THE FRANCO CENTER IS AN IMPORTANT COMMUNITY RESOURCE

The Franco Center contributes to making Lewiston and Auburn and the surrounding community a location where people enjoy living and working and plays an important role in the community’s creative economy. For 23 years, donations and sponsorships have supported all that we have accomplished and we appreciate every dollar.

When I was reaching out to potential new sponsors for our upcoming season recently, I wanted to share with them information about our neighborhood and how important the Franco Center’s presence is in it. I coincidentally was on the USPS site looking for addresses of our neighbors within a one-mile radius of 46 Cedar Street so I could do a direct mailing to make sure our neighbors know they are welcome at our events. I selected the 25-75 age group and the result showed 556 individuals with addresses, but the really important piece of information is that their median income is only $13,950 per year. How incredibly sad! I don’t expect our neighbors to financially support us the way I would a performing arts center in a wealthy neighborhood, or one owned by a college with a built-in student population and their parents to support it, but our presence brings the arts to where it’s needed the most. We try to keep our prices low or even subsidized so that access to the arts is made more equitable. Anyway, that is a very important aspect of the Franco Center’s presence in this neighborhood and work in the community. Equitable access.
 

Our mission: We strive to honor and preserve our Franco-American heritage, and welcome our neighbors from diverse cultures through live performances, celebrations, and education.  

What we do: We provide live performing arts and events that transform and engage our audiences and that enrich our community. Franco Center is a vibrant and energetic venue where diverse stories and cultures are shared. 

Over the Franco Center’s previous performance year, August 1, 2022 to July 31, 2023, the Franco Center worked toward engaging school children in historical tours of its building and live performances. This has been achieved through communications with schools and educators throughout southern Maine. The results are that more than 200 school children have taken tours of our venue to learn about immigrants to Lewiston and more than 500 students have attended live performances with subsidized, reduced-cost or free tickets, such as a circus act, a magic act, piano concerts, and high school choir/band concerts. We believe in the statistics that show that children who get involved with the performing arts do better in school and socially.

APPRECIATION FOR PERFORMING ARTS

Live performances offer an opportunity for our audiences to see life from a larger perspective. The arts celebrate cultural differences while connecting us through shared experiences. Please make a gift or sponsor an event today to support our performances, events, and programs.

YOUR SPONSORSHIP BENEFITS CHILDREN

In the featured image, 260 Lewiston school children attended an entertaining live performance by Andrew Silver, a one-man circus with reduced ticket prices thanks to a grant from Lewiston and Auburn Children’s Education Fund. Here are a few more images from that event.

Your sponsorship of live performances, events, and programs at the Franco Center provides your business with first-rate entertainment for your clients and employees, increases your visibility with the Franco Center’s extensive network of patrons, and offers a meaningful return on your investment, with the added benefit of keeping the arts alive in our community.

RETURN ON YOUR INVESTMENT

The return on your investment brings you marketing and advertising benefits from inclusion in Franco Center publications and donor rosters, tickets, and on our marquee sign (some benefits are for sponsors, others are for advertisers; sponsors have the most benefits). Your brand is then associated with the Franco Center, artists who perform here, and thousands of people become aware of your community engagement. Larger sponsorships are available and come with additional benefits.

In addition to the return on investment provided by event sponsorship, your business demonstrates corporate responsibility by investing in a beloved non-profit organization that is enriching lives in this community. We have built strong partnerships with schools, museums, theaters, performers, musicians, and other arts and cultural organizations.

These photos highlight some of the school groups that have visited the Franco Center in the past year.

PLEASE SUPPORT THE FRANCO CENTER

Take a tour to see our Franco American displays, beautiful building, and hear stories about the heritage, culture and language that makes up the history of Lewiston and Auburn. Become a sponsor. Buy tickets to our events to show your support. Make a financial donation. Donate your time. Everything you do to help our mission makes our organization stronger.

Warmly,

Denise Scammon
Development Director

207-261-5240

 

 

If you want to see the various sponsorship levels and their benefits, CLICK HERE FOR CHART.

If you are interested in advertising in our next season Program Guide, click here for form which will give you the ad sizes and other information. An ad in our Program Guide is a good choice as we print thousands of the guides over the course of our performance season which runs from Aug. 1 to July 31.