5th Avenue Theatre Recieves Grant from Biller Family Foundation

The 5th Avenue Theatre is the recipient of a major grant from The Sheri and Les Biller Family Foundation to support its unique education program, the Rising Star Project. Over the next three years, the Biller Family Foundation will make a gift of $300,000 to the program, enabling the theater to expand the Rising Star Project extensively and create more opportunities for students to gain valuable insight into a professional environment, develop life skills that will serve them regardless of career path, and benefit from this massive theater enrichment opportunity. The Rising Star Project is the only program of its kind in the country.

"This grant is the largest that any educational program at The 5th has received," said 5th Avenue Theatre Managing Director Bernadine Griffin. "This gift not only supports us with a significant portion of the funds needed to maintain this exciting program, but with the stability of a three year commitment, we have the opportunity to dream, to expand the program, and to create more opportunities to engage young people from all walks of life in the magic of live theater while providing valuable professional training."

"We are proud to support something that provides such a unique arts education experience and meaningful career training opportunity. We have spoken with Rising Star students and parents and seen firsthand the theatre's ability to engage young people and change their lives," stated Sheri Biller, president, The Sheri and Les Biller Family Foundation. "We are proud to support something that provides such a unique arts education experience and meaningful career training opportunity."

"At the Biller Family Foundation, we look for program models that are replicable and exportable. At the end of three years, we plan to have a Rising Star Project Toolkit that can be shared with organizations across the country that are interested in making a similar commitment to the next generation of theater professionals," added Les Biller, founding director of the Foundation.

The Rising Star Project is a unique tuition-free program created by The 5th Avenue Theatre for teenagers across Washington State to not only encourage a passion for the arts, but also to help them achieve a fulfilling career, build a stronger sense of self, and inspire confidence in their ability to effect positive change in the world. Each year, after a selected production from The 5th Avenue season closes, over 100 students from as far away as Lake Chelan and as close as Seattle's Cleveland High School join forces to mount their own iteration of the professional production on the same stage. These students have the unprecedented opportunity to fill all functions, ranging from performance and orchestra to technical crew and production, as well marketing and fundraising, under the direct mentorship of 5th Avenue professionals. The students learn not only the professional responsibilities of the jobs they follow, but essential life skills. It costs approximately $3,500 per student to operate this program, but The 5th is committed to keeping participation tuition free to all students.

The grant from the Biller Family Foundation will enable The 5th to pursue new opportunities and ambitious growth growth for the program, emphasizing outreach to targeted schools and programs that work with youth to recruit new student participants The Rising Star Project will also support the academic needs of students by providing classrooms with teaching artists and study guidelines, as well as facilitating discussions with students following every performance. Students from a variety of schools are invited to attend a Rising Star Project performance, which for many will be their first exposure to live theater

"We admire The 5th Avenue Theatre's investment in Washington State's youth," Les Biller added. "The 5th's team of professionals has created an authentic learning environment for meaningful mentoring experiences, and at the same time, is providing quality arts-based education experiences for students, especially in areas where opportunities for arts education are limited."

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