All of us here at the 402 Arts Collective would like to send out sincere THANK YOU to all who came out to our first-annual, 402 Christmas Benefit Concert that took place on December 12th, 2024. As it is with all events, one is never quite sure how it will go. Will people come? Will we be able to raise any money at all for the cause? Will everything go off without a hitch? All of us were fantastically surprised by it all and it more than exceeded our expectations. We had right at two hundred people purchase tickets and the room was warm and perfect.

As you may already have known and heard, the purpose of this event was simple, to raise as much as we could to reach a 100% annual funding goal of $80,000 for our “Student Impact Fund.” This is the fund that allows us to provide financial tuition assistance, scholarships, and mentoring programs to disadvantaged youth between the ages of 8-18 years of age. Our secondary objective was equally as simple… to have fun and celebrate with all of you! Although we didn’t hit our goal of $80k, here is the number that we were able to raise that night: (drum-roll please)

$11,839.00

This will allow us to completely fund the 25 students who have applied for financial assistance for the Winter Semester, and fund our Artist Mentorship Program (A.M.P.). We consider this a MAJOR win! Thank you so much, Omaha!

As far as hitting our secondary goal… YES, we had LOTS of fun! Everyone sang SO loud and the room was filled with Christmas cheer, smiles, and all the joy a person can handle. Below are some of the pictures captured that night (photo credits: Joe Brym & Raj Lulla)

Brett Hicks, one of our wonderful board members hosted the evening and did a wonderful job. She laid out the mission and vision of the organization and how the funds will be used that are raised. She introduced three different artist groups who performed some Christmas classic songs for the audience as a warm-up to the main act. Artist Instructor Member, Kevin McClure and his band performed a set of songs that got the crowd singing and smiling. I enjoyed seeing everyone’s eyes get big when Kevin jumped off the stage during “Feliz Navidad” and began to walk around the crowd placing the microphone in front of various guests to have them sing.

Next up was a duet by Raj Lulla, and Ben Lueders. These two gentlemen have been with the 402 Arts Collective from the very beginning. Raj serves as a board member, while Ben helps the 402 Arts Collective with branding and design. Their voices blended nicely and it was a perfect moment.

The final opener act was an up-and-coming singer-songwriter from Omaha, named Jordan Opere. He is an Artist Instructor in our Lesson Studio program as well as a full-time artist himself. You will find him performing in various venues around town this coming year.

Finally, Brett introduced the final group for the evening. Ben Shafer, who also currently serves as our Executive Director brought on stage with him a host of 402 Artist Member musicians. They proceeded to put on a show that is surely still ringing in everyone’s hearts and minds still today. The songs were powerful, and the skill displayed by the musicians was excellent. Midway through the set, Ben introduced a new face to the 402 Artist Membership, Nicole Gottsch. Nicole teaches dance in the 402 Acting Academy program and prepared a number involving tap dancing to Ben’s arrangement of “Up On The House Top.” The crowd’s face lit up when Nicole started dancing. Over all the music was incredible, but perhaps the most incredible was the sound of all the voices in the room lifted up and together singing old favorite Christmas Songs that have been sung throughout history by millions of others who have come before us. This is something you can only experience by being in the room. This is the pure power of human expression in its joyful form. It unites, inspires, and builds up. In a little way those moments that night encapsulated the power of “the Collective Way” we are always talking about here. What we can accomplish together is far more profound than what we can do by ourselves.

Please make plans to join us NEXT YEAR on Thursday, December 11th, 2025 for our 2nd Annual 402 Arts Collective Christmas Benefit Concert!

Photo Credits: Raj Lulla, Joe Brym