Ballet Folklorico de UCI Needs YOUR Help

Just like for many UCI students and campus organizations, the COVID pandemic has left its lasting impacts on us. For Ballet Folklorico de UCI, it is no different. We have been struggling financially to keep up with our organizations’ dues such as storage rental fees and recital venue fees. Unlike previous years, we have been unable to host our annual recital on campus due to us being ineligible to reserve UCI Drama Department Theaters. According to the school, in order to be eligible to reserve a theater, our organization must be under the university’s Drama department to be able to receive the staffing needed to host a show. Because we are a student organization that does not receive funding from any schools, we do not qualify.

This has greatly impacted our organization because we have been left to look for outside venues for our annual recital for the past two years. With these outside, private venues come additional fees. Last year, we were able to compensate venue fees with the funding we made through recital ticket sales. Due to our agreement with our current venue (Irvine Valley College) for this year, we are ineligible to charge for tickets which puts us at a great disadvantage to raise money. With our student organization being only student run, we are also at a disadvantage in terms of receiving additional support from the school. For example, our group is not allowed to reserve a dance roomon the Arts campus to practice, so we have utilized an outside area at the university to hold our practices at. This location has given us a space to meet; however, because we practice outside on concrete, the nails on our shoes wear out so easily and dancers may not always have the financial means to replace them.

Our organization is currently at risk for debt and faces potential discontinuation since we will be left with no money to pay for our monthly storage rental fee of $200.

Thanks to the help of dancers and their families, we have been able to fundraise throughout the school year. However, this fundraising is not enough to compensate for the potential fees that could have been accumulated through recital ticket sales.

We are inquiring for any donations to help the future of our organization that provides a safe space for many first generation college students at UCI. Please help us to continue our club.

Thank you so much for taking the time to read and to donate.