Photo Coverage: 'THIS IS TISCH!' 2009 Honors Gala Event

On Monday, November 2nd at the renowned Frederick P. Rose Hall, home of Jazz at Lincoln Center, This is Tisch! honored Academy Award® winning producer Brian Grazer, two-time Academy Award® winning director Ron Howard, Academy Award® and Tony Award® winning actress and Tisch alumna Marcia Gay Harden, arts philanthropist Diana King, and Academy Award®, Emmy Award® and Peabody Award® winning Sheila Nevins, President of HBO Documentary Films.

This is Tisch! is more than a fundraising event or a gala dinner. It is a celebration of some of the nation's most distinguished artists and philanthropists with students and alumni performing live at the Frederick P. Rose Hall. The star-studded performance was produced by Ken Davenport and directed by Stafford Arima. Past Tisch galas have included performances from Tony Award® winning Broadway shows such as Spring Awakening and from some of the entertainment industry's most celebrated talent such as Billy Crystal, Jerry Seinfeld, Wyclef Jean, Bill Cosby, Elaine Stritch, Raúl Esparza and Jesse L. Martin.

Presenters at This is Tisch! included CEO & President of Sony Corporation, Sir Howard Stringer, director Spike Lee '82/'98, Co-President of HBO, Richard Plepler and Pulitzer Prize winning playwright Tony Kushner '84. The gala will raise vital funds to recruit, enroll and train the most talented young artists from around the world, regardless of their ability to pay.

For more than 40 years, Tisch School of the Arts has drawn on the vast resources of New York City and New York University to create an extraordinary training ground for the individual artist and scholar of the arts. Students learn their craft in a spirited, risk-taking environment that combines the professional training of a conservatory with the liberal arts education of a major research university.

As one of the nation's leading centers of undergraduate and graduate study in the performing and cinematic arts, Tisch offers programs of study that incorporate state-of-the-art facilities; a collaboratively oriented community of award-winning faculty members; internship opportunities with established professionals; and the incomparable artistic and cultural resources of New York City.

For more information, visit www.TischGala.com.

Photos by Peter James Zielinski

Spike Lee and Dean of the Tisch School of the Arts Mary Schmidt

Co-Chairs Barbara Cohen, Rosemarie DeLorenzo and Jan Tuttleman

Spike Lee

Spike Lee and President of documentary and family programming for HBO Sheila Nevins

Diana King

Alec Baldwin

Alec Baldwin

Lizzie Tisch and Jonathan Tisch

Marcia Gay Harden

Marcia Gay Harden

Rosemarie DeLorenzo, Carmen Marc Valvo, Marcia Gay Harden, and Thaddaeus Scheel

Kristen Johnston

Kristen Johnston

Kristen Johnston

Neil Pepe and Mary McCann

Sony Corporation of America Chairman and CEO Howard Stringer

David Pittu

Brian Grazer

Ron Howard

Ron Howard

Brian Grazer

Brian Grazer, Howard Stringer, and Ron Howard

Chairman and President of the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation Iris Cantor

Ron Howard, Howard Stringer, Brian Grazer, and Spike Lee

Kristen Johnston, Spike Lee, and Brian Grazer

Spike Lee

Samuel L. Jackson

Sterling K. Brown

Glenn Close