If you have ever wanted to wave a magic wand and change the world, here’s your chance.
All you need is a ticket — and ideally a costume — for the Harry Potter Charity Ball on Saturday, July 28, at the Tucson Scottish Rite Cathedral, 160 S. Scott Ave.
Volunteers with the Strada Company hope Tucsonans will join in the effort to make fundraising magic for homeless students, literacy efforts and arts-related causes in Southern Arizona.
“Harry Potter is such a great story about people who are unusual and who feel they can be empowered by their own actions as opposed to passively hoping someone fixes things for them ... and that story really resonates with people,” said coordinator Michael Fenlason.
“This is a really fun, dress-up event and I think people like that 100 percent of the ticket sales go to local nonprofit organizations like Youth On Their Own, Literacy Connects, the Arizona Theatre Company Teen Program and the Tucson Fringe Theater Festival.”
Each nonprofit represents a Hogwarts house — Literacy Connects for Gryffindor, Tucson Fringe Festival for Hufflepuff, Arizona Theatre Company for Slytherin and Youth On Their Own for Ravenclaw. The funds raised will be split among the nonprofits.
An after party will follow the ball at house-specific locations — Gryffindors to The Owls Club, Hufflepuffs to Elvira's Tucson, Slytherins to Elliott's on Congress and Ravenclaws to HireWire Lounge. Check out of the ball's Facebook page for more information.
Fenlason is the artistic director for the Strada Company, a local nonprofit he co-founded in 2011 with Nicole Scott and Josh Parra to support and create parity, innovation, entrepreneurship and excellence in the visual, media and performing arts. The organization is comprised of actors, writers, artists, dancers, comedians, artisans and creators seeking to advocate for the arts, create new art and leverage technologies to create and promote art.
“We were concerned with the fact that in the performing arts in Tucson, the 20- and 30-somethings were not particularly being served as patrons or performers,” Fenlason said.
“We tried to look at performance art, visual art and all the arts and create opportunities for young people who are out of college or didn’t go to college and aren’t institutionally attached — they don’t have a gallery or work with a theater company. So we created a model for an open system to help younger people create art and maybe make some money while doing it.”
He said the nonprofit encourages diversity and welcomes people of all ages, races, religions, gender identities, political persuasions, sexual orientations and socioeconomic statuses.
Strada Company’s unique concept has resulted in a range of programs and opportunities, including Nicole’s Home for Wayward Girls, which offers women artists paid gigs in poetry, storytelling, dancing and singing, music and acting; the Persistence Project, which creates and invests venture capital for local women artists; a Fund for New Arts highlights Artists of the Week in diverse genres and offers support to artists. It has instituted the Strada Poetry Prize and will launch an online journal, “Jink,” this fall. The company also stages performances each year: In January, “Nevertheless” benefitted the YWCA and Planned Parenthood of Southern Arizona and Shakespeare’s “Tempest” was produced in April.
The Strada Company spearheads various fundraising projects to support local artists in their individual endeavors and this year it bought 250 spots to underwrite artists and arts-related organizations through Arizona Public Media on NPR (89.1-FM).
“We want to make sure that organizations and performing artists that can’t afford that exposure get the chance to be seen, and we can announce performances and support them through that platform,” Fenlason said.
Other arts beneficiaries include the Tucson Fringe Theater Festival and Arizona Theatre Company’s Teen Program, and the Strada Company’s philanthropic philosophy is extended to Literacy Connects through the Stories that Soar! program.
“They give kids the chance to tell stories and have them performed by their talented crew. The notion of storytelling is important in our culture, because it is so empowering and validating ... whether through writing, video games, movies, or short films on YouTube, most of these mediums are people trying to communicate,” Fenlason said. “Literacy Connects does a fantastic job of teaching people how to read and tell stories themselves.”
Fenlason said the Strada Company is equally happy to support Youth On Their Own, which provides dropout-prevention support for homeless and near-homeless students.
“Last year we served more than 1,700 unique kids, which was an 8 percent increase in students served over the prior year, and we anticipate serving at least that many in 2018-2019,” said Bethany Neumann, Youth On their Own’s director of development. “The need has only gone up and we don’t know if that is because more students need our services or there are more students accessing our services. We are happy to help as many students as possible, so every donation really counts.”
Neumann said third-party fundraisers such as the Harry Potter Charity Ball are essential because they help to raise much-needed funds while also promoting awareness about the reality for students who struggle to stay in school while unaccompanied or homeless. These students often fly under the radar by staying with friends or family members; many have left home due to physical, sexual or substance abuse and violence, while others face abandonment due to poverty or parental incarceration.
“It is really helpful to get the word out to businesses, churches, and social and service groups and other organized networks so folks can help others to understand the need out there and see that there is an organization in Tucson to help fill that need,” Neumann said.
A version of this story by Loni Nannini appeared in the Arizona Daily Star July 10, 2018.
If you go
What: Second Annual Harry Potter Charity Ball
When: Saturday, July 28 at 5:30 p.m. for VIP entry; 7 p.m. for regular admission .
Where: Tucson Scottish Rite Cathedral, 160 S. Scott Ave.
Cost: $15 per person; must be 21 or older to attend. $50 per person for VIP tickets. Purchase tickets by 6 p.m. July 27.
More info: Costumes are encouraged at this event, which includes a cash bar, wizardly nosh, games and quizzes with prizes, music and dancing. The event is not affiliated with the "Harry Potter" books or movies. For tickets or more information, click here or visit stradacompany.org.
After parties for Hogwarts houses will follow. Visit the ball Facebook event for more information.
