Laguna Beach Performing Arts Boosters’ primary purpose is to support performing arts programs in Laguna Beach Public Schools. Boosters coordinates volunteer services to enhance the operation of programs, support the students in their engagement with performing arts and promotes student participation in performing arts throughout the broader community and in higher education. Boosters collaborates with the program director, Meghan Minguez-Marshall, to enrich the student experience in the program. We provide direct program support by offsetting the costs of program related needs and facilitating high quality productions. Last year our production of Mamma Mia sold out the LBHS Artist’s Theatre for the first time in 8 years and took home 23 Macy Awards! Boosters also provides snacks and meals during tech rehearsals to help ensure the safety and well-being of our students in both the cast and crew who have committed a significant amount of their time to the program. We provide program enrichment by helping to facilitate additional opportunities such as master classes and theatre festival attendance and through fun extras like spirit wear. We award yearly scholarships to eligible seniors and we host special events like cast parties and an end-of-year banquet. Additionally, we try to provide students with more opportunities to perform and showcase their skills and talents with the community. This year, we are hosting a fundraising gala on January 20, 2024, with the goal to be able to offer more of these opportunities and to promote more community engagement and support. This is the first time that boosters has been able to host an event of this nature post-COVID, so we are very excited to make it a spectacular event. The gala will feature a meal and dessert, silent auction, and array of performances by students of the program as well as special guest performers. Attendees will be a mix of our families and important program staff, business sponsors, prominent local community members and some other very special guests.

One of the specific goals we have for this year is to be able to take students in the program to several theatre festivals both locally and nationally. These festivals help connect our students with an expanded community of like minded individuals, assists them in pursuing higher education in the arts, and gives them the chance to experience performing arts through a larger lens than what they see in their own school. This will be possible through the diligent work and effort of Ms. Minguez-Marshal and through the support of the boosters program and all of its volunteers, as well as through sponsorships and the donation of items for the silent auction at our fundraising gala that will allow us to increase the level of support we are able to get from the local community. We are requesting the donation of gift cards, tickets, vouchers, or any other items that you may be willing to contribute to our cause that we could utilize in this way. In return for your kind contribution, you will receive recognition throughout our season as a donor to the program. This includes recognition in our printed production playbills for the season, on our social media pages and various recognition at the fundraising gala itself. If you are interested in becoming a larger business sponsor, please let us know and we can provide that information. 

Programs like ours truly take the efforts of a community, and we know that sometimes a lot is asked of businesses like yours, but we hope that, like art often does, our cause moves you and inspires you to offer your support in some way. The performing arts teaches invaluable life skills that we believe benefit our students in any path they choose in life. It teaches them to express themselves creatively and emotionally as storytellers, and to view the world from a place of acceptance and understanding. It encourages empathy and respect, helps people develop a stronger self of sense-reflection and self-esteem, and develops vital communication skills. It teaches them to be role models to the next generation and it gives them the experience and tools to go forward into the future and succeed, no matter where they go. The long legacy of art is a vital part of our community here in Laguna Beach and we want our students to feel like they are part of that legacy.