The Foundation has had a longstanding interest in the arts, reflecting Benjamin Altman’s personal commitment and our belief in the essential role that cultural engagement and the arts play in enriching the lives of New Yorkers and creating new avenues of exploration and opportunity for the city’s young people. Given our particular focus on issues of access and inclusion, the Foundation invests in organizations, programs, and projects that achieve results aligned with the objectives outlined below. As a general rule, the programs that we support take place outside of the public schools. Please note that the "Results Sought" reflect the specific outcomes of interest to us.
Promote access to arts and culture for all New Yorkers, with a special focus on people from underserved communities
Results Sought:
Aaron Davis Hall, Inc. dba Harlem Stage
$150,000 (over two years)
To help support the continued implementation of its strategic plan
ArtsPool, a project of Alliance of Resident Theatres/New York, Inc.
$50,000
To help maintain its services to 25+ arts and cultural member organizations in the areas of finance, workforce administration, and compliance
Beam Center Inc.
$50,000
To support STEM-focused youth programming at Beam 107GI, a year-round experiential learning center and fabrication lab on Governors Island
Bronx Children's Museum
$110,000 (over two years)
To help the Bronx Children's Museum achieve institutional readiness, open its own building, and operate successfully during its first year as a museum “with and without” walls
Casita Maria Inc.
$100,000 (over two years)
To support Casita Maria's integrated Creative Arts and arts education programming
Downtown Brooklyn Arts Alliance, a project of Dance Works, Inc.
$50,000 (over two years)
To support member organizations and address issues affecting artist communities and cultural organizations in Downtown Brooklyn
DreamYard Project, Inc.
$50,000
To provide professional development training and coaching to help NYC educators and school administrators use the arts to center racial equity in their curricula, school procedures, policies and practices
The Museum of the City of New York, Inc.
$250,000 (over two years)
To support the continued integration of its Education & Engagement programming, inclusive of new community-based initiatives and special programming in celebration of the Museum’s upcoming Centennial
New York City Arts in Education Roundtable
$50,000
To provide capacity building support
The New York Community Trust (Mosaic Network and Fund)
$300,000 (over three years)
For the Mosaic Network and Fund
Queens Museum of Art (dba Queens Museum)
$75,000
To support New New Yorkers—an arts and literacy initiative for recent adult immigrants
Society for the Preservation of WEEKSVILLE and Bedford-Stuyvesant History
$75,000
To provide capacity building support to help implement essential technological and information management upgrades
SoHarlem, Inc.
$80,000 (over two years)
To help support the adaptation and implementation of its strategic plan
Visual Arts Research and Resource Center Relating to the Caribbean dba Caribbean Cultural Center African Diaspora Institute
$160,000 (over two years)
To help support field-building within the arts sector and among practitioners through the expansion of its Institute for Racial and Social Justice and related internal capacity building
Promote positive youth development among underserved youth through engagement in arts, cultural, and other unique programs that provide sequential opportunities to participate over an extended period of time.
Results Sought:
ArtsConnection, Inc.
$50,000
To support the Teen Reviewers and Critics (TRaC) program and to provide organizational capacity building support
The Bell
$35,000
To support the youth advocacy of Teens Take Charge and the Miseducation Podcast
Center for Family Life in Sunset Park
$175,000 (over two years)
To support the year-round Life Lines Community Arts Project for middle school and high schools students in Sunset Park, and to provide capacity building support for the Center’s transition to organizational independence
CitySquash
$35,000
To support CitySquash’s comprehensive youth development program
The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art
$50,000
To support an arts intensive, college-preparatory program for New York City high school students from underserved communities
Harlem Lacrosse and Leadership
$40,000
To support the year-round delivery of its sports-based youth development program and expansion of the Summer Academy
Hudson River Community Sailing
$90,000 (over two years)
To expand the Sail Academy youth development program to four new partner schools
Jazz at Lincoln Center, Inc.
$50,000
To support Jazz at Lincoln Center's Middle School Jazz Academy
Legal Outreach, Inc.
$50,000
To help support the Civic Engagement and Social Justice Program
New Heights Youth, Inc.
$40,000
To support continued planning and preparation for the launch of expanded youth programming at the Brooklyn Bedford-Union Armory
Publicolor, Inc.
$100,000 (over two years)
To support Publicolor’s continuum of college preparatory and career readiness programming
Queens Council on the Arts, Inc.
$25,000
To support the High School to Art School portfolio development program
Reel Works Teen Filmmaking
$50,000
To support MediaMKRS, a public/private partnership to create career pathways for underrepresented young New Yorkers in the city's growing media industry
Rockaway Waterfront Alliance, Inc. (AKA RISE Rockaway Initiative for Sustainability and Equity)
$100,000 (over two years)
To provide capacity building support for the Shore Corps youth development program and to support the development of a new organizational model
Roundabout Theatre Company, Inc.
$50,000 (over eighteen months)
To help support the Theatrical Workforce Development Program, a job training and placement program connecting young New Yorkers to careers in the technical theatre trades
The Studio in a School Association, Inc.
$60,000 (over fifteen months)
To help support the continued development of remote learning curricula in the visual arts and its use by New York educators and parents
Urban Arts Partnership
$50,000
To support the School of Interactive Arts' Mastery program, and the development of new Creative Coding curricular offerings