Give
Viva voce means “with the living voice.” Debate and drama are the two disciplines where the work does not exist until someone says it out loud, in a room, in front of people. Your gift helps young people step onto that stage.
A gift here does three things: it funds the Living Voice Speech Arts Scholarship, it pays grants to Utah schools and community theaters that apply to us, and it sponsors the seasons of companies that keep their tickets affordable on purpose. We are a small foundation. Gifts of every size change what we can do next year.
The first one
On 8 August 2025, Julianne Ferguson of Stansbury was partway through a one-woman show she had staged herself, to raise money for her own college expenses. We turned up and surprised her with the very first one.
That award was one thousand dollars. For 2027 the scholarship is $6,000 — three Utah seniors, $2,000 each. How large the one after that is depends on this page.
See every student the scholarship has reached →
What a gift actually buys
What a theater program runs out of money for first is unglamorous. These are the things.
- $25 — a licensed script for a student who cannot buy one
- $150 — a guest artist workshop session at a Utah high school
- $500 — royalties for a small-school production
- $2,000 — one full scholarship. One named senior.
Any amount is welcome, and you can give whatever figure you like — these are here because “what does my $25 do” is a fair question. Any of them can be a monthly gift instead of a one-off: the form has a One Time / Monthly switch at the top, and you can cancel a monthly gift yourself at any time.
Two ways to give
To the foundation — spread across everything we do: grants to schools, districts and community theaters, season sponsorships, and the scholarship. Give below.
Straight to the scholarship — one hundred percent lands with a student, administered through Bold.org. Give through Bold.org.
Both are right. It depends what you want your money to do.
Give to the foundation
You will receive a receipt by email. Your card details are handled by our payment processor and are never stored on this website. Gifts to Viva Voce Foundation, registered as Gene C. McCombs Foundation (EIN 39-3380140), are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law. Questions about a gift: jason.wilcox@vivavocefoundation.org or +1 (801) 613-8326.