A 60th Anniversary Campaign
The arts are a catalyst for a healthier, more dynamic, and empathetic society.
Since 1966, SPAC has been your summer home for arts, nature, and community. We are proud to now serve the Capital Region and beyond all year long with inspiring and accessible programs for people of all ages and interests. At SPAC, there’s something for everyone.
In 2026, SPAC turns 60! To celebrate this milestone, we are launching the Four Seasons Campaign, with the goal of raising $17.5 million. These funds will help sustain and expand vital resources to ensure that SPAC’s new and signature programming thrives for generations to come.
Your contribution to the Four Seasons Campaign will help keep a strong and vibrant arts culture alive in the Capital Region.
An investment in SPAC is an investment in artistic excellence, educational programming, community outreach, and economic vibrancy—all four seasons of the year.
The heart of our mission is to provide communal experiences around the transformative power of the arts. To this end, SPAC’s 60th Anniversary Four Seasons Campaign focuses on raising funds for four primary areas: Spa Little Theater renovation, artistic vision, education and community, and facilities and operations.
Join SPAC’s Four Seasons Campaign today.
Spa Little Theater Renovation
The beloved Spa Little Theater, a sister building to the Roosevelt bathhouses and Hall of Springs, has not been renovated since it was built in 1935 and is in pressing need of modernization and repair. Over the years, the Little Theater has hosted scores of luminaries from the performing arts world, including José Limón, Patti LuPone, Robin Williams, Kevin Kline, and John Houseman’s Acting Company, as well as being home to local companies Home Made Theater and Opera Saratoga. Recently, SPAC had the distinction of presenting Yo-Yo Ma and Emmanuel Ax together for a rare performance in this intimate space.
We are excited to completely restore this key component of our campus. The 500-seat theater will undergo approximately 17,125sf of interior and exterior renovation, including HVAC improvements to ensure energy efficiency and optimal air quality, a brand-new stage floor, new accessibility measures, floor plan changes to improve flow, and an increased number of fully renovated and accessible public restrooms.
Revitalization of the treasured Spa Little Theater, SPAC’s primary engine outside of its legendary summer season, will allow for further contribution to the cultural and economic prosperity of the city, county, and region. Naming a seat is a tangible way to become a lasting part of SPAC’s future and contributing to the Four Seasons Campaign.
Name a seat at Spa Little Theater.
To make a restricted gift to the Spa Little Theater Renovation, please contact Jana Gordon at 518-584-9330 x 102.
Artistic Vision
Now that Spa Little Theater is our all-season home, we have the unique privilege of introducing a dynamic roster of contemporary composers, choreographers, and performers from around the world in an array of genres and styles such as music, dance, theater, classical, jazz, contemporary, and folk, as well as entertaining and educational children’s programming—alongside SPAC’s established favorites in our legendary amphitheater.
In addition to sustaining our existing efforts, we seek to increase artist engagement with the community through residencies, solidifying SPAC as a home for creative thought through the commissioning and development of new work and maintaining SPAC as a safe space for our community to experience fresh ideas and cultures—all while keeping programs affordable and accessible.
We are eager to continually grow our artistic footprint by activating new spaces, collaborating with new artists, and engaging with new audiences, opening the hearts, minds, and souls of all who visit. With your support, SPAC will sustain our signature summer programs while continuing to expand our creative offerings and our artistic vision.
Education and Community
At SPAC, education and artistic programming go hand in hand. We provide year-round programs, educational workshops, and weekly classes for children and other underserved audiences throughout SPAC’s campus and in public schools across the region—serving some 50,000 people each year.
Our arts engagement efforts also include subsidizing thousands of tickets each year for veterans and farmers and their families, people with disabilities, senior citizens, and under-resourced and marginalized communities.
Our arts in education and community initiatives are free to students and families, possible only through generous members of our community who see the value of arts engagement. Together, we can continue to illuminate, educate, and inspire the next generation.
Facilities and Operations
SPAC’s community-centered ethos is inextricably connected to the ground on which we stand and the buildings in which we sit. SPAC operates a sweeping campus within Saratoga Spa State Park, employing 35 full-time staff and increasing its workforce by some 450 temporary employees each summer to support New York City Ballet, The Philadelphia Orchestra, Saratoga Jazz Festival, and Live Nation concerts.
The financial ability to remain nimble and resourceful is crucial for us to confront the ongoing material realities of SPAC’s operational administration, maintenance and upkeep, security, inevitable emergencies, and dedicated staff.
SPAC seeks to be a place of gathering and connection, where all are welcome. Help us make this possible for generations to come.
Support arts, education, and community in the heart of the Capital Region, all year long. Join the Four Seasons Campaign today.
The ability of the arts to inspire, shape, and grow a community drives SPAC’s programming and shapes who we are. We believe the arts are a catalyst to a more empathetic society, that can foster connections amongst people and promote understanding and compassion for each other and the world around us.
This is not possible without you.
For more information about SPAC’s Four Seasons campaign, please contact:
Jana Gordon, CFRE, Senior Vice President of Development | jgordon@spac.org or 518-584-9330 x 102
The Four Seasons Campaign brochure can be found here.
60 Years of Harmony
A vibrant and enduring home for the arts amidst majestic natural beauty, SPAC’s legacy is rooted in the perennial residencies of New York City Ballet and The Philadelphia Orchestra. Our legendary summers have grown to include Saratoga Jazz Festival, Live Nation concerts, Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the Adirondack Trust Festival of Young Artists, and our season kickoff, Summer SPACtacular.
While holding true to our founding commitment to the classical performing arts, SPAC now presents a wide spectrum of creative arts among the natural wonders of Saratoga Spa State Park, season after glorious season. Our year-round efforts extend beyond the performing arts and beyond our stages. SPAC enriches the lives of some 500,000 visitors annually through an expanded definition of the arts, spanning the genres of culinary, literary, visual, and healing arts—in addition to our signature programs in music and dance.
We are proud not only of our role as one of the largest and most renowned performing arts centers in the nation but also as a driving force in arts education and leader in our local economy. This transformation has been possible thanks to the visionary leadership of the SPAC Board of Directors, the loyal and generous support of thousands of patrons, members, and benefactors, and the commitment of our trailblazing government partners.
“This campaign is a labor of love that will only be possible with your help. You have made SPAC the institution it is today. You are also its tomorrow.” – Elizabeth Sobol, Chief Executive Officer, Saratoga Performing Arts Center
An investment in the Four Seasons Campaign is an investment in, and by, the communities we serve.
