Creative scavenger hunt benefits nonprofit

Make a painting, compose a song, shoot a short film, learn a piece of music — and before you do that also figure out the secret location of where you’ll complete these creative acts of art.

This is the concept behind the Share Your Voice Foundation’s first community fundraiser. It’s an interactive, creative scavenger hunt that asks participants to find the locations where they will engage in tiny acts of art, guided by professionals. The event is Sunday, April 24 from 2 to 6 p.m. It begins and ends at The Loft downtown. Tickets are $50.

Rebecca Schaffer, managing creative director of the foundation, says she wanted to create an experience out of the ordinary.

“There is something so engaging about unlocking secrets and solving puzzles. I’ve always been passionate about games, mysteries, and the power of the creative voice,” she said in prepared release. “This event embodies all of that. I can’t wait to see what people develop during the course of this scavenger hunt.”

The Share Your Voice Foundation is a nonprofit that provides empowering opportunities for people to share their own voice through the transformative, creative process and power of the arts.

Each summer the foundation sponsors the Empowerment through Performance Workshop that encourages teen participants to discover and express their talents. The students take various performance classes, guided by professionals and coaches, and spend a week preparing for a performance at the Stillwater Landing.

In conjunction with the youth workshop, the foundation also sponsors a Facilitator-In-Residence program designed to train and cultivate future facilitators to run programs in their own communities, but also return for workshops here.

The fundraiser, p(Art) of a Whole Scavenger Hunt, is raising funds for program scholarships to benefit Flathead Valley youth in need.

For the scavenger hunt, participants will use clues to map the locations. Then the art they create will become part of a puzzle. At the end, they will gather for a party with food and drinks to discover how the piecs they’ve created form a larger whole.

Schaffer, who is best known for creating the Viscosity Theatre Cabaret and her work as a theatre director at Whitefish Theatre Company, designed the event.

Jennifer Julian, board member and co-founder of The Share Your Voice Foundation, said the event is one-of-a-kind for the Flathead Valley.

“It totally represents [the foundation’s] belief that everyone has a unique voice and it’s important for that voice to be expressed,” she said. “Tapping into the creative process to help people do that and have fun at the same time is what we’re all about. And who doesn’t love a good scavenger hunt?”