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:

  1. Increase sustained engagement and participation of underserved populations in high-quality programming at established arts and cultural organizations
  2. Strengthen the arts infrastructure in the city and build capacity at critical junctures for organizations providing high-quality arts and cultural programming
Grants 2009

The ArtsConnection, Inc.
$25,000
To help support High 5’s Take 5 and Teen Reviewers and Critics (TRaC) Programs

Ballet Hispanico of New York, Inc.
$25,000
To help support the Ballet Hispanico Scholarship Fund for talented, low-income youth

Ballet Tech Foundation, Inc.
$40,000
To help support Ballet Tech’s program of pre-professional dance training for underserved youth

The Center for Arts Education, Inc.
$25,000
To help support CAE’s public engagement and advocacy initiative to build support for and expand arts education in the schools

City Lights Youth Theatre, Inc.
$20,000
To help support the Core Program and provide scholarship assistance for a high-quality theater education to a diverse group of young people

Cool Culture, Inc.
$25,000
To help support the Literacy Through Culture program, offering professional development to early childhood educators and free access to the arts for families from low-income communities

The Fresh Air Fund, Inc.
$75,000
To help support the Immigrant Outreach Project

Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, Inc.
$50,000
To help support the development and implementation of new evaluation metrics in conjunction with the launch of the David Rubenstein Atrium at Lincoln Center

Mama Foundation for the Arts, Inc.
$20,000
To help support the Gospel for Teens program

Mark Morris Dance Group/Discalced Inc.
$15,000
To help support the Dance for Parkinson’s program and the MMDG/NYCHA Partnership community outreach program

The Museum of the City of New York, Inc.
$75,000
To continue efforts to increase attendance by and outreach to underrepresented communities, particularly through the use of new digital resources

Museum of Jewish Heritage: A Living Memorial to the Holocaust
$35,000
To help support the High School Apprenticeship Program

New York Hall of Science
$75,000
To help support the Early Childhood and Family Programs Initiatives

Queens Museum of Art New York City Building
$125,000
To help support Art and Literacy for New New Yorkers program

Young Audiences New York, Inc.
$50,000
To help support the FamilyLink program

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:

  1. Significantly increase mastery of program-specific competencies and developmentally appropriate life skills
  2. Prepare participants to transition successfully to post-secondary and/or professional opportunities, including employment in the creative economy
Grants 2009

The 52nd Street Project, Inc.
$35,000
To help support NEW PLATFORMS, a creative and theatrical arts initiative for underserved children and youth

Alvin Ailey Dance Foundation, Inc.
$30,000
To help support the High School Fellowship Program and the Ailey Athletic Boys Scholarship Program

Brooklyn Botanic Garden Corporation
$50,000
To help support the Garden Apprentice Program for middle- and high-school youth

Brooklyn Youth Chorus Academy, Inc.
$80,000 (over two years)
To help provide high caliber vocal musical instruction and professional-level performance opportunities to young people from diverse racial, economic, and cultural backgrounds

Center for Family Life in Sunset Park
$50,000
To help support the Center’s Life Lines Community Arts Project

Chess-in-the-Schools Inc.
$50,000
To help support the College Bound Program

The CityKids Foundation, Inc.
$35,000
To help support the CityKids performing arts program for inner-city youth

Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, Smithsonian Institution
$100,000
To help support the Design Directions design education and career preparation program for underserved New York City high school students

The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art
$50,000
To help support the Saturday Outreach Programs

Coro New York Leadership Center
$40,000
To help support Exploring Leadership, a program to promote meaningful civic leadership among inner-city high school youth

Downtown Community Television Center, Inc.
$40,000
To help support PRO-TV, which provides professional media training to inner-city youth

Education Through Music, Inc.
$40,000
To help support music education programs in inner-city Catholic schools

Educational Video Center
$20,000
To help support the YO-TV (Youth Organizers-TV) pre-professional documentary filmmaking program

Figure Skating in Harlem, Inc.
$30,000
To help support the sports and academic program

Groundswell Community Mural Project, Inc.
$10,000
To provide support for mural apprenticeship afterschool programs for underserved youth

Hunts Point Alliance for Children
$50,000
To help enhance The Hunts Point Children’s Shakespeare Ensemble by adding a career and education mentoring program

The InterSchool Orchestras of New York, Inc.
$10,000
To help support the Music for All programs

Jazz at Lincoln Center, Inc.
$100,000
To help support the Middle School Jazz Academy for young people from underserved communities

The New 42nd Street Inc.
$50,000
To help support the Youth Corps Program

Peter Westbrook Foundation, Inc.
$35,000
To help support the Academic Enrichment Program

Pratt Institute
$30,000
To help support the Design Initiative for Community Empowerment (DICE) program, which prepares underserved Brooklyn high school students to pursue careers and advanced educational opportunities in design

Publicolor, Inc.
$30,000
To help support the COLOR Club and NEXT STEPS programs

Queens Council on the Arts, Inc.
$15,000
To help support the High School to Art School (HS2AS) initiative

Riverdale Neighborhood House, Inc.
$25,000
To help support the Youth Internship Program and Library Leaders project

Rocking the Boat, Inc.
$50,000
To help support the Job Skills Program

Row New York, Inc.
$25,000
To help support the core program of intensive rowing, academic support, and college guidance for young inner-city women

Staten Island Children's Museum
$25,000
To help support the Museum Internship and Ambassador Program

StreetSquash, Inc.
$25,000
To help support the College Prep, Literacy, and After School Tutoring Programs

TADA! Theatre and Dance Alliance, Inc.
$15,000
To help support the Resident Youth Ensemble theater training and youth development program

TADA! Theatre and Dance Alliance, Inc.
$25,000
As a challenge grant requiring a $50,000 match in new funds to help support the Resident Youth Ensemble theater and youth development program

Third Street Music School Settlement
$45,000
To help support the Comprehensive Training in Music program

The Young People's Chorus of New York City, Inc.
$25,000
To help support the after-school choral music education and performance program

?>