SCF History

The Sandler Center Foundation has a unique history as it relates to the growth of nonprofit foundations. In 2007, the City of Virginia Beach decided to help strengthen the local arts community and provide a home for world-class performers. They convened a public/private partnership to build a fine arts center, which would be eventually named the Sandler Center for the Performing Arts. The building’s construction costs were paid through a variety of public sources, and privately through the monies raised by the Virginia Beach Performing Arts Foundation. The Foundation was highly successful in its fundraising efforts, and in fact, raised more than the amount needed to fulfill the cost of building the building. This success formed the basis for what is today known as the Sandler Center Foundation.

This is far from my typical in the way a foundation or nonprofit organization is conceived. A typical nonprofit organization’s development usually involves a central purpose or cause that is then addressed by the nonprofit organization with the appropriate fundraising to follow. In the case of SCF, the community was so financially supportive of creating the home for the arts that they well overshot the original goal of $12 Million. As such, the Sandler Center Foundation was created on behalf of the community to support the arts.

Over the years, the Foundation spearheaded a number of programs and initiatives loosely fitting into three categories: Childrens education and learning, community outreach in the arts, and underwriting a world-class performance annually at the Sandler Center. SCF’s physical home is in Virginia Beach, but their activities and presence stretch through all 7 of the southeast/Hampton Roads sister cities and beyond.

In December 2019, SCF reached a pivotal point in its history. Through the leadership of the Board of Directors and SCF chief executive, Lisa Baehre, they collectively decided to pursue a more focused approach to increase the impact of their work on the arts community. At the Board meetings that December, several paths for moving forward were outlined to the Board of Directors. The most extreme path involved a total shutdown of the organization and its activities to re-evaluate effectiveness and determine a strategy for moving forward.

While this extreme scenario was NOT selected in December 2019 in favor of a more balanced approach, the COVID-19 pandemic effectively forced SCF to shutdown. All arts venues were closed for 18 months and they are still recovering today.

SCF used this time to re-evaluate it’s programming, create new programs, and define a new strategic direction, which was approved by the Board of Directors in August 2023. Today, SCF is focused on being the premier funder for the arts in Coastal Virginia. They are building on the original tradition set by the community of giving back to support the arts through children’s education, community outreach and organizational capacity building for their nine resident companies and other local arts organizations, and continuing the tradition of helping to bring world-class performances to the Sandler Center.