You can support the community through a gift to Dell'Arte. Our founders were pioneers in the idea of "theatre of place," and we have made it our mission to enhance, enrich and entertain the place that has been our inspiration for more than three decades.

Dell’Arte believes in the cultivation and everyday application of creativity as a means of inspiring and reviving community spirit. We believe in the seriousness of laughter.

Join our "famiglia" with a tax-deductible gift supporting one of the following programs. Click here, and be sure to tell us where you’d like your gift to go.

The Dell’Arte Youth Academy

The Dell’Arte Youth Academy provides artists-in-residences at local schools throughout Humboldt County. It is comprised of in-school, afterschool and summer programs, and also the Dell’Arte Teen Ensemble, a professional-level training program for young actors. 

Research has shown that arts education helps support all aspects of a young person’s growth and development. In particular, theatre arts grow a child’s self esteem and teach students how to work creatively with others using their own language and ideas.

When supporting the Dell'Arte Youth Academy, you have two choices of where you'd like to spend your gift. You may fund operating expenses, such as classroom materials, costumes and props, technical support and teachers' salaries. You can also contribute to the Youth Academy Scholarship Fund, which goes directly to economically challenged families so their children can enroll in the Youth Academy's summer programs and Teen Ensemble.

For more information about the Dell’Arte Youth Academy, contact Youth Academy Director Steve Tenerelli at 668-5663 ext. 24.

 

 
The training of our first-year physical theatre students culminates with a residency in one of the many remote communities on the North Coast. For eight to 10 days, our students live among the people of these communities creating a theatre work for and about the community. 

A core value of Dell’Arte is the practice of “theatre of place,” or the exploration of the relationship between artists and their communities. The Rural Residency Program brings quality theatre experiences to communities that might not otherwise have an opportunity to experience live theatre.

This program seeks to have a lasting impact on each community, as well as our own community of international students, by getting them to look differently at the world around them through the simple act of creative engagement. By celebrating each community’s uniqueness, the program enlarges the worldview for all involved.

Your support of the Rural Residency Program will ensure this program will be there for the betterment of our local communities for years to come.

 

 
A premiere Blue Lake event, the Mad River Festival attracts thousands each year to our little city. Theatre, music, workshops and only-at-Dell’Arte spectacles combine in what American Theatre magazine called “the fastest growing festival of its kind in the United States.” 

Thanks to our generous local business sponsors, Dell’Arte has been able to produce and present high-caliber, world-renowned work at the festival. 

You can support the festival today, by making a donation to go toward the Blue Lake Pageant and Mobile Mask Unit. The family-friendly pageant takes place on Blue Lake’s annual citywide celebration of Annie and Mary Day. Giant puppets, masked participants, samba dancers, musicians and more take to the streets in abandoned merriment, which culminates in front of a Dell’Arte with a one-of-a-kind performance. 

However, it does take money to produce such a spectacle, and your support is gladly appreciated! In addition to paying for pageant supplies, your contribution will also go to fund Dell’Arte’s Mobile Mask Unit, which travels to various community events with free mask making supplies. These community-created masks are then distributed during the pageant so everyone can participate in the fun. 

The Annual Holiday Show Tour

For more than two decades, Dell'Arte is proud to say we've brought the magic of theatre to thousands of children on the North Coast- children who otherwise might never have the opportunity to experience a live performance.
 
Our Annual Holiday Show Tour covers a tri-county area; South to Laytonville, north to Cave Junction, Ore., east to Willow Creek, and everywhere in between. This free, family-friendly tour travels to elementary schools, community centers and neighborhood gathering places during the winter holiday season, ensuring that a little cheer gets spread throughout the land.

Since this is a free community event, it's up to you to ensure its viability. Your gift will go toward transportation costs and performance space fees.

Dell’Arte has recently entered negotiations to purchase the building where our River Campus is housed, 101-117 Taylor Way, in Blue Lake. This potential purchase has the approval of the Dell’Arte Board of Directors, as it is a sound economic move for the organization. Not only would we be paying the same amount in mortgage payments as we currently do in rent each month, but the property also includes other rental property from which we could benefit. 

 

 
As a nonprofit arts organization, Dell’Arte relies on foundation and grant support to continuing operating. However, as the current trend in the nonprofit world becomes more focused on supporting specific programs and initiatives, funds for general operating support have been drying up. 

It’s now up to individuals such as you to support our work! Make sure our phones and lights stay turned on and our rent is paid so we can continue to work on what’s important — the work created for and about the place in which we live.

Nancy Lafrenz was a gifted actor, charming clown, dedicated Dell’Arte alumnus, devoted daughter, thoughtful friend and loving wife. At the age of 31, she succumbed to cancer. A giver and leader, Nancy mentored younger students and ensemble members, spoke up when others were afraid to, and nurtured those in need.

To keep Nancy’s memory alive, the Dell’Arte graduating class of 2002 set up this scholarship fund in her honor. Each year during the Mad River Festival, Nancy’s scholarship helps fund an original ensemble-created work by Dell’Arte alumni. For more about Nancy, click here.

 

The Carlo Mazzone-Clementi Fund provides annual tuition reduction to a student seeking to train at Dell’Arte. The co-founder of Dell’Arte with Jane Hill, Paduan-born Mazzone-Clementi worked with Marcel Marceau, Dario Fo and Jacques Lecoq before coming to the U.S. in the 1950s. Dell’Arte was founded in Humboldt County in the belief that creativity blooms in a non-urban setting and that nature is the best teach of the dynamics of theatre. For more about Mazzone-Clementi, click here.

 

To support either the Lafrenz Scholarship or Carlo Fund, contact the Humboldt Area Foundation at (707) 442-2993. Or mail your tax-deductible contribution to: