Young Audiences New York Announces Children's Arts Awards Benefit for 3/12

On Monday, March 12, 2012 Young Audiences New York, one of the nation's leading non-profit arts education organizations, will host over five hundred people from New York City's business, media, arts and education sectors in celebration of its 11th annual Children's Arts Award Benefit. This year's benefit will honor the following people for their advocacy of children's arts education: Lea Thompson, actress and arts activist; Jacki Kelley, Global CEO, Universal McCann; and Amanda Richman, President, Digital, MediaVest. This benefit gala will take place at Cipriani's Wall Street in Manhattan.

Emmy Award-winning actor and Broadway star Richard Thomas will emcee the ceremony.

The celebrated Music Unites Young Audiences New York Youth Choir, a group comprised of local high school students, will perform songs by Green Day and Lady Gaga under the direction of Deepak Marwah. In addition, third and fifth grade students from P.S. 110 The Monitor School in Brooklyn will perform a special song and dance number to honor the one-year anniversary of Young Audiences New York's Donna Salvatore Fund for Storytelling. 

The awards presentation will be followed by a dinner and live auction led by Rago Arts and Auction Center's auctioneer, David Rago. This signature fundraising event will expand Young Audiences New York's ability to provide arts education to underserved New York City students in grades pre-K through 12 across all five boroughs. 

The past few schools years have marked a pivotal time for Young Audiences New York (yaNY). The organization served over 26,000 students as part of 255,000 discrete arts learning experience; and implemented the Arts Partner Schools initiative, a cost-effective model that invigorates arts in the classroom by integrating yaNY's roster of teaching Artists in Residence (AIRs) into schools' daily lives. Teachers coordinate with on-site AIRs to plan semester-long projects devoted to deepening the universal learning experience across all curricula. AIRs and yaNY staff work with Arts Partner Schools to scaffold arts learning from grade to grade and year to year.

"Due to the enthusiastic support for our organization by New York's business and arts communities, this was an exciting year for Young Audiences New York," said Thomas Heymann, President and Executive Director of Young Audiences New York. "yaNY programming affected over 100,000 participants including educators, students, parent and public audiences as part of nearly 280,000 arts learning experiences. We firmly believe that an arts education benefits all students. It is not just a 'feel good' investment. It is an investment that uplifts families, neighborhoods, and communities."

Other previously announced initiatives implemented during the 2011-2012 school year include Young Audiences New York's MELODY – A Fund for Music Education presented by yaNY and Michael Dorf's FIKS (Fixing Instruments in Kids' Schools), founded on the principle that all students benefit from active engagement in instrumental music performance, regardless of the child's or school's economic means; and The Donna Salvatore Fund for Storytelling, established in honor of the former CEO of MediaVest. The grant provides resources for school children to learn and grow through storytelling and other theatrical experiences.

For more information and to purchase tickets, visit: http://www.yaNY.org/support/benefit