Charlottesville Ballet is starting a new Sponsorship Spotlight on the CB Blog! Each month we’ll feature a different CB Corporate Sponsor and share a little bit about what our organization means to theirs and what theirs means to the Ballet. We are delighted to announce that our first featured corporate sponsor will be the Trager Brothers Coffee of Nelson County! William Trager, President of TBC, has written an open letter below:
Quality, community, and sustainability – this is the mission of Trager Brothers Coffee. It is who we are. It is the code by which we live and work. Quality: in the coffee we source and the product we provide. Community: in the relationships we build locally, domestically, and internationally. Sustainability: in the commitment we share with our partner Organic farms and co-ops in how we run our business. TBC is locally owned and family operated. We get up early everyday, roast on cool antique machines, while striving to move through this world in a way that touches the environment lightly and serves the community around us.
William Trager, TBC President and CBA Dad
We are truly fortunate to live in an area with such a vibrant Arts scene. Our TBC team is a family of artists, musicians, actors, an apprentice glass blower and one Zen 7th degree black belt Master Roaster. Our Afton Roastery is aptly located in the former Hammond Black Box Theatre space. It is not unusual to hear baristas singing as they make a latte, catch an impromptu concert by customers on the Roastery patio or see local artists’ works on the walls. We love the joy, openness and community that the Arts provide, We are honored to be sponsors of the Charlottesville Ballet. CBA’s commitment to community outreach, creative works, and quality productions has touched us deeply.
On a personal note, my brother Joe and I, grew up in Seattle, Washington. It is only fitting that an indelible part of our family’s Holiday experience was attending the Pacific Northwest Ballet’s production of the Nutcracker every year. It was our father (the scientist) that taught us that it is at the very intersection where Art meets Science that we find Truth, sparks of creativity that lead to innovation and ultimately “moments of clarity”.
It had been 30 years since I last saw the Nutcracker, until this seasons CBA production where I was lucky enough to watch my own daughter, Olivia, perform. I was immediately captivated by the music, the lights, the costumes, while thinking of my own deceased Father and his love for the ballet. The connection of a Father, a son, who is now a parent watching their child while feeling the gap of space, time, one’s own childhood memories, and Human experience close through Art. I was fundamentally moved and it is know a memory that I will hold close to my heart forever.
I thank Olivia who worked so hard to prove to me that she indeed does have a passion for ballet, I thank CBA, and the greater CBA community for providing the medium and space for this deeply personal, yet shared experience. Generations melt, as my daughter becomes a part of my own childhood experience and new traditions are born. This is what Art is all about, the power to fundamentally move people, to make us feel connections that can only be expressed and realized through the Arts. Thank you.
William Trager President, Trager Brothers Coffee, Inc. Vice President, Higher Grounds, Inc.
Thank you Trager Brothers Coffee for helping Charlottesville Ballet “Build The Future” of dance in our 2015 expansion, and for supporting the arts and keeping dance alive in Charlottesville and the greater Central Virginia region!
