Woodbine Productions: Scholarships Take Center Stage
What began as an anonymous donor’s idea 19 years ago has led to over 50 shows featuring globally recognized performers, countless opportunities for students, and over $1 million in scholarships.
With the donor’s generosity underwriting the cost of each show, the full proceeds of ticket sales fuel music scholarships for Jackrabbits. Visiting artists engage with SDSU students, offering master classes and lectures. On some occasions, students might even join the performers onstage.
Marian Beck ‘13, a Woodbine Scholarship recipient, describes the arrangement as a wheel that keeps on turning, self-perpetuating impact for both campus and community. Students of all ages can attend a Woodbine show, exposing them to opportunity in the fine arts and sparking a lasting impression. Inspired, those students go on to enroll at SDSU, benefit from scholarship support, and interact with world-renowned performers, all with the eyes of the next generation taking in the show.
Woodbine Productions empowered Marian to become the educator she was always meant to be. Today, she’s a musician on the move, acting as band director for McGovern Middle School, Garfield Elementary, and Lowell Elementary. She hopes that her students have the chance to see Woodbine Productions shows someday just as she did, noting how performances of that caliber help musicians, especially Jackrabbits, envision a similar path for themselves. Because of one donor’s dream, the spotlight is within reach.
Even though I may never know who the donor is, their kindness and generosity has greatly impacted my life. You never know what’s going to inspire a student to keep making music.
— Marian Beck
As scholarship dollars grow, premier acts make Brookings a priority, and college students learn to picture themselves in the spotlight, the wheel of Woodbine Productions never stops turning.