To make a donation to the First Call Fund:
call (03) 9281 8454 or download the printable donation form
The First Call Fund was established in 2008 to enable schools that may be challenged by cost or distance to access Arts Centre Melbourne’s performing arts programs.
Since then, the First Call Fund has enabled over 15,000 Victorian students (and their 1520 teachers) to experience the performing arts at Arts Centre Melbourne, many of the first time.
An independent research study conducted in 2010 found that the First Call Fund is highly valued by schools and allows students that are financially, socially or geographically disadvantaged to take part in an experience that they would not otherwise be able to access.
The research undertaken by well respected evaluators Dr. John Owen and Dr John Macleod of Program Review Consultants also found that the opportunities provided to schools through the Fund actually contributes far more than its intended aims. Teachers are also using the experience provided through the Fund to expand their student’s social horizons, develop their appreciation of cultural places and spaces and extend their student understanding of what has been learnt through the experience.
“In many schools the arts are not central to the curriculum… The existence and participation in the First Call Fund helped lift the profile of the arts in the school…”
We are very grateful to the donors that have helped create these opportunities and we are looking forward to implementing some of the recommendations stemming from the research to create even more opportunities for students. Indeed there are still many thousands of students from metropolitan, regional and rural schools who are missing out on this early and important experience of the performing arts.
CLICK HERE TO SEE A FIVE MINUTE CLIP OF THE FIRST CALL FUND IN ACTION