Our Crowdfunding Groups
Our Goal
We are fundraising to send students of The Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired Theater Company to Bass Concert Hall to experience the world-renowned Broadway production The Lion King! Help us gift a young, visually impaired thespian this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity by contributing today!
The Story
The Wong Eye Institute and the Department of Ophthalmology at Dell Medical School have formed a philanthropic partnership with the Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired (TSBVI). TSBVI was established in 1856 to provide quality education to visually impaired learners in the state of Texas and serves 11,000 students statewide in varying capacities. Their campus in Austin provides students with a variety of programs and activities including a prolific theater program! They regularly create audio productions and on-stage performances.
This year, the middle and high school students at TSBVI have taken on the ambitious challenge of producing Disney’s The Lion King. Coincidentally, the touring Broadway production of The Lion King is coming to Bass Concert hall here in Austin this April. It would be an incredibly special experience for them to attend the show that they have come to know and love so well on the big stage!
The blind and visually impaired aren’t able to experience theater in the same way most people can. Their experience in the classroom and the world beyond often relies on touch and close visual inspection—not something typically had in the audience of a Broadway show. We are working very closely with Texas Performing Arts, Bass Concert Hall, and Broadway Across America to provide them with a fully accommodating experience of the show, complete with live audio description of the onstage action and a tour of the prop and scene shop. Our hope is that the students will be able to meet with the Lion King cast and interact with some of the props used in the show!
About Our Mission
This mission is being spearheaded by medical students in the Ophthalmology Interest Group at Dell Medical School. We volunteer at TSBVI on a weekly basis to connect with and learn from the community we hope to serve one day as ophthalmologists. We have grown fond of the amazing students at TSBVI. In our time together, we learn just as much from them as they do from us. We are organizing this experience to give back, and we need your help to make this happen.
A donation of any amount is greatly appreciated! Thank you for your generosity.
If you would like to sponsor a student or several students, a price breakdown is included below for your convenience:
| Student/Chaperone* Ticket | Price |
| 1 | $92 |
| 2 | $184 |
| 3 | $276 |
| 4 | $368 |
| 5 | $460 |
**Once all the student and chaperone tickets have been purchased (~30), the remaining funds will go towards purchasing tickets for the medical student volunteers to also attend the show alongside the TSBVI kids. The cost of this is included in our fundraising goal.
TSBVI is one of the largest services for the blind and visually impaired and the students are anywhere from age 6 to 22!
The Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired was established by the Sixth Texas Legislature on August 16, 1856. $185.60 covers the cost of two tickets!
TSBVI's first class of students in 1857 had three students, the oldest of which was 25 at the time!
TSBVI serves roughly 400 learners through short-term summer programs where they spend 2-7 days learning crucial life and educational skills.
TSBVI originally was created with five members of the board of trustees appointed by Governor Elisha M. Pease!
