Beacon Arts & Education Foundation

11/20/2021

We've seen quite a bit of activity on this page lately--new followers and visitors. Please know that the Beacon Arts &Ed Foundation is now defunct. It has been dissolved. Beacon has a new organization to fill this space, the Foundation for Beacon Schools, Inc. FBS is a 501c3 and is now planning its first fundraising events. Please join us on that page to learn more about our work and get involved.

11/17/2019

Order Poinsettias by Nov. 27th, they will be displayed on the stage during the holiday concert, and you will be able to bring them home following the show.

07/27/2019

🎶 BAM in action! 🎶 Beacon Advocates for Music

07/21/2019

An opportunity for 8th graders from The Beacon Players:

This Season, the Beacon Players will be auditioning Beacon City School District 8th grade students for our November production of Rock of Ages. The version that we are doing is the High School Version and does not contain offending themes and language. Auditions are September 16th...

The auditions are open to all 8th grade students and we welcome students with experience and students with no experience but with a willingness to learn and be a part of something fun and rewarding. An experience that will be a positive one for everyone. Visit our website www.Beaconplayers.com, click on Student Portal, 8th Grade Ensemble Auditions for information and Audition Form

07/21/2019

From our friends The Beacon Players:

Open to ALL H.S. and 7th & 8th Graders...

So what is Theater day ? …It is September 21..a day when students from high schools in and around Dutchess County and Westchester County are invited to attend a free day of performance and technical workshops.

The event is free so that all students can attend.

We will also provide breakfast and lunch for the participants all at no charge through donation and the hard work of our Theater Day volunteers.

Students simply send an email to:

[email protected] with their name, school and grade.

Want more info - visit www.Beaconplayers.com, click on EVENTS

Hosted by Beacon High School, and Beacon Performing Arts Center, sponsored by Arts Mid Hudson, BeaconArts and Beacon Chamber of Commerce.

It is a day that is designed to provide educational theatrical guidance in various fields while students can interact with each other from different schools and talk about the things they love the most, theater.

06/21/2019

Baking perfectly combines science, patience, and artistry! These are all qualities used everyday in arts education: from grant writing, budgeting, staffing, facilities planning, and a whole heck of a lot of patience: https://blog.americansforthearts.org/2019/05/15/baking-and-arts-education-leadership-science-patience-and-artistry

Plan some summer activities that further the qualities necessary in the arts!

Summer Baking Bucket List is a group of recipes collected by the editors of NYT Cooking

06/21/2019

Plan your art-filled day trip to the this summer ☀️! Chronogram has your guide for “10 Art Exhibits to Check out This Summer”, read the full article for info on ’s 2019 Special Exhibitions, and upcoming programming.

https://bit.ly/2wAZQWD

06/05/2019

Today marks the 30th anniversary of the Calico Ball! For 3 decades this incredible program has been a rite of passage for all BCSD 3rd graders, and with this anniversary we have some incredible news to share.

After the Calico Ball was cut from the district budget in 2008, the Beacon Arts & Education Foundation had garnered financial support from the Beacon community to keep this program alive for the next 10 years. Because of your generosity, this amazing international music and dance residency has continued to exist and thrive. Now, BAEF would like to thank our Superintendent, the Board of Education and our administration for doing something we were always told was the impossible: taking back a program that had been previously cut from a school budget. From now on, the BCSD will be funding the Calico Ball in their regular budget!

Special thanks to Superintendent Matt Landahl for seeing the value of the Calico Ball after spending only one year in our district, and of course to Meredith Heuer for her tireless advocacy for the Ball and for BAEF, and for her mentorship throughout. But the biggest thank you must go to YOU - the Beacon community: our local businesses, PTOs, private citizens, and community organizations - for knowing how important this program is and doing what you can to support it for the last ten years. We couldn’t have done any of this without you!

The district taking on the funding of this treasured and unique program marks both a victory and a turning point for BAEF. Without the responsibility of maintaining the Calico Ball, BAEF will now be free to explore and introduce all manner of new programming, and with the partnership of the district and the new Arts in Education Coordinator, we can work on building a real arts in education fund for the BCSD to support many new and exciting programs in the future.

So although we will no longer be asking for your support to sponsor the Calico Ball, we hope you’ll still consider supporting BAEF as we enter the next phase of our existence. You can read more about BAEF and make an online donation of any amount by following this link: https://beaconarts.org/donate-to-the-beacon-arts-and-education-foundation-baef/

Thank you for your years of support. We look forward to a bright new future for BAEF and for arts programming in the BCSD.

Sincerely,
Lori Merhige & Anna Bergin
Co-Chairs, BAEF

The Beacon Arts & Education Foundation (BAEF) is a coalition of parents, educators, businesses and other organizations that raise funds through private donations and grants to support a more comprehensive education for the students of the Beacon City School District (BCSD).

05/21/2019

Don't forget to VOTE Today, Tuesday, MAY 21 for the BCSD Budget!

The budget helps students in the following ways:

*further decreases elementary class sizes with additional elementary position
*funds the fourth-grade instrumental music program which was grant-funded this year
*adds a business education teacher to the high school
*adds a half-time art teacher to the high school
*adds an additional social worker to the high school
*adds a variety of coursework at the high school including Intro to Italian, Computer Science Essentials, Science Research, and AP English Composition.

And it stays within the tax cap.

Proposition 2 allows us to replace older vehicles in our transportation fleet, and Proposition 3 allows us to transfer funds from a capital reserve fund to install lights at our new field behind the high school.

05/21/2019

Museum accepting summer applications