Join the Cheng Generations Challenge

You look past the host as they scan your tickets. Your heart warms as you watch a teenage grandson helping his grandmother navigate through the crowd for a photo with the family. You count at least three generations, smiling and laughing as an usher helps to take their photo with the Beauty and the Beast backdrop.

You find your seat in Orchestra and notice the same family seated nearby. Grandma grins and points out details she doesn’t want her daughter and granddaughter to miss—memories that will last forever.

This is the magic you help create as a Center supporter.

This December, we ask you to join the Cheng Generations Challenge. Starting on December 1 (Giving Tuesday) and continuing through December 31, every new and increased donation to benefit Segerstrom Center Education will be doubled up to $50,000.

Over the years, you have witnessed the cumulative impact of matched gifts. The Center was built on this type of grass-roots community support, benefiting so much more than Broadway, dance, and jazz. 

In fact, last season we served nearly 200,000 children—13 percent more than in the prior season. We hosted over 4,000 performances in classrooms, workshops, and assemblies for 326 schools. Nearly half of our education programing serves under-resourced students and families, largely due to community support.

Our popular Family Series in Samueli Theater showcases international companies performing stories that engage children as much as their parents and grandparents. 

The Family Series also offers sensory-friendly performances of select shows that are performed in the darkened theater with lower sound—no loud sounds or bright lights. We allow phones, laptops, weighted lap blankets, and stress toys to help calm those audience members who can enjoy the show better with these tools. There is also a low-sensory space where anyone can take a break if needed. Children are thrilled to go to a show just like their friends at school, and families love seeing them included in these events.

For every generation who visits the Center, we offer far more than wheelchair and walker 
assistance. Depending on the performance and availability, we provide live open captioning with WatchWorld glasses, ASL-interpretated performances, Braille and large print programs, assisted listening devices, and tote bags loaded with sensory tools.

Studio D: Arts School for All Abilities welcomes students, siblings, caregivers, and children without disabilities. Inclusive classes feature curriculum designed for students managing physical and cognitive disabilities to explore their full creative and social potential through dance, creative movement, music, and sensory tools. The smiles on each student’s face say it all.

With our deep gratitude to the Cheng Family Foundation, we hope their dollar-for-dollar match will inspire kindred supporters of the Center’s family-focused educational programing that is primed for our multi-generational audiences and participants as much as the presenting artists on stage.

This December, we thank you for helping us make a meaningful impact funding the Center’s Education programs. The Cheng Generations Challenge is a simple and thoughtful way to reinforce how the arts connect us across generations. Together we can make Orange County a place for every generation’s enjoyment.

To participate in the Cheng Generations Challenge, you can email Friends@scfta.org, 
call 714.556.2122, x4469, or click here.