TV: Rosie's Broadway Kids Opens Maravel Center

Rosie's Broadway Kids officially celebrates its new home Monday as the Maravel Arts Center has a ribbon cutting ceremony to open the re-modeled facility to the press. Located in the heart of the Broadway community, on 45th Street, Rosie O'Donnell's organization will now have two dance studios, a music studio, library, dressing rooms and much more in its new location.

O'Donnell's life-long concern for children and theater was the inspiration for Rosie's Broadway Kids, created in 2003 along with Kelli O'Donnell and RBKids Artistic Director Lori Klinger. It seeks to provide quality instruction in music and dance for free to New York City public schools and students. Serving more than 5,100 teachers, students and family members at 22 schools, eighty percent of those kids involved with RBKids are from low-income families, according to the organization's website.

"In NYC public schools, it's not like when I was a kid, in the fifth grade, when we did The King and I," said O'Donnell. "The arts programs have been gutted. Music, theatre, musicals, dance, that's what saved me emotionally. I fell in love with Broadway, as my mother did before me."

The Maravel Arts Center is named for O'Donnell's teacher, Pat Maravel, who she said was an "inspirational force" in her formative years.

BroadwayWorld's own Eddie Varley and James Sims joined Lori Klinger at the Maravel Arts Center to take a tour of this brand new facility before the ribbon cutting ceremony Monday. It is located at 445 West 45th Street in Manhattan. For more information on the center, and Rosie's Broadway Kids, visit www.rosiesbroadwaykids.org.