Sierra Rep Receives Elaine Symons Baker Award

Sierra Repertory Theatre staff got a surprise from the Sonora Area Foundation today, when the theater was presented with a $10,000 gift as the recipient of this year's Elaine Symons Baker Community Impact Award. The gift is named for a Tuolumne County woman who, with her brother Irving Symons, was one of the foundation's first major benefactors. It is presented each year to an area nonprofit.

"This is such an honor," said Sara Jones, the theater's managing director. "The Sonora Area Foundation's support through the years has meant so much to SRT. This is an amazing surprise, and the very definition of the award - community impact - is a core value for SRT so it is tremendously meaningful."

Foundation board members Jim Johnson, Roger Francis and Tracy Russell came to the theater to present the check to Sara and Dennis Jones, SRT's Managing and Producing Directors. The two helped found Sierra Rep, now in its 35th year. The award is in honor of the theater's 35th anniversary. The Foundation has long supported the theater, which drew an audience of about 45,000 in 2013.

More than 60 percent of audience members come from the Central Valley, Bay Area and beyond, creating an economic benefit for Tuolumne County. That impressed Foundation board members, who strive to select an organization that makes a difference in the area.

"SRT is a major part of our community both from an artistic standpoint and an economic standpoint," said Jim Johnson, Foundation Board President. "We really wanted to support an organization that does both those things for the community."

Past recipients of the award include ICES (Infant, Child Enrichment Services) and the Amador-Tuolumne Community Action Agency.