COUNT BASIE THEATRE INC

The Count Basie Center for the Arts continues to persevere in its mission to create shared educational, artistic, and community experiences that ignite curiosity, understanding, and joy. Our responsive, inclusive programming continued to reflect the diverse spirit and aspirations of Basie Center patrons, students, artists and staff, welcoming them to participate as their most authentic selves. In FY2025, all facets of the Count Basie Center Academy - now renamed in honor of philanthropists Fran and Paul Turner - finally joined beneath one roof as part of the Grunin Arts Education Building. The Academy welcomed nearly 1,500 students in FY2025, engaging them with a variety of experiences - from mainstage productions like "Something Rotten", "Shrek The Musical Jr.", plus Disney's "The Jungle Book"Newies", - to acting, dancing and vocal lessons, instruction in auditioning for television and film, and more. At the Count Basie Center Conservatory of Music, 473 students received regular instruction in piano, classical guitar, woodwinds, strings and other instruments, in addition to group experiences such as ensembles and orchestra. In FY2025, 345 students were scholarship recipients. Providing these scholarships and continuing to remove barriers to participation in the arts is a hallmark of the Basie Center's Forever For Everyone endowment campaign, which has raised more than $17 million towards its $20m goal. 'Forever For Everyone also supports the Basie Center Fund for Strategic Growth, which Provides funds to launch new programs, especially those which deepen our commitment to cultural competency, racial equity, and social inclusion. In line with our continued focus on promoting community and internal Diversity, Equity and Inclusion efforts, the Count Basie Center continued its efforts to train staffers to conduct DEI onboarding efforts, continued its partnership with Two River Theater to train and maintain a bilingual workforce, and continued implementations as recommended by the staff-wide DEI Task Force. Our DEI work helps inform the ways in which we engage the community through our performing arts and education programs, including events celebrating Dr. Martin Luther King, Cinco de Mayo and Dia de los Muertos. 50+ area students participated in the annual, free Louis and Gia Maria Prima Music Camp, with many of these students having never previously picked up a musical instrument. The Count Basie Center Gospel Choir headlined Basie Center stages and numerous public events, while our partners with Calpulli Mexican Dance Company continued its onsite classes and performances in promotion of traditional Mexican folkloric dance. In September 2024, the Basie Center held its first-ever Hispanic Film Festival, drawing fans, industry leaders and aspiring film and acting professionals to Basie Center Cinemas for three days of screenings, talkbacks and career workshops. The Basie Center's Breakthrough Filmmakers Fest, celebrating the state's growing community of amateur filmmakers, saw a flurry of submissions, while expanding into a year-long effort with a series of online workshops / seminars and screenings, culminating with the annual onsite festival, allowing students to see their work on the big screen while meeting and networking industry professionals. Phoenix Productions, the Basie's community theatre company, presented five mainstage presentations ("School Of Rock", "West Side Story", "Elf: The Musical", "Kinky Boots"The Color Purple"), plus productions of Bat Boy: The Musical and Peter and the Starcatcher at The Vogel. The Color Purple, featuring Phoenix's first-ever all-Black cast, took home Outstanding Direction, Outstanding Lead Actress, Outstanding Supporting Actress, Outstanding Scenic Design and Outstanding Costume Design at the New Jersey Community Theatre Association's annual Perry Awards. FY2025 was a profitable year for the company, which continues to raise the bar on accessibility and inclusion for area actors, pit musicians and stagecraft personnel. Lastly, more than 7,000 students visited the Count Basie Center campus as part of our celebrated school show program, which welcomed students from 106 schools throughout the state - from as far away as Hudson, Somerset, Union counties, plus nearby Monmouth, Ocean and Middlesex. The Basie Center subsidized more than $36,000 in event tickets and $18,000 in bus transportation.