Shawn Colvin to Perform at Kaufman Center's Annual Honors Gala 5/25

The 2010 Kaufman Center Honors will take place onTuesday, May 25, 2010 at 583 Park Avenue. Distinguished honorees for thisyear's gala event are media pioneer and President and CEO of Playlist.com, John Sykes, and Vice President of Kaufman Center's Board of Trustees, Rosalind Devon.

The evening includes performances by students of Kaufman Center's Special Music School and Lucy Moses School, with additional artists from the Center'srenowned Merkin Concert Hall. Karen Ziemba is scheduled to perform at thegala event as a guest artist. She received the Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Award for her portrayal of The Wife in Susan Stroman's and John Weidman's "Contact" at Lincoln Center Theater, and the Outer Critics Circle Award and a Tony nomination for her performance as Georgia Hendricks in the Kander and Ebb musical "Curtains."The evening begins at 6:30 pm with cocktails and continues at 7:30 pm with aseated dinner and awards.

This annual benefit supports Kaufman Center'smusic education programs and performances in Merkin Concert Hall andthroughout New York City.The following friends of Kaufman Center have generously underwritten the event so that 100% of event proceeds will benefit programs for music educationand performance: Sanford L. Batkin, Johanna Roman Barish, AndreaBrown and Robert Levande, Rosalind Devon, Valerie Feigen and Steven Eisman, Connie and Leonard Goodman, Sonia and Paul T. Jones, Elaineand Henry Kaufman, Bethany and Robert B. Millard, Wendy and BruceMosler, Roy Niederhoffer, Veronique and Robert Pittman, Susan and Arthur Rebell, Kara Unterberg, and Christina and Lawrence Wee.As a co-creator of MTV Networks and former president of VH1, John Sykes is a music and cable television industry veteran.

While at VH1, Sykes led the networkto record high ratings and profits. He also instituted the groundbreaking VH1Save The Music Foundation, which, over the past 13 years, has provided over $45million worth of musical instruments to more than 1700 public schools, impactingthe lives of 1.4 million public school children in America. With former MiramaxChairman Harvey Weinstein and Cablevision Chairman James Dolan, Sykesproduced the Concert for New York City in October 2001, to benefit the victimsof the attacks on 9/11, which raised more than $36 million for the families of thefallen heroes. He is Chairman of the Board of RED, a company founded by Bonoof the band U2 that engages the private sector in raising funds and awareness tohelp eliminate AIDS in Africa. He is currently President and CEO of Playlist.com, the world's largest internet playlisting service with 48 millionregistered users. Mr. Sykes will be introduced by Raymond Chambers, UnitedNations Secretary-General's Special Envoy for Malaria and Founder of the Amelior Foundation. Rosalind Caplow Devon is Vice President of Kaufman Center's Board of Directors and Chairman of its Theater Wing. She is also on the national board ofthe American Friends of Israel Museum, on the Executive Committee andFinance Committee of the Jewish Women's Foundation of New York, on theBoard of Directors of the Israel Tennis Centers and the American Society forJewish Music, and on the advisory board of the International Preschool.

With academic training from Hunter College, the Manhattan School of Music and the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, Ms. Devon has been associated withInternational Preschools, where she has used the guitar to teach social conceptsand ear training through music to children 2 to 5 years old. As a volunteer, she has developed creative rhythm courses in folk music and singing games for elementary school students at Goddard Riverside's After-School program. She has also taught at Bethany-Lenox Hill Day Care, and volunteered at Diller-Quaile School of Music and the Speech and Hearing Rehabilitation Department at St.Vincent's Hospital.

Kaufman Center is New York's creative home for listeners, learners andperformers. One of New York City's most vibrant cultural organizations,Kaufman Center combines the finest in music education for all ages with worldclass performance in the acoustically superior Merkin Concert Hall. Founded in 1952 as a community school for pre-conservatory music training, today's Kaufman Center provides entertainment, education and inspiration for more than75,000 New Yorkers each year. In addition to Merkin Concert Hall, it is home toLucy Moses School, New York's largest community arts school, and the Special Music School, New York's only public school for musically gifted children.