Pasadena Showcase House for the Arts Opens Applications for the 2023/24 Gifts & Grants Program

The Pasadena Showcase House for the Arts, an all-volunteer, nonprofit organization with a rich history of supporting local music and arts programs, has opened applications for the 2023/24 Gifts & Grants program. 

The organization said the application period opened Thursday, Oct. 26, and will close on Nov. 30. Awardees will be notified in April 2024. Qualifying nonprofit organizations and local schools whose programs are administered and conducted within Los Angeles County, with a particular emphasis on the greater Pasadena area, are encouraged to apply. 

Suzanne Hart, President of Pasadena Showcase House for the Arts, said she was looking forward to another year of the Gifts and Grants program.  

“It is so important because it allows us to continue our legacy of supporting other nonprofits in the community that are aligned with our own mission,” Hart said. “It enables us to enrich the lives of countless people from children to seniors.”

The Gifts and Grants program is a cornerstone of the organization’s philanthropic mission and annually disburses substantial funding to local nonprofit organizations. The program has been supporting the arts since 1948 and has awarded over $23 million to support music programs, including choirs, musical theater, school marching bands, dance programs, opera, jazz bands, and orchestras. It also underwrites concerts to ensure that the joy of live music is made available to a wide range of audiences. 

Over the years, the program has evolved to include music education at all levels, music therapy for at-risk children, the purchase of instruments and uniforms, as well as other art programs. 

In the past program year, the Pasadena Showcase House for the Arts distributed up to $900,000 to 75 nonprofit organizations, making it one of the most substantial grant allocations in recent history. To date, Pasadena Showcase has contributed over $25 million to local nonprofit organizations.

“We are so excited to welcome new and returning applicants to the 2023/2024 grant application period,” Lisa Loeffler, Gifts and Grants program Chair, said. “Funding from our Gifts and Grants program provides essential financing for local arts and music programs that have been especially hard-hit the past few years. Due to the phenomenal success of the 2023 Pasadena Showcase House of Design, this year is poised to be an exceptional year.”

For more information about the Gifts and Grants program and how to apply, visit https://pasadenashowcase.org/supporting-the-arts/gifts-and-grants/. 

Funds for the Gifts & Grants program are derived from the organization’s annual Benefit, the Pasadena Showcase House of Design, one of the oldest, largest, and most successful house and garden tours in the country. This spring, the 2023 Showcase House, held in Pasadena, drew nearly 25,000 attendees. Plans for the 2024 Showcase House of Design will be announced later this year.

Aside from Gifts and Grants, the Pasadena Showcase House for the Arts also runs three regular annual music programs: the Music Mobile, which has introduced orchestral instruments to more than 130,000 third-grade students; the Instrumental Competition, which has awarded over $650,000 in monetary prizes to promising young musicians; and the Youth Concert, which has brought nearly 250,000 fourth graders to the Walt Disney Concert Hall for performances by the LA Philharmonic Orchestra.