Impact Stories

As SARA continues to develop we’ll be using this blog space to share Impact Stories from our members. We all know that the arts are transformative and we want to share accounts from our members as evidence of our impact. Below is a recent statement made by Michael Stevenson, Producing Artistic Director at Capital Stage and founding board member of SARA. In addition to articulating the powerful impact of their production of Vietgone this statement is also a good example of arts advocacy. Michael delivered this statement at a recent Sacramento City Council meeting to support an allocation of the City’s CARES act funds to our hard hit cultural community. 

At that meeting the City voted in support of not only allocating the $5million Michael mentions in his statement, Council Members Steve Hansen and Eric Guerra moved to increase that total to $7.5million with unanimous support. Impact stories are powerful and we hope that you will share your successes with us so that we can post them here on the blog. Email info@artsforsac.org with your Impact Stories.

“My name is Michael Stevenson, and I’m the Producing Artistic Director at Capital Stage.

Thank you to the Arts, Culture and Creative Economy Commission for recommending the City Council approve $5 million of the Federal CARES Act to bolster Sacramento’s Creative Economy.

As you know, theatres all across the country have been shut down since mid March.

When the pandemic hit, we were forced to furlough most of our employees and drastically reduce the hours of those few who remained.  Countless designers, actors, technicians, and staff lost jobs and the hope of any employment in the theatre for the foreseeable future

Last spring we put on a production of Vietgone, by Qui Nguyen, an amazing play about Vietnamese immigrants in America during the Vietnam war.  During a talk back after the show, one of our patrons tearfully revealed that he had been a sniper in Vietnam, and the show had so moved him that it started his recovery from many years of PTSD.  After the talk back, an elderly Asian American woman approached me, took both my hands and said “thank you for putting on this show.”

Theatre builds connections and forges community like no other art form.  Non-profit theatres desperately need your help to survive.  Without your help, many arts institutions will simply fail.  We urge you to allocate the $5 million of the CARES act to Arts & Culture, and we also ask you to approve the full $20 million proposed by the Mayor’s plan to the Arts, Culture and Tourism sectors.”

Image: Capital Stage Theatre Company’s production of Vietgone