The Lively Arts Foundation's annual Nutcracker production happens this weekend with performances Saturday and Sunday. Live Arts Foundation Facebook image

The Lively Arts Foundation’s Fresno production of the Nutcracker Ballet takes place this weekend with performances on Saturday at 2 p.m. and again on Sunday at 2 p.m., and will feature over 100 local youth dancers in the performance.

The foundation will also welcome 500 students from underserved communities to attend the Saroyan Theatre performances free of charge, hoping to spread appreciation and love for the arts in Valley youth.

Lively Arts Foundation Board Member Jan Edwards expressed the importance of exposing children to the performing arts at a young age, adding that planting the seed of love for the activity in their minds at a young age keeps interest and affection for the arts into adulthood.

“It’s the first time on the big stage for many of them at the Saroyan,” Edwards said. “They are very small, up to teenage and beyond.”

The organization auditions student talent throughout the Valley, and also aims to spread awareness even further, spreading word of the performance to Valley schools as well as the general public.

“We’re sending a link of the performance so that the teachers can show it after the event,” Edwards said. “We are thinking thousands of kids are going to have the experience of ballet, and many of these kids have never seen a ballet like that — with little kids.”

Following a successful 2021 season, the organization hopes the 2022 performance will continue to trend in the right direction, continuing to rebound attendance at fine arts events after the pandemic put a halt to in-person performances.

With the foundation relying on donations from the local arts community, paired with the heightened prices of everything from venues to materials for performers, the foundation is hoping for continued support from the community.

“We’ve had dramatic increases in [the cost of] putting on events,” she said. “We are just continuing to fundraise — to have active members of our board community to support these events and help us keep going because, again, the mission is to bring the arts to Valley children.”

Tickets for the event are available for both Saturday and Sunday performances and can be purchased through the Fresno Convention Center website by way of Ticketmaster.