Bring NYC Public School Kids to Broadway

Since 2011, Situation Interactive has partnered with MS 343, a high-performing, underserved NYC public middle school in the South Bronx, to enrich the cultural capital of its students by sending them to Broadway shows. Located in the poorest congressional district in the country, the MS 343 community suffers from a lack of equity regarding access to quality opportunities, and yet for the past 4 years it has received A's on its Department of Education progress report. Out of thousands of schools in all 5 boroughs of NYC, less than 20 can claim this incredible achievement.

Before 2011, most MS 343 students had never been on a field trip, much less seen a Broadway show. In fact, when asked, most didn't even know what Broadway was. Situation Interactive has taken it on ourselves as an agency to do everything we can to change that. Two years ago, with the help of the producers, we sent the entire school to see Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark. The Spider-Man company was so moved by the experience that they organized a day of Spider-Man up at the school where company members from on the stage or behind the scenes spoke to the kids in small groups. At the end of the day, the cast performed a few songs from the show in the school auditorium.

After sending the entire school to see Spider-Man in year one, we increased the number of touch points for the following school year. Our 2012-2013 goal was to send each grade level to an individual show, in addition to sending the entire school to see Spider-Man again. We're thrilled to have achieved that objective with the help of Lincoln Center, Signature Theater, and Disney Theatrical Group.

For 2013-2014, we've raised the bar again. With the help of partners Micah Hollingworth (Jujamcyn) and Stephen Shaw (S2BN), we challenged ourselves to expand to two more middle schools in addition to MS 343, and send over 1,400 students to Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella.

It is Situation's goal to reward students who are doing the most with the least. As a business, we see these communities as hotbeds of talent and it is in our best interest to invest in these students' futures. As people, we see awesome kids working hard who deserve fantastic experiences.

To make this a reality, we need your help! To cover ticket costs, Situation needs to raise an additional $15,000 for MS 343 and its sister schools. To demonstrate our investment in this cause, Situation Interactive has promised to match, dollar-for-dollar, the first $5,000 donated to the cause. Once our first $5,000 is raised, we will add $5,000 to the GoFundMe total. It's a win-win: your early bird donations count twice, and we'll be 1/3 of the way closer to reaching the $15,000 goal.

Thanks for helping us send NYC public school children to Broadway! To learn more about MS 343 and to hear Vincent Gassetto, MS 343 Principal, speak about the school's experience seeing Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, click here.