African American Arts Technical Resource Center/Pro Arts Collective is the fiscal sponsor for UpRise! Productions. ProArts Collective, a 501C3, was co-founded in 1993 by Boyd Vance. At its founding, the organization was envisioned as a site for the promotion, production and preservation of African and African-American theatre arts. Under Mr. Vance’s artistic leadership, ProArts began to produce and present a full calendar of arts activities, including programs in local area schools and an annual dance festival. Since its inception, ProArts has produced more than 150 stage productions, festivals, concerts, music and comedy revues, art and photo exhibits, seminars, classes, and workshops.

Ballet East Dance Company has supported UpRise! Productions through the in kind donation of rehearsal space, props and costumes.  Founded in 1978, Ballet East’s mission is to focus on providing platforms for the development of dancers and choreographers, through aggressive community programming, public and private partnerships and a continual reassessment of the vision.

Sarah Hickmanand the Super Pal Universe is the newest supporter of UpRise! Productions. The Change4Change Foundation funding allows UpRise! to bring after school arts programming to youth in the Johnston/Govalle area. Community support and outreach is a core mission of the Super Pal Universe. To support this, a non-profit offshoot of the program called the “Change4Change Foundation” (C4C) has been established and will provide quarterly grants to the organization.

Southwest Key Programs (SWK) provides support through the donation of rehearsal and storage space. SWK has recruited UpRise! Productions to provide entertainment at numerous events including their recent grand opening, and partnered with UpRise! Productions’ members to provide instruction to Southwest Key Program clients via empowerment workshops.

Community Support

UpRise! Productions is made up of over twenty (25) participating artists, many of whom have made an investment in the Company by contributing their expertise free of charge. UpRise! Productions has been able to thrive as a direct result of both the artistic and administrative support from the surrounding community.