where access to our program is even more limited.
• $960 per year = support for a small group of our older students in a project that encourages their creative process as they specialize in a discipline that they aspire to master. In the “Compania Juvenil” the teens build their own numbers and concepts for a youth-led production.
In order to complete all of the above objectives year after year, 2021 will be a year of new strategies for fundraising and we hope you will continue to join our mission in the next seasons at Circo.
Why we do what we do
Read Circo Arts: Building more than a spectacular show in Multi Brief: Exclusive (an article written about us and the benefits of Circo such as “the development of social and emotional skills for youth who may face social issues such as trauma, violence and social isolation”).
More than ever, this message is so valuable as we commit to making a difference in the lives of more than 180 young people in our community and beyond.
The magic will continue
We invite you to click to watch “FAUSTO” BACK STAGE (a fun 3 minute video of a previous performance that captures the magic behind our shows) These experiences are proof that the Arts are so valuable for building a strong sense of community and inspiring personal growth for all the young participants. Although we miss the excitement of performing live, we know that as soon as it is safe to do so our young artists will be thrilled to share the inspirations and beauty of their life at Circo.
From all of us, thank you again for helping keep Circo dreams alive! And as a parent of a student, fan of our shows, a Dreamcatcher donor and friend, it’s an honor to share this unique experience with you. Viva Arte y Viva El Circo!
Sincerely,
Glades and the CDLN team
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