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Tickets for Kids Champaign Urbana Ballet is a 501(c)(3) Illinois not-for-profit corporation whose goal is to promote classical ballet and offer training and local performance opportunities to community youth. Each December, CU Ballet presents The Nutcracker at Krannert Center for the Performing Arts in collaboration with Sinfonia da Camera. Founded in 2001, Tickets for Kids (TFK) is CU Ballet's arts outreach program. TFK gives Nutcracker ballet tickets to elementary and pre-school students who are defined by their schools as "at risk" because of financial difficulties and/or hearing, speech or physical disabilities. Over the past years we have donated at least 100 such tickets per year. 
Ticket recipients, who come from both urban and rural schools, attend The Nutcracker ballet with their families. In addition, CU Ballet donates dance-related outreach to all TFK schools to enhance ticket recipients' experiences at the theatre. Volunteers from CU Ballet administer the program and provide in-school outreach at no charge to the ballet company or to the participating schools. The goal of TFK is to provide a rich, family arts experience to children unlikely to otherwise have access to the performing arts. Moreover, the in-school outreach aspect of the program gives these children an artistic context for the performance which they can share with their parents and siblings. We strive to provide these children and their families with an experience identical to that enjoyed by families with greater resources and/or easier access to the performing arts. Several local restaurants join us in this effort by providing complimentary pre-theatre meals for TFK families. This intensive form of outreach touches children's lives. Over the past years, several children introduced to ballet by TFK have danced in CU Ballet's Nutcracker at Krannert Center for the Performing Arts, with proud family members and classmates able to watch their performances courtesy of TFK.
To donate to CU Ballet's Tickets for Kids, please send your gift to:
Champaign Urbana Ballet The Champaign Urbana Ballet is a not-for-profit organization, and contributions are tax-deductible.
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