LOCA appreciates the FOA Foundation’s generous support. The grant will enable LOCA to continue its free and affordable programs throughout Laguna Beach. We serve hundreds annually in all age groups including those aged 50 and up at the Laguna Beach Community and Susi Q Senior Center, Waymakers Youth Shelter, Glennwood House, as well as pre-school and kindergarten children at the Boys & Girls Club of Laguna Beach. Students at Laguna Beach Unified School District campuses benefit from LOCA’s Arts in Schools combined learning program. Projects, designed to complement academic curriculum. We thank the FOA Foundation for enabling us to continue educating our entire community. – Carla Meberg, President LOCA Arts Education

Thanks to support from the FOA Foundation, we have been able to provide Theatre on the Spectrum sensory-friendly performances of Lagunatics, Matilda, and The SpongeBob Musical. These productions offer shortened, specially-adapted, sensory-friendly performances of our shows to bring live theatre experiences to those with developmental challenges who may not feel comfortable attending live performances. We work with our experts to lower volumes, omit shocking lighting design or movements, and create a viewing environment that is judgment free and comfortable.
These shortened performances have come to be some our favorites because of the kindness and pure joy we receive from these audience members. - Rob Harryman, Managing Director No Square Theater

FOA Foundation’s generous grants have enabled members of Third Street Writers to delve into the ekphrastic writing genre, generating pieces in response to artwork in the annual Festival of Arts exhibition. Our writers directly connect with the FOA artists, bridging Laguna Beach’s literary and visual arts communities. The impressive poetry, nonfiction, and fiction pieces we generate are juried and selected pieces appear in, Art Inscribed, a high-quality chapter book we produce and sell. The writers have the opportunity to present their work at a public reading event, which is now part of the FOA’s summer programming. - Amy Francis Dechary, President, Third Street Writers

The LBHS Drama program has been fortunate to receive generous grants from the FOA Foundation that have been used to help us produce scores of excellent musical and non-musical plays over the last twenty years. Our audiences are consistently astounded by our high production values, particularly by our professionally designed and built sets, which has been possible because of the generosity of the Festival of Arts Foundation. – Alexis Karol, LBHS & TMS Theater Department Director

On behalf of all the Thurston Middle School Multimedia students, thank you again for funding our Astrophotography Grant! Our students have been learning about the night sky and astrophotography. We hosted a astronomy night at Thurston in January and had the kids practice doing long exposure photos of the Andromeda Galaxy and other deep sky objects visible in the late fall/early winter night sky. Your grant of top quality equipment is helping Laguna Beach students develop a unique set of photography skills! – Andy Crisp, Thurston MultiMedia Teacher

The generous FOA Foundation grant enables us to continue fulfilling our mission of providing outstanding dance education to young artists, free community performances, and presenting world-class dance at the annual Festival. This year’s grant supports our week-long Summer Intensive dance class taught at LBHS School Dance Studio. Students will train with Jodie Gates and other faculty from University of Southern California. At the end of class the students will perform a portion of a routine taught throughout the week to friends and family. – Joy Dittberner, Laguna Beach Dance Festival Executive Director

The FOA Foundation grant has truly been a marvelous gift to our students.  With this grant, I was able to purchase canvas, paper, paint, brushes, art sets, and a few photographic supplies for the the LBHS Art and Digital Photography programs. This grant is indispensable to the continuance of our 2­D arts programs. With this grant, our students will be provided the necessary tools to express themselves visually. We will be able to purchase needed canvases, paint, drawing materials, pastels, paper, watercolors, and studio equipment. These materials are essential in helping my students get into top universities and receive scholarships to further their career in the arts industry.  – Bridget Beaudry Porter
Visual Art Teacher

The FOA Foundation has become an important partner in support of our youth education programs. Playhouse Youth Programs provide the joy of live theatre based on classic children's literature and innovative, high-quality arts education for youth. Grant support also enables low-income children to participate. It is often their first exposure to live theatre. – Ann E. Wareham, Laguna Playhouse Artistic Director

FOA Foundation grant funds made it possible to purchase the all important chorus sheet music, create a concert video, support our hard-working music director and - donate $1800 in scholarships to Laguna Beach High School music students. – Rebecca Bishop, LagunaTunes Community Chorus Board Member

Thank you again for enabling us to bring these diverse and talented musicians to the children of Laguna. We are also planning to bring musicians from the Museum series to the Senior Center for a free concert.Laguna Live! presented young artists from Chamber Music | OC Pre College Program to perform Live! streamed concerts to the Susi Q community.