Keep The Spirit of TSNY LA Open On The SM Pier
Donation protected
8/20/23 UPDATE: SMTS
From the bottom of my heart and the whole TSNYLA teams heart, thank you so much. This has been amazing! Your public showing of support and financial contributions successfully got us the nomination with the TSNY head office.
We have created a new company called Santa Monica Trapeze School (SMTS); we will hold the values and standards set forth by TSNY. We have all the pieces in place to operate the new business starting on September 1st - insurance, business entity, investors and funding in place in addition to a commitment by our extraordinary team of trained staff to keep the program running seamlessly.
However, we currently do not have an agreement to operate in September with the City of Santa Monica, which may lead us to bring the rig down before August 31st. We are asking that City Staff & The City Council provide a temporary license to operate the newly formed entity, SMTS, until a long term solution is completed. Given this reality, we are still accepting donations to cover unexpected legal fees.
ORIGINAL MESSAGE (7/16/23):
Local management is in a crunch to secure additional investment before the owners look externally. Kenna has already secured $60,000 in investments and needs to secure $50,000 more which is why we are now looking to you all as the community that has made TSNY LA what we are for the last 15 years to contribute what you can to this Go-Fund-Me.
Trapeze School NY: Los Angeles
The TSNY Los Angeles trapeze school is a fifteen year-old attraction, located on the Santa Monica Pier in sunny Southern California, with 4 sister locations spread across New York, Chicago, and Washington DC. The owners/founders of the school we all love are ready to retire and want to leave a lasting legacy by passing down ownership to the local management staff of each individual location. With the planned transition, opportunities abound for Kenna to level-up their approach on all fronts, ranging from marketing, branding, strategy, pricing, investments, and more.
The Team: TSNYLA's staff consists of Flying Trapeze rig coaches, Aerial coaches, Trampoline coaches, and office/support staff. The team values TSNY’s support of inclusion and support of diversity, second only to safety.
- TSNYLA staff consists of a full-time General Manager and 24 part-time employees, many of whom choose to be on the team in addition to their salaried positions elsewhere. 4 have worked directly for Kenna for more than 9 years. TSNYLA also boasts to be many of the staff's first employment, having a long history of employing local teens and residents.
- Kenna Stevens is the General Manager of the Santa Monica, CA location. She has been the General Manager since 2013, and has worked at the school since 2010. Kenna, originally from Albuquerque, New Mexico, has strong local ties developed over the 16 years she has lived and worked on the Westside of Los Angeles. While running the trapeze school for the past decade, Kenna has developed deep relationships with the local business community on the Santa Monica Pier, and the city more broadly. She was on the Santa Monica Pier Community Outreach Group, which was created post-Covid to engage locals to return to the Pier. Kenna has regularly participated in the Santa Monica Pier Leasors Association, which creates a unified voice for the Santa Monica Pier businesses in all forms of communicating with the city, including enhancing public safety on the Pier. As a strong advocate for business leadership in enhancing the local community, she oversaw hosting the Santa Monica Pier Corporation art installation at the trapeze school in 2018. She has also partnered with Santa Monica Travel and Tourism over the years.
Kenna is invested in the Santa Monica Pier community and the students and staff who she has mentored and taught for over a decades. Let's show Kenna how invested we are in her success to continue this trapeze school on the Santa Monica Pier. Donate what you can - if you would pay $90 for a single flying class today, how much would you donate to make sure Kenna is here as the owner and manager of this school in your future? Every dollar you donate makes a difference.
Thank you!
Organizer
Kenna Stevens
Organizer
Santa Monica, CA