"TAKE YOUR SEAT" Fundraiser to Support the Arts in Public Schools

FRAMINGHAM, MA -- Take Your Seat! ¡ Escoja su asiento! Reserve Seu Assento!

The Enduring Tributes Campaign (ETC) has been created by Framingham parents with the objective to Enhance and Enrich Fine Arts Education in Framingham Public Schools by raising funds through tax deductible contributions to help provide value adding resources, teaching tools and equipment to our K through 12 fine arts teachers and students.

The Framingham School Department has as an official goal to Increase Fine Arts Opportunities for Students in the Framingham Public Schools. This objective is recognized by educational leaders nationally as critical to distinguishing great school systems from good systems. For Example:

Take Your Seat, an ETC fund raising program, is seeking to provide funds for enhanced and enriched music, drama, voice, visual arts, and dance education in Framingham’s K-12 public schools. The Take Your Seat campaign is the perfect opportunity for residents or businesses of Framingham to show their support for superior public education. Take Your Seat will generate resources through tax deductible contributions for the naming rights to the auditorium seats at Walsh, Fuller and Cameron Middle Schools ($50 per seat) and the newly renovated Framingham High School Performance Center ($250 and $100 per seat). An engraved brass plaque on a display at one or more schools will provide a permanent tribute to a special student, teacher, team, group, class or family member.

The decorative lobby displays on which the engraved brass plaques will be mounted have been crafted by FPS Buildings and Grounds personnel. Current plans are for the displays to be installed in each middle school and at FHS before the start of the Thanksgiving holiday, and for each school to dedicate its display at an appropriate function to be announced.

The ETC was created because budget needs in towns with strong reputations for visual and performing arts programs are only partly met through taxes. In Framingham, ETC in partnership with the Framingham School Department and FAME (Framingham Arts Movement for Excellence) is trying to provide the additional resources. Through their tax deductible contributions, donors will help provide a broad range of services and educational resources, above what the basic school budget supports:

1. Musical instruments…. Framingham schools lack a number of key "different" instruments, such as bass clarinets, bassoons, baritone horns, sousaphones, cellos, basses, etc. that help create a well rounded band or orchestra.

2. Funding for basic musical instruments…. there is no fund from which money may be drawn to pay for instruments for kids who can't afford them.

3. Music lessons…. the superintendent's fine arts task force is developing an after school music lesson program. One goal is to find ways to help kids who can't afford lessons to pay for them.

4. Money for transportation…. so students can travel to district auditions and drama competitions. In the past, money has had to be scrounged from various sources because no money was budgeted.

5. Visual arts equipment…. such as art materials and displays, looms, printing presses, kilns, digital cameras and printers, computer digital projectors, etc.

6. Music education…. key boards, music composition software and computer work stations, sound equipment, Superscope PSD 200 music rehearsal CD systems.

7. Performing arts…. advanced stage equipment, Marley dance floor, sound booth equipment for middle schools, enhanced lighting, tools for theater shop, etc.

An official unveiling of the FHS Take Your Seat display will take place during an Opening Gala for the FHS Performance Center on Saturday November 25. The Gala will celebrate the completion of the state of the art performance venue at FHS and will feature local celebrity announcers and musical, vocal, dance and comedy performances by teachers, students and alumni of Framingham schools. More information on the upcoming Gala will appear in local papers, on local cable news, and on the framingham.com and Framingham Public School websites.

For more information on Take Your Seat, how to donate and specify your message, go to www.enduringtributescampaign.org , email info@enduringtributescampaign.org or write to ETC, P.O. Box 3512, Framingham, MA 01705. Information on-line is provided in English, Spanish and Portuguese.

David and Penny Hurwitz and Michael and Nancy O’Connell, ETC Co-Chairs
Patricia A. Zucchi and Donna Wresinski, ETC Co-Chairs and Co-Heads of the Visual and Fine Arts Department, Framingham Public Schools
Bill Sell, Member of the Superintendent's Task Force on Fine Arts Education
Stan Gibson, President, FAME (Framingham Arts Movement for Excellence)
Amy and John Styles, ETC Campaign volunteers
Kelley and Tim Kounadis, ETC Campaign volunteers
Jan and Richard Gill, ETC Campaign volunteers