“By partnering with all four regional Kids Up Front Foundations, CIBC will enrich the lives of more Canadian kids through CIBC Theatre for All. We’re excited to play a contributing role in Edmonton and applaud CIBC for making this unique investment in kids, the arts and our community.” Karla Schell, Executive Director

Kids Up Front Foundation is pleased to announce our expanded partnership with CIBC. Beginning this fall, CIBC Theatre for All will be offered by each of the four Kids Up Front Foundations located in Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton and Toronto. Prior to 2011, CIBC Theatre for All was unique to Calgary and Edmonton.

The benefits of exposure to arts and culture have long been recognized and documented, yet many Canadian kids, particularly those with socio-economic challenges, are excluded from community participation. CIBC Theatre for All will help Kids Up Front Foundation remove the financial and social barriers to give kids, who otherwise would not have the opportunity, the gift of experiencing a live arts production—theatre, dance, opera, symphony. “Tickets to the Citadel Theatre where the kids can dress up and go to an event—this had a huge impact on how special they were feeling,” says The Way In Program’s, Lisa Shortyk. In 2010, Kids Up Front Foundation (Edmonton) provided 3,000 live arts experiences through Theatre for All with the support of Edmonton’s founding theatre partner, the Citadel Theatre and other local arts partners, the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, Edmonton Opera, Alberta Ballet and Fringe Theatre Adventures. Supporting the program is easy…patrons and corporate sponsors are encouraged to donate any arts performance tickets you can’t use directly to Kids Up Front. Through collaborating with our broad network of education, health and child and family services, we’ll ensure your tickets are given to a young person who normally wouldn’t have the opportunity.

Through expanding CIBC Theatre for All, CIBC becomes Kids Up Front Foundation’s primary corporate partner in promoting arts education beyond the classroom. Together, CIBC, Kids Up Front Foundation and our community arts partners, enhance the potential to stimulate our community’s most vulnerable young people; reach future arts professionals, and; ignite the passion that can inspire a life-long connection with the arts.

“CIBC and its employees are pleased to support the national expansion of the Theatre for All program,” says Richard Nesbitt, Senior Executive Vice-President, CIBC and Group Head, Wholesale, International and Technology and Operations. “Our support for Kids Up Front Foundation is made possible through our CIBC employees, who each year donate their fees and commissions on the first Wednesday in December as part of CIBC Miracle Day. We are proud to have invested in more than 400 children’s charities last year to help make a difference for kids in need.”