Carnegie Hall hosts kitten yoga fundraiser for humane society and arts programs

Carnegie Hall is turning its third-floor Dance Studio in Lewisburg into a small fundraiser with a big community payoff: Kitten Yoga will bring adoptable kittens from the Greenbrier Humane Society into a gentle, beginner-friendly class led by 200-hour certified instructor Jacque Minarik. The session is limited to 20 participants and is set for 10 a.m. Saturday, May 16, at 611 Church Street.

The draw is obvious, but the point goes deeper than novelty. This is a community event built to support both animal welfare and the arts in Greenbrier County, with every mat on the floor helping connect two local institutions that lean on public goodwill. For a yoga crowd used to big studio energy or polished workshop formats, the hook here is the opposite: a low-stakes, low-pressure class where the shared space is part practice, part adoption event, part fundraiser.

The price stays intentionally accessible. Members will pay $20, while nonmembers will pay $25. Participants are asked to bring comfortable clothes and their own mat, though a limited number of mats will be available. The class runs from 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m., giving the event a 90-minute window that should feel more like an easy Sunday-morning flow than a packed studio drill.

That format matters. Carnegie Hall’s classes and workshops are built as small-group learning opportunities in the spring and fall, with registration encouraged early because space is limited and the instructor sets the maximum number of students. Kitten Yoga fits that model cleanly, with a capped class size that keeps the room manageable for first-timers and leaves enough space for the kittens to do what they do best, which is soften the room without demanding much from anyone on the mat.

Carnegie Hall, Inc. describes its work around live performances, exhibits and galleries, and art education, so the fundraiser lands squarely in the institution’s lane rather than feeling like a one-off gimmick. The partnership with the Greenbrier Humane Society gives the event a clear charitable edge, and the kitten theme offers the kind of emotional hook that tends to travel well in the yoga community: a simple practice, a recognizable cause, and a setting that makes showing up feel easy instead of intimidating.