As the lights fade in the Little Theater of the Higley Center for the Performing Arts, a hush sweeps over the audience. Children, who have come from all over the East Valley, wait in excited anticipation for the show to begin—a show filled with music and song and, most importantly, life lessons. A show lovingly designed for them.

For FACE (Foundation for Arts, Culture, and Education), the show is the primary focus of the Building Bridges program, and a culmination of the dedication and passion its board members and supporters have for the arts and its impact on children.

“FACE began as an advisory board to the Higley Center for the Performing Arts,” says Gil Honeycutt, the foundation’s president. “We eventually moved out on our own as a foundation for arts, culture and education for students. Building Bridges has been our focus and we hope to continue to develop it, as well as add other children’s programs.”

Based on the music of three-time Grammy award winning artist Tom Chapin, the program teaches lessons about diversity, healthy choices, tolerance, respect and environmental responsibility. Since it launched in 2008, it has brought music and social education to nearly 22,000 students from 40 elementary schools in the East Valley.

“In Arizona, the arts have been seriously defunded. There is a gap and Building Bridges is designed to help bridge that gap,” says board member Laura Barnes. “It’s not only an arts education program. At its core, it addresses important social themes, such as learning about being kind to each other, being respectful, and being caretakers for the environment. That part of it is really important.”

Rubenstrunk adds, “It’s one of those goose bump moments when you hear 1,200 children break into song that their town is a salad bowl. It gives you hope for the future.”

The classroom materials and concert, which Chapin performs once a year, are provided to schools, teachers and students at no cost, thanks to the fundraising efforts by FACE and its grassroots efforts to create awareness of the program.

“We want to expand and extend the program to reach deeper into the community,” she says. “We invite people to be involved and join the party by becoming an ambassador or sponsor. It truly takes a village.”