With their 21st annual showing earlier this month, Arts Alive has been a longtime champion of the arts in Seminole County (SCPS). On Nov. 11, they celebrated their much-anticipated yearly fundraiser dinner. Each year, 14 acts are selected to perform at the dinner, which raises profit for SCPS’s arts programs. This year, Seminole High School was well-represented at the fundraiser, with the Dazzlers, Gospel Choir, and Chorus performing to great acclamation.

Arts Alive showcases the arts that it seeks to support, and several of SHS’s own performers were selected out of the rigorous audition process to represent the performing arts.

“The toughest part about this program is narrowing the acts down to 14. This year it was out of 100 amazing acts,” said founder Dede Schaffer.

The Dazzlers performed the dance “Revolution.” Chorus sang an upbeat song called “Get On Your Feet,” and Gospel Choir performed strong with “Everybody Clap Your Hands.”

When it came to Seminole’s performances, they received an outstanding response from the audience. Many viewers were on their feet after Chorus’ outstanding song and dance number. The Dazzlers left the crowd in awe when they danced the graceful dance Revolution. Gospel Choir sang and ended the show with a strong bang.

Many other talented acts of all ages from around the county performed as well. These  included first grader Justin Roman singing “Fly Me to The Moon,” Millennium Middle’s D3 performing the dance “Mi Gente,” Alexander Pantoja singing his rendition of “I Have Nothing,” and Midway Elementary presenting an adorable musical number named “The Thinks You Can Think.”

This year, the show oversold tickets for the event and ended up raising $20,000 for SCPS schools.

The top sponsors for the event were Orlando Health and South Seminole Hospital, committed patrons of the arts who have consistently sponsored every year. The secondary “Mozart” sponsors were Cigna and WCA Waste Corporation and the tertiary “Beethoven” sponsors were Arey Jones, Central Florida Regional Hospital, DACG, Duke Energy, Scholastic, Wharton-Smith, and Dede Schaffner.

“If you attend the dinner, you pay for either a seat or a table,” said Arts Alive judge Laura Luke, an executive from Disney. “We also have a silent auction [where] you can bid on different items, we have all the gift baskets. We have a live auction as well, which is five things really over the top. That is how we make most of our money for the program.”