BIG NEWS FROM REEL KIDS + BOULDER MUSIC

WE'RE MOVING!

Beginning December 1st, 1661 Alpine Ave. Boulder, CO 80304

Kari K. (owner) in the new entry with keys!

And this is where we need your help:

We have the building.

Now we have to turn the gymnasium into our theater!!!

Beginning December 1, all Reel Kids and Boulder Music classes, rehearsals, and performances will take place in our new 18,000-square-foot home—the building formerly known as Watershed School! 1661 at Alpine Ave. Boulder, CO 80304!!

This will now be the home of Reel Kids, Boulder Music, and Organic Theater, and after more than 15 years of growing this community, it is hard to put into words how excited we are about what this means for our students and families!

We have outgrown our current space in the best possible way. For the past 14 months, nearly every one of our productions has sold out before opening night, and our upcoming production of Annie has 46 participants—the largest cast and crew we’ve ever had.

Our new home gives us room for classes, rehearsals, music, theater, filmmaking, gathering, and a whole lot more. We’ll be creating a flexible performance space with approximately 110 seats, a 35' × 25' stage, raised audience seating, theatrical lighting, professional sound, projection, curtains, and more.

And this is where we need your help:

Every curtain, microphone, light, platform, and seat helps transform an empty gym into a place where a kid gets to step onto a stage, find their people, and discover that they belong there.

We’ve launched a GoFundMe to raise the approximately $62,360 needed for the first phase of the theater buildout, and we’ve published our completely itemized budget, so you can see exactly where every dollar is going.

Oh yeah, and did I mention, we are doing all of this in one and opening December first?

If Reel Kids or Boulder Music has ever mattered to your child or your family, we would be incredibly grateful if you would help us build what comes next.

If you’re able to donate—even $10, $25, or $50—it adds up. And if donating isn’t possible right now, sharing the fundraiser is an enormous help:

DONATE HERE

There are LOTS of ways to help us build it.

Before we buy everything on our list, we would much rather reuse, repurpose, borrow, buy used, or accept donated equipment and materials whenever possible.

And you don’t have to personally own any of it to help us!

Do you have a connection at a church, school, theater, event venue, production company, AV company, or business that might be renovating, closing, upgrading equipment, or clearing out storage? PLEASE introduce us.

We are especially hunting for large theatrical curtains/black drape and rigging hardware; used professional sound equipment, particularly wireless/lavalier microphone systems; theatrical lighting and lighting infrastructure; a used professional projector of at least 8,000 lumens; sound, DMX, electrical, and other theater cabling; lumber and plywood; carpet; and other theater/building materials.

We also need painting supplies—rollers, brushes, trays, painter’s tape, tarps/drop cloths, extension poles, etc.

And if anyone has a paint sprayer we could borrow, PLEASE call me. 😂 Literally every wall in this building needs to be repainted. An automatic sprayer could save us an extraordinary amount of time.

Maybe your church replaced its curtains? Maybe your kid’s school upgraded its sound system? Maybe your company has an old projector sitting in storage? Maybe you know a theater tech who somehow knows where every piece of used equipment in Colorado is hiding??!!

We want those introductions!

Also… anyone want to buy a piano? No, seriously. 😂

We have a pristine white Kawai baby grand piano that originally cost approximately $14,000. It has been loved, cared for, and tuned regularly for the four years we’ve owned it.

And, in a spectacular bit of irony for an organization called Boulder Music, we don’t have a good use for it in the new space. We have too many pianos.

What we do desperately need are microphones for the theater.

So… anyone looking for a gorgeous white Kawai baby grand?

We’re asking only $9,000.

We would love to find it a wonderful new home and put the proceeds directly toward outfitting our new performance space. If you—or your church, school, studio, venue, music teacher, piano-loving neighbor, etc.—might be interested, please reach out.

And please spread the word!

And perhaps most importantly: WE NEED HELPING HANDS.

We’re moving everything ourselves! Yes, we are insane.

If you have a free morning, afternoon, evening, or even just a few hours and would be willing to lend a hand, we would adore you.

There is going to be a LOT to do: packing and moving, sorting and organizing costumes, setting up dressing rooms, organizing our new HUGE kitchen, getting our THREE classrooms ready for students, painting, unpacking, arranging furniture, putting things on shelves, and approximately nine million other little things we haven’t discovered yet.

You do not need theater experience. You do not need construction experience.

If you can organize costumes, label a box, wield a paint roller, carry something, put things on shelves, organize a kitchen, assemble furniture, or walk into a chaotic room and say,

“Okay, I can fix this,” we need you.

There will be LOTS more information coming soon about the move, performances, and our new home.

But for now, we finally get to say:

WE HAVE A NEW HOME.

And we cannot wait to build it with you.

Whether you can donate, share our fundraiser, connect us with equipment or materials, buy our beautiful piano, or give us a few hours of your time,

you are helping make this next chapter possible.

Thank you for being part of this community and for helping Reel Kids and Boulder Music grow into a home big enough for everything we’ve become—and everything still to come.

With enormous gratitude (and a slightly terrifying amount of packing ahead),

Kari Kraakevik, owner

Reel Kids | Boulder Music | Organic Theater, Inc.