ATC in Your Community
Catherine “Rusty” Foley, Manager of Corporate Affairs for SRP recently shared some thoughts with us on the importance of the arts in our community.
ATC: Can you share your personal connection to ATC?
CF: In my 15 years on the Board of Trustees, I’ve seen a lot of growth in audience numbers, resulting from the increase in the quality of artistic productions. David Ira Goldstein has really taken ATC to new levels. And under the leadership of Jessica Andrews, ATC has become one of the best managed artistic companies in the nation. Because of this, ATC has succeeded in addressing the continued challenges that all non-profits across the country face. As a member of the business community, I think that ATC is the kind of arts organization that corporate Arizona can be proud about.
ATC: From your perspective, why do you think it’s important to support the arts?
CF: The arts help define and enrich the community. They create empathy across all members of our community – exposing them to new experiences and helping to build bridges of communication and understanding with each other. And they provide support to education and community development efforts.
ATC: Can you share some highlights of SRP’s commitment to the community?
CF: While the arts have always been a big part of our efforts, we also support education as well as health and human services. In education, our focus has been on science, math, the environment and teacher development efforts. We’re proud to say that 80% of our employees volunteer in a variety of organizations, providing over $700,000 in added value every year to the betterment of our community. Our core business of providing water and power is critical to our quality of life. We see volunteerism as a natural extension of this idea.
ATC: What do you think we need to do to further the arts in Arizona?
CF: We need to continue the great work we’re doing. There’s been a lot of positive growth in the arts recently. Let’s keep the momentum going by providing greater exposure to the arts for more people, particularly our community leaders. And when we allow our youth to participate fully in the arts, it has a positive affect on all of us. It should be the job of anybody who supports the arts to communicate the value of the arts in every way they can.
Many thanks to SRP for providing Phoenix production support of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night. To learn more about SRP’s commitment to the community, visit:
SRP Community Outreach
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