The Brownsville Society for the Performing Arts (BSPA) is a private, non-profit, tax-exempt corporation that seeks strategic alliances with non-profit, educational and other organizations committed to improving quality-of-life in our community through the Performing Arts. The BSPA founded the popular Brownsville Latin Jazz Festival, now in its fourteenth year, and co-founded with UTB/TSC the Brownsville Guitar Ensemble Festival, now in its ninth year. For seven years it has produced with UTB/TSC Bravo Opera Company the Halloween Hansel & Gretel Opera which has introduced thousands of elementary school age kids to the joy of Opera. The BSPA was instrumental in reinstating one of Brownsville's oldest and favorite Christmas season events: Handel's Messiah... a truly spectacular production featuring a live orchestra and well over 100 of the finest voices from UTB/TSC's Bravo Opera, the BISD Choirs, and the community at large. Since its founding in 1994, the BSPA has literally produced hundreds of music, dance and cultural events. The BSPA is a proud recipient of the largest grants ever awarded in the Rio Grande Valley to an arts presenter by both the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and the Texas Commission on the Arts (TCA). It funds the BSPA Classical Strings Endowment, the BSPA Opera Scholarship and provides significant aid to gifted UTB/TSC music students seeking a career in the Performing Arts. The BSPA is also one of the largest donors to the UTB/TSC Patron of the Arts Season, the Fine Arts Center's Signature Series Season and most programs of the internationally-recognized UTB/TSC Music Department. The BSPA is deeply involved in the Revitalization of Historic Downtown Brownsville and considers its efforts on behalf of the Capitol Theatre Restoration Project as its most important objective. The BSPA gratefully accepts private donations and offers various sponsorship and signage opportunities. For more information on the Brownsville Society for the Performing Arts, visit www.artsinbrownsville.org, email us at [email protected] or call us at 956-831-9590.