Engagement

An arts education initiative.

For over ten years, Performing Arts Napa Valley has provided over 50,000 free and low cost tickets to elementary, middle, high school and college students throughout Napa Valley.

Modeled after the award winning Dallas Theater Center arts education program, Project Discovery provides tickets, study guides and post show workshops to Performing Arts Napa Valley performances at little or no cost. The desired result is for every young person in our diverse community to have a meaningful experience with the performing arts.

THROUGH PROJECT DISCOVERY WE…

• Offer substantially discounted student matinées to all Napa Valley schools
• Provide free tickets to all Napa Valley College Performing Arts students
• Perform Shakespeare in the Park free of charge in Napa

Please consider joining our commitment to cultivating the artists and audiences of tomorrow through a donation to Performing Arts Napa Valley. Your gift will help support our Project Discovery Initiative, ensuring that every member of our community has access to the power of performing arts.

For more information, contact Jennifer King at jking@napavalley.edu.

Shakespeare Napa Valley (www.shakespearenapavalley.org) engages and inspires our diverse communities by creating lively and innovative productions of Shakespeare’s plays and new works based on classic stories.

In 2010, Shakespeare Napa Valley (SNV)*, partnered with the City of Napa to present a production of The Taming of the Shrew in downtown Napa’s Veteran’s Park. It saw record setting attendance and renewed passion for Shakespeare was ignited in the Napa Valley through the company’s inventive storytelling of Shakespeare’s classic tale.

Since that inaugural production, SNV has produced at least one full-scale production each year, attracting audiences of over 30,000 to see their exciting, interactive, and wildly imagined productions of plays written or inspired by William Shakespeare.

A champion of original work as well as the classics, Shakespeare Napa Valley began a new plays program in 2015, with Reed Martin and Austin Tichenor writing and directing world premiere workshop performances of Shakespeare’s Long Lost First Play (abridged) with SNV. In 2019, they were in residency again to workshop Hamlet’s Big Adventure. Both went on to successful runs with the Reduced Shakespeare Company.

Along with new work, SNV has promoted a global presence with productions of The Comedy of Errors and As You Like It being presented at the UK International Youth Arts Festival in London. SNV’s Founder and Artistic Director Jennifer King directed the 2017 Czech premiere of Shakespeare’s Long Lost First Play (abridged), as well as,The Comedy of Errors (2018) and A Midsummer Night’s Dream (2019) for the Prague Shakespeare Company.

These experiences, along with associations with Arts Council Napa Valley, Theater Bay Area, Theater Communications Group, Shakespeare Theaters Association, Earth Shakes, and Globetrotting Shakespeare, have raised the profile of Shakespeare Napa Valley as a local, national, and global arts leader.

* Shakespeare Napa Valley is a program of the Napa Valley College District Auxiliary Services Foundation which serves as SNV’s fiscal sponsor.

Symphony Tierra is a project-based orchestra rooted in the creative spirit of Napa Valley. Convening once per semester, we unite professional, semi-professional players, educators, freelancers, students, and passionate community players for concerts that celebrate artistry, inclusivity, and connection. Inspired by the region’s tradition of cultivation and collaboration, Symphony Tierra offers thoughtfully curated programs that enrich our community and reflect the enduring vitality of live orchestral music.