LaChanze, Cast Members of PORGY AND BESS, et al. Set for Impact Broadway Fundraiser Tonight, 4/30

The Youth Impact Broadway Project, Inc. (Impact Broadway) will host their first fundraising event tonight, April 30th at 5pm at Chocolat Restaurant and Lounge in Harlem. Impact Broadway is a socially and technology driven youth audience development program which engages African-American and Latino high school students from the 5 NYC boroughs to become active participants and patrons of the theater world and become cultural stewards. Invited guests include theater professionals, cultural partners and family and friends of the Impact Broadway students.

The event will be hosted by director and producer, Kamilah Forbes, from the Hip Hop Theater Festival, and will feature performances from LaChanze, Tony Winner, The Color Purple, Alexis Houston, Singer Alls Well Music, Will Power, Playwright and Performer, cast members from the current Broadway show Porgy and Bess and several Impact Broadway students. The money raised from the evening will benefit an expanding program structure including students attending a theater show for the remainder of this current season and Broadway outings for next season.

Impact Broadway enables African-American and Latino students to experience live Broadway Theater Productions in an empowering way, and facilitates outings to Broadway and off-Broadway shows every season, including The Lion King, Stick Fly, Brazil, Brazil and more. Through comprehensive historical and cultural education events, post-and pre-show discussions, and other offerings, Impact Broadway helps African-American and Latino students see themselves as meaningful participants, and potential leaders inthe theater and entertainment industries. Moreover, the program’s online platform, quarterly newsletter, in-school activities, and outer-borough performance outings help to ensure students experience and develop an understanding of the broad and diverse world of performing arts in their own communities and the underappreciated history of diversity in American performing arts.

Impact Broadway was founded in 2009 by Donna Walker-Kuhne and Cherine Anderson. To-date the program has engaged 750 African American and Latino students from high schools and colleges throughout the 5 New York City boroughs. This program helps establish a future generation of audiences and build a socially responsible citizenship within the African American and Latino communities. The current Impact Broadway schools are: Bronx Engineering and Technology Academy (Bronx), Brooklyn Theatre Arts High School (Brooklyn), the High School for Construction, Trades, Engineering, and Architecture (Queens), Hillcrest High School (Queens), and Manhattan Theatre Lab High School (Manhattan).

Tickets are $50 and include hors’dourves and cocktails. To purchase tickets for the April 30th fundraiser visit www.impactbroadway.com/fundraising-benefit-reception. Supporters include The Shubert Organization, Uptown Magazine and Urban Adserve.