Columbia Theatre Association for the Performing Arts

Give Them a Stage. Watch Them Find Their Voice.

Every child deserves a place where they can belong, take a brave first step and discover what they are capable of. At the Columbia Theatre, the stage can become that place.

This Give More 24, our community is coming together to raise $25,000 for the Eloise Pepper Arts Education Fund and create an unforgettable summer of theatre education in 2027.

Your gift can have twice the impact.

Thanks to a generous grant from the Donald & Margaret Fuesler Foundation, housed at the Community Foundation for Southwest Washington, along with support from the Lee Family Trust, $10,000 in matching funds is available. Donations will be matched dollar for dollar while matching funds remain.

That means your $50 can become $100—and your $500 can magically become $1,000!

Your support will help young people act, sing, dance, create, learn and grow through:

• Our newly announced large-scale youth and community musical, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, bringing young performers, adults, families, artists and volunteers together

• The planned return of Missoula Children’s Theatre and its intensive, week-long theatre experience

• Summer theatre camps, classes and workshops for different ages and experience levels

• Support that helps remove financial barriers to participation

• Teaching artists, costumes, scenery, production materials and technical support

But this campaign is about so much more than producing a show.

It is about the young person who walks into a room where they may not know anyone and finds the courage to try. It is about the student who discovers there is a place for them—under the spotlight, backstage, in the rehearsal room or as part of an ensemble.

Through theatre, young people learn to listen, work as a team, take responsibility for their part, collaborate across differences, adapt when plans change, solve problems together and look out for one another. They discover what it means to contribute to something bigger than themselves.

Imagine sitting in the Columbia next summer, watching a young person take a bow on this stage and knowing that you helped put that opportunity within their reach.

Because the Columbia should be more than a place where our community comes to watch stories.

It should be a place where young people discover that their stories—and their voices—matter too.

Our goal is $25,000. Every gift helps open the door for a young person.

Give them a stage. Watch them find their voice.