Meredith Cabezas for Motion Pacific Dance

Motion Pacific's Journey to a New Home

Story

After thirteen years at 131 Front Street, Motion Pacific needs to move. Come September of this year, the lease expires on our renovated, black-box theater studio. The Santa Cruz Seaside Company—new owners of the building and parent organization to the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk—will be using our former home as storage. We have used this studio to build our programming into what it is today. We have built a venue, a dance community, and a place to belong. Now, we need your help. Maybe you dance at the studio, maybe your kids do. Perhaps you’ve come to one of our Majesty: A Queer Dance and Variety Shows or attended Santa Cruz Dance Week. If you’re a local performing artist, you may have had the opportunity to present work with us. Perhaps you’re a renter, or have come to Noche de Salsa, or a BBQueer All Year event. It could also be that you've never been to our studio. You could live out of the state, or out of the country, and still want to support an arts nonprofit which, among other vital programming, houses a free Dance for Parkinson's class and prioritizes Queer-centered programming, “Motion Pacific is more than a dance studio! It's brought so much community and magic and movement and JOY into my life. I feel endlessly grateful to have found this space and these people.” – Dancer at Motion Pacific We do so much—together—and we want to keep doing it. If you’ve been positively affected by Motion Pacific, please consider donating to help us reach our $100,000 Help Motion Move Fundraiser goal. This goal, which represents approximately one third of our operating budget, will allow Motion Pacific to offer programming for a full calendar year. Right now, we are refining plans to partner with local arts organizations to continue the dance education aspect of our mission. Meanwhile, our search continues for an affordable, more permanent option for lease or sale. Collette Tabone, Executive Director of Motion Pacific, celebrates our upcoming partnerships and recognizes their drawbacks. “While partnership offers some sense of sustainability and advocacy for one another, shared space also means that a full scope of programming, from which the community benefits, cannot be offered,” Tabone says. There are only so many hours of studio time available. There is also the question of identity and losing a sense of home. “Constituents and community members really identify with a place. They find grounding in a place. This is why we have a third space. You have home, you have work, and then you have your third space,” she explains. We need your help to recreate this third space, in a new space. As a nonprofit which runs on both earned income—from running classes and events and renting our studio—as well as grants, losing our physical space means we are losing our primary means of generating income. We are losing our means to provide our Youth Program scholarships, our BIPOC discounts, our No One Turned Away for Lack of Funds events, our affordable tuition. While we relocate, we need to: Maintain discounted or free access to our programming Keep paying our dance teachers Rent studio space Keep core administrative staff on payroll Pay event organizers to host our shows at alternative venues Fund the cost of storage and moving out of our current studio We thank you from the bottom of our hearts. The imminent loss of our studio has impacted all of us. We deserve a place to gather, to dance, to feel safe and seen. The arts are vital for our wellbeing. With your help, Motion Pacific will remain.

Tax deductible

After thirteen years at 131 Front Street, Motion Pacific needs to move.

Come September of this year, the lease expires on our renovated, black-box theater studio. The Santa Cruz Seaside Company—new owners of the building and parent organization to the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk—will be using our former home as storage.

We have used this studio to build our programming into what it is today. We have built a venue, a dance community, and a place to belong. Now, we need your help.

Maybe you dance at the studio, maybe your kids do. Perhaps you’ve come to one of our Majesty: A Queer Dance and Variety Shows or attended Santa Cruz Dance Week. If you’re a local performing artist, you may have had the opportunity to present work with us. Perhaps you’re a renter, or have come to Noche de Salsa, or a BBQueer All Year event.

It could also be that you've never been to our studio. You could live out of the state, or out of the country, and still want to support an arts nonprofit which, among other vital programming, houses a free Dance for Parkinson's class and prioritizes Queer-centered programming,

“Motion Pacific is more than a dance studio! It's brought so much community and magic and movement and JOY into my life. I feel endlessly grateful to have found this space and these people.” – Dancer at Motion Pacific

We do so much—together—and we want to keep doing it. If you’ve been positively affected by Motion Pacific, please consider donating to help us reach our $100,000 Help Motion Move Fundraiser goal. This goal, which represents approximately one third of our operating budget, will allow Motion Pacific to offer programming for a full calendar year.

Right now, we are refining plans to partner with local arts organizations to continue the dance education aspect of our mission. Meanwhile, our search continues for an affordable, more permanent option for lease or sale.

Collette Tabone, Executive Director of Motion Pacific, celebrates our upcoming partnerships and recognizes their drawbacks. “While partnership offers some sense of sustainability and advocacy for one another, shared space also means that a full scope of programming, from which the community benefits, cannot be offered,” Tabone says. There are only so many hours of studio time available.

There is also the question of identity and losing a sense of home. “Constituents and community members really identify with a place. They find grounding in a place. This is why we have a third space. You have home, you have work, and then you have your third space,” she explains.

We need your help to recreate this third space, in a new space. As a nonprofit which runs on both earned income—from running classes and events and renting our studio—as well as grants, losing our physical space means we are losing our primary means of generating income. We are losing our means to provide our Youth Program scholarships, our BIPOC discounts, our No One Turned Away for Lack of Funds events, our affordable tuition.

While we relocate, we need to:

Maintain discounted or free access to our programming
Keep paying our dance teachers
Rent studio space
Keep core administrative staff on payroll
Pay event organizers to host our shows at alternative venues
Fund the cost of storage and moving out of our current studio

We thank you from the bottom of our hearts. The imminent loss of our studio has impacted all of us. We deserve a place to gather, to dance, to feel safe and seen. The arts are vital for our wellbeing. With your help, Motion Pacific will remain.