UCI Giving Day 2021

Actors have suffered enormously during the pandemic, yet they have so much to give to the community. On Giving Day, we are raising funds to support our New Swan actors, who will lead online workshops with educators, UCI students, and the public this summer, 2021. Your contributions will help our actors thrive while also building knowledge and appreciation of Shakespeare throughout the region.

Actor Support: New Swan Shakespeare Festival employs actors each summer who are UCI alumni, current Drama students, or regional professionals. Our festival and its actors rely on the generous support of patrons like you. This Giving Day is your chance to show actors that even in this virtual period, the community of Shakespeare supporters cares. 

New Swan Festival Opportunity: Your Giving Day contribution to New Swan Shakespeare Festival has a direct impact on New Swan actors.  Your gift of any amount is an investment in New Swan Shakespeare Festival’s present and future, and is one of the most powerful ways in which you can directly help actors thrive. 

This Giving Day, three generous New Swan Festival donors have provided four challenge gifts to incentivize your contribution to support actors. We invite you to participate in one of our giving challenges throughout the day to show your support of the New Swan Festival and its actors. Each time we complete a challenge, more dollars are unlocked for the actors. If all of the challenges are unlocked, we can offer $11,000 more to support New Swan actors!

Thank you for sharing the love of Shakespeare here at UCI. With your generous support, we will continue to champion the next generation of Shakespeare actors. 

 
TESTIMONIAL FROM MARY AND JOHN GILLY

“Is there no play, to ease the anguish of a torturing hour?”  - A Midsummer Night’s Dream

As fans of New Swan Shakespeare Festival since its beginning, a dark theater has been heartbreaking. It has been an especially challenging time for the New Swan actors, and they need our support to share their talents with the community until they can once again tread the boards.

Follow @ucishakespeare on Instagram, @NewSwanShakes on Twitter, and @newswanshakespearefestival on Facebook to stay up-to-date about the results!

About New Swan Shakespeare Festival: 

New Swan Shakespeare Festival is a professional Shakespeare festival located on the campus of UC Irvine in Orange County. We typically produce two Shakespearean works in rotating repertory under the stars. New Swan features students and professionals working side by side to produce scintillating Shakespearean productions in a 130 seat, 15 ton, portable, mini-Elizabethan space. The community, campus, and press have embraced New Swan’s productions, seminar series, and outreach programs.

The New Swan company is comprised of current and former students, faculty, and staff of the Drama Department at UC Irvine. Thus, New Swan is an entirely Anteater operation.

New Swan Shakespeare Festival is hosted and produced in collaboration with the Office of Research at the University of California, Irvine, the Claire Trevor School of the Arts, and the Department of Drama.