MISSION STATEMENT
HSPVA Friends is a private, non-profit supporting the needs of talented young artists from ten counties in the Greater Houston Area and special projects at Houston's School for Performing and Visual Arts

OVERVIEW
HSPVA Friends began in 1979 as a private, non-profit support organization which supports the needs of young artists from six to ten counties in the Greater Houston Area and special art projects at Houston's School for the Performing and Visual Arts (HSPVA). The support benefits 650 high school artists at the internationally acclaimed HSPVA; plus it provides workshops and performances for 500 middle school and elementary school students representing numerous schools in several counties, and provides stipends for the needs of deserving teachers.

The organization has a eleven-member Board of Trustees and an Advisory Board of approximately fifty civic leaders including a university chancellor, a college president, university deans and directors of music schools, corporate CEO's, foundation presidents representatives from Houston's major arts organizations, and well-known proponents of quality education in both the arts and academics. Board members have an impressive collective experience in private non-profit organization governance, fund raising, and management of endowments.

The organization conducts an annual giving campaign, three fund raising events, and makes appeals to corporations and foundations that provide private funds for the arts, education, and projects which encourage excellence and enrich our community.

In recent years, HSPVA Friends has received almost $5 million in generous support from the following: Baker Botts Law Firm, William Carleton Trust for Dance, Continental Airlines, Gardere Wynne Sewell Law Firm, Houston Chronicle, Houston Conservatory of Music, Houston Endowment Inc., The Rockwell Fund, Speros & Marian Martel Foundation, George & Mary Josephine Hamman Foundation, Foley's, The Brown Foundation, Compass Bank, Northern Trust Bank, Bank of America, Ed and Birdie Dawley Educational Trust, MOMENTUM Volkswagen, Miller Outdoor Theatre Advisory Board, Fiesta Marts, Ralph S. O'Connor and Associates, Pierce Runnells Foundation, Southwest Airlines, Volkswagen of America, Immanuel & Helen B. Olshan Foundation, Williams, Gordon and Mary Cain Foundation, among many others.