PAL Youth Participate In Global Festival Of Arts, Culture & Ideas At SUNY Purchase College

On Friday, November 15th, the Police Athletic League (PAL) Acting Program took 107 students to SUNY Purchase College to the "Global Festival of Arts, Culture & Ideas." PAL students attended The Music and Dance Performance, "Haiti Alive," at the SUNY Purchase Performing Arts Center. The program included dance and a variety of intersections between Haitian folk music and the classical and jazz traditions. The performance featured professional artists, Steven Mayer, Rudy Perrault, dancers from the Purchase Conservatory of Dance and drummers, chamber musicians, jazz musicians, and orchestra musicians from the Purchase Conservatory of Music.

This trip was part of the PAL Acting Program initiative, called Pathways to Purchase, to give students the opportunity to have an interactive experience with the college and smooth their transition from high school to college.

In New York City, as a lead in to the trip, PAL Acting Program Manager, Brian Hills, and Program Aide, Bijoux Lukelo, along with Lorenzo Candelaria, Dean of The School of the Arts, prepared the students for the concert with a variety of discussions and lectures. Special thanks to Jennifer Shingelo, Dean of Students and Enrollment, and the Office of Admissions for meeting with PAL students at SUNY Purchase during this visit.

PAL's Teen Acting Program, developed by PAL Board member Tony Danza and based in the PAL Duncan Center in Manhattan, was designed to increase theatre arts programming among young people who would otherwise never get to experience the arts. The program continues to grow reaching kids in all five boroughs with 500 young participants. PAL offers teens the opportunity to participate in hands-on theatre arts learning. Partnerships with renowned theatre arts institutions, trips to production companies on Broadway, and visits to college campuses enable youth from low-income communities to take part in the best New York City has to offer.

New York City's Police Athletic League is the first and finest civilian-run PAL in the country. Founded in 1914, PAL has served the city's young people for over 100 years. PAL provides recreational, educational, cultural and social activities to 20,000 boys and girls annually. It is also the city's largest, independent, nonprofit youth organization. For more information, please visit www.palnyc.org.

Photos courtesy of Police Athletic League

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