NEWS

CATS Distributes 25,000 tickets!

How High the Moon?: CATS Produces an Exclusive Performance for Bay Area Non-Profit Service Agencies

Changing the Face of Arts Patrons in the Bay Area: Community Access Ticket Service Distributes 25,000 Tickets to Local Non-Profits
For Immediate Release: May 11, 2005

Swords to Plowshares took 12 clients to see Addicted at the Marines Memorial Theatre. Value: $420

Boys & Girls Club of Oakland took 100 youth to the East West Shrine Game. Value: $1,500

Marin AIDS Project has taken dozens of clients to hear the San Francisco Symphony.
Value: over $800

Unity Council Head Start received 180 San Francisco Ballet Nutcracker tickets for youth and families. Value: $3,600

With the consistent non-profit budget cuts and the climbing ticket prices to arts and cultural events, it’s no surprise that most of the cultural richness within the Bay Area is only accessible to people who can afford to purchase tickets. That’s the exact reason Community Access Ticket Service (CATS) opened its doors in September of 2004: to provide much needed socialization, respite, and recreation to disadvantaged populations through partnership with nearly 250 Bay Area non-profit service agencies. Since that time, CATS has distributed 25,000 donated tickets with a value of more than $500,000.

Formerly Center Stage Ticket Foundation, CATS is the only non-profit of its kind, serving as a bridge between Bay Area cultural entities and the community by aggregating donated tickets and distributing them to non-profit social service agencies.

CATS works with over 225 agencies that represent a wide variety of populations which include but are not limited to: foster families, at-risk youth, veterans, formerly homeless in transition, persons living with AIDS/HIV, developmentally and physically disabled, teens and adults in drug and alcohol recovery, dual-diagnosis patients, and low-income seniors.

Building Community Through Arts Access: An Exclusive Performance for Bay Area Non-Profit Service Agencies
For Immediate Release: April 26, 2005

Community Access Ticket Service (CATS), a non-profit providing cultural opportunities to Bay Area non-profit service agencies, is partnering with Three Wise Monkeys Theatre Company (3WM) to produce two free performances of How High the Moon? exclusively for CATS partnership agencies.

How High the Moon?, written by JC Samuels and directed by Alice Shikina, tells the story of two teenagers attempting to overcome the constraints of their past in order to move forward with their lives. Diane is dealing with her abusive father and her dreams of joining the Air Force while Habimana struggles to write an essay to get into college and tries to remember the events that forced him to flee from Rwanda.

Through partnership with 3WM director Richard Bernier and director, Alice Shikina, CATS has arranged for two free showings of How High The Moon? as well as a question and answer session with the director, playwright, and actors exclusively for agencies partnering with CATS. The show will be held at the Off Market Theatre in San Francisco, generously donated by C.A.F.E. Arts which continuously support CATS and it’s mission.

"The intimacy of Diane’s story and intensity of Habimana’s story hit you down to your core. Clients, like those with whom we work, can instantly relate to those feelings and knowing others feel them too is part of recovery.” said Zoe Kahana, CATS Executive Director.

Alice Shikina and Richard Bernier embraced the idea of presenting this work to CATS agencies.

Formerly the Bass Ticket Foundation, CATS serves as a bridge between Bay Area cultural entities and the community by aggregating donated tickets and distributing them to non-profit social service agencies that are in direct contact with disadvantaged persons. CATS partners with over 220 agencies that represent a wide variety of populations which include but are not limited to: foster families, at-risk youth, veterans, formerly homeless in transition, persons living with AIDS/HIV, developmentally and physically disabled, teens and adults in drug and alcohol recovery, and low-income seniors. Over the last six months, CATS has distributed over 25,000 tickets representing over half million dollars.

How High the Moon? will be performed for CATS agencies at the Off Market Theatre in San Francisco on Saturday, April 30th and Sunday, May 1. For more information about CATS please call 415.543.1400 or email zoe@communitytickets.org.