Patron of the Arts 2026: Honoring Kathi and Larry Provonsha

2026 Patron of the Arts

Every year, SAA’s music gala brings together families, staff, alumni, and community supporters to celebrate what happens when a school takes its arts program seriously. This year, the evening included something new: the inaugural Patron of the Arts award. The first recipients were Kathi and Larry Provonsha, two people whose history with SAA runs deep and whose support touches nearly every corner of the school. If you have spent any time around this community, you already know their names. If you haven’t, this is a good place to start.

Key Takeaways

Thirty Years in the Classroom

Kathi Provonsha spent more than three decades teaching English at SAA’s high school. That alone would be a meaningful legacy. But what her colleagues remember isn’t just the years. It’s the way she did it, and the quiet, steady example she set for everyone around her.

Stephanie Ferguson (Vice Principal for the Middle School) shared something Kathi once said: that she had experienced imposter syndrome throughout her entire career. For anyone who has ever stood in front of a classroom and wondered if they were doing enough, that admission lands differently than any award ever could. “If you felt like that,” Stephanie said, “and I know how great you were, then maybe I’m not doing such a bad job either.” That kind of honesty is rare, and it sticks with people for years.

Larry’s Active Presence

When the middle school building needed a bathroom renovation, Larry Provonsha didn’t just help fund it. He came in and did the work himself. Students would walk past and spot him in there, tools in hand, and they’d stop to say hi or give him a hug on the way to class.

“It was just always Larry in there,” Greg Howell (Parent of three SAA students) said. “That’s a powerful testimony to people who want to give back, not just in a monetary way, but in a personal, blood-and-sweat kind of way.”

For the teachers who use that space every day, the renovation was a bigger deal than it might sound. The old bathroom had Pepto-Bismol pink walls and windows that opened directly to the hallway. Noise, zero privacy, no escape. Now it’s a quiet, locked space in the middle of a busy campus, and the people who work there notice it every single day. Stephanie Ferguson describes it as “a beautiful oasis in the middle of our campus where anyone can go and feel just like they’re away from everything for a minute.”

The kids who watched Larry work in that building don’t just know the Provonshas as names on a donor list. They know them as people.

Patron of the Arts 2026: The Music Connection

The SAA music program has been growing, and the Provonshas have been part of that growth at every stage. They support individual students, encourage teachers, and show up to performances. Ms. Nina (Music Teacher) mentioned being taken to the opera because of the Provonshas, and the chance to grow as a music educator outside of school walls.

When the idea for the annual music gala was first taking shape, the administration started a short list of people who might want to help build it. Larry and Kathi were among the very first names mentioned. When they were asked, the answer was immediate. “It was an emphatic, absolutely, we would love it,” said Vanessa Piersanti (Music Teacher). “From the moment they said yes, it was hit the ground running, both feet in.”

Larry’s particular skill for connecting with people and asking for support has been especially valuable in pulling the event together. Getting a gala off the ground takes a certain kind of person who can walk into a room and make things happen. Larry is that person.

Carnegie Hall

Last year, SAA’s Bel Canto ensemble made the trip to Carnegie Hall, one of the most recognized concert venues in the world. For a school choir to perform there is not a small thing. It takes months of preparation, significant cost, and community support.

The Provonshas helped make that trip possible in every way they could. For the students who went, it was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Caleb Tache (Class of 2026): “It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that I’ve gotten to have because of you. The music department has meant so much to me and my growth as a musician, as a singer, and for Bel Canto to have the opportunity to go to Carnegie, and for you to be a part of that, thank you.”

Carnegie Hall draws the world’s top performers. SAA’s students stood on that stage. The Provonshas are part of the reason they got there.

More Than Music

The Patron of the Arts award was given in the context of the music gala, but anyone who knows the Provonshas will tell you that music is just one piece of it. They are consistent supporters of SAA athletics, they contribute to the annual readathon, and they make donations to individual classrooms. They have also helped fund the kinds of capital needs that are notoriously hard to raise money for: roofs, HVAC systems, classroom renovations. These are not glamorous asks. Nobody throws a party to celebrate a new HVAC unit. But without that kind of behind-the-scenes support, schools fall apart slowly, and no one notices until the damage is already done. The Provonshas notice, and they do something about it.

Principal Matthew Jakobsons put it this way: “These are difficult things to fundraise for, but all along the way, Larry and Kathi, you have found a way to make an incredible difference in our campus.”

The Personal Part

What people keep coming back to when they talk about the Provonshas isn’t the bathrooms or the roofs or even Carnegie Hall. It’s the personal attention.

Larry and Kathi  no longer have children or grandchildren enrolled at SAA. It would be easy, and completely understandable, to pull back. They haven’t. They stay connected to students and families, find them at church after a concert and tell them they did a great job, take kids out for birthday dinners, and show up in the small ways that add up over years.

One parent described how the Provonshas would take her kids out on their birthdays, just the kids, not the parents. “They told us to stay home. They just took the kids and wanted to hang out and listen to them with an unfiltered adult presence. They didn’t just want to swoop in and be the grandparents. They actually wanted to get to know them.”

That kind of investment doesn’t show up in a financial report. It shows up years later when a kid remembers who was in their corner.

“Caring that my kids exist, caring that they are people and that they have good people in their life,” Melissa Howell (Mom of three SAA students) says, “that’s something you can’t buy, you can’t donate. You just give of yourself for it.”

A Legacy In Process

Kathi started at SAA as a teacher. Larry started as a supportive spouse. Somewhere along the way, that grew into something bigger: a shared commitment to this school and the people in it that hasn’t slowed down as the years have passed.

The Patron of the Arts award will be given each year to recognize supporters who invest in the legacy and future of SAA’s music program. Kathi and Larry Provonsha are the right people to receive it first.

If you want to support SAA the way they do, learn more about giving here. And if you’re curious about what the music program is building toward, keep an eye on the gala benefit page for what’s coming next.

This article was written to honor Kathi and Larry Provonsha at SAA’s annual music gala. Quotes have been lightly edited for clarity from video testimonials recorded in the Media Room at SAA.