FORT COLLINS, Colo. — OpenStage Theatre & Company has been captivating audiences in northern Colorado since 1973. Started by Bruce and Denise Freestone at a picnic table in Fort Collins City Park, the theater company is now in its 51st season of live stage storytelling.
Sydney Parks Smith, producing artistic director for the group, said because of the Freestones, you can go anywhere in Fort Collins to see the arts.
“When Bruce and Denise Freestone started OpenStage, there was nothing in Fort Collins culturally speaking, and so what they did when they first began in 1973 in City Park was to continue to push the city to fund the arts,” Parks Smith said. “You just have to look for it and show up, and we love it if you do.”
The arts group is one of the more than 3,400 nonprofit organizations that will benefit from the 14th annual Colorado Gives Day on Tuesday.
OpenStage Theatre & Company reaches about 10,000 patrons annually. As an independent nonprofit, it works with more than 150 local theatre artists each year.
Parks Smith said each production costs anywhere from $10,000 to $50,000 that goes to set design, construction and paying actors and designers, so they rely on donations to make sure the shows go on.
“Ticket sales are about 45% of our income,” Parks Smith said. “Our biggest amount of income is our development revenue, and that is between individual donations, grants and private and business-owned sponsorships, and those make up 54% of our operating income for each season.”
Colorado Gives Day is powered by ColoradoGives.org – a year-round website featuring Colorado nonprofits. The program encourages people to "give where you live" and allows people to choose nonprofits that appeal to their passions.
“Last year, I think the donations from Colorado Gives Day made up 10% of our revenue budget, so that is a huge amount,” Parks Smith said. “These donations go into making our productions possible and paying actors and designers and bringing them to this area to create incredible art for our community.”
This year, Colorado Gives Day will have an incentive fund worth more than $1 million provided by the Colorado Gives Foundation, FirstBank and other community members.
The fund is proportionally allocated to each nonprofit that receives donations. If a nonprofit receives 1/10 of the total giving on Colorado Gives Day, it will get 1/10 of the incentive fund, meaning every nonprofit that receives a gift on Colorado Gives Day gets an added boost.
“That’s thousands of dollars, and that means so much,” Parks Smith said. “It does not matter the amount of donation, it could be $10 up to a million dollars, that will go toward supporting human beings and artists in your area to continue to do the work that we love to do and to share it with everyone.”
Colorado Gives Day has raised more than $415 million since it launched in 2010, including more than $70 million in 2022. Parks Smith said the support is incredible.
“Every little bit helps when you’re a nonprofit,” she said. “On Colorado Gives Day, that’s when I can actually sit back and go,’ Oh wow! All of these people do know that we’re here and all of these people are looking for reasons to support other people’.”
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