On Thursday, September 30, we had our first in-person fundraising event since the beginning of the pandemic and it was a huge success! We launched a new flagship fundraising campaign for the arts called “Onward Arts” and announced the establishment of the Jenifer Bartley Technology Fund in recognition of Jenifer’s tenure as the Executive Director SPEF. Attendees helped us raise more than $55,000 for Stillwater Public Schools, including $23,100 for the Onward Arts fundraising kick off and $20,500 for the Jenifer Bartley Technology Fund.
Onward Arts is our new campaign and it is our goal to increase opportunities for Stillwater Public School students to engage with the arts. In discussions with Dr. Moore and other administrators, they identified the arts as an area they would like to enrich in our district. This school year, that means sending our high school students to the McKnight Center to see STOMP and assisting the new after-school drama program at our elementary schools. This 9-week after-school program will be for 3rd-5th grade students and will be offered at each of the elementary sites. SPEF will provide scholarships for students to attend and funding for start-up expenses, such as props, scripts and transportation. This campaign is going to be a gamechanger for providing access to arts resources and programming for Stillwater Public Schools.
Also as part of the celebration, we recognized our 2020-21 teacher grant recipients for their outstanding work and their innovative grant awards that provided new resources benefit their students and schools.
Thank you to all that attended and who continue to support SPEF through their generous donations.
