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 2011

Ballet Hispanico of New York, Inc.
$25,000
To help support its School of Dance and scholarship program for talented and underserved students

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

Bronx Children's Museum
$50,000
To help provide capacity building funds to complete the pre-site development phase and first year of exhibit and site development for this new children's museum in the Bronx

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

Cool Culture, Inc.
$40,000
To help support Literacy Through Culture, which offers professional development to early childhood educators and free access to the arts for families from low-income communities.

Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, Smithsonian Institution
$170,000 (over two years)
To help support DesignPrep, the Cooper-Hewitt's design education and career preparation program for underserved New York City high school students

International Center of Photography
$50,000
To support Teen Academy and the advanced-level Imagemakers program

Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, Inc.
$50,000
To help support the implementation and systematization of a system of evaluation metrics for the David Rubenstein Atrium at Lincoln Center

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

The Museum of the City of New York, Inc.
$100,000 (over two years)
To help support the redesign of the Web site, increase public access to MCNY's online resources, and continue to increase outreach to underrepresented communities through the use of new digital media

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

The New 42nd Street Inc.
$50,000
As a final grant to help support the Youth Corps Program

The New York Botanical Garden
$300,000 (over three years)
To help support the Children's Education program

New York Hall of Science
$75,000
To help support revitalization of Early Childhood programs and exhibits

The Queens Borough Public Library
$450,000 (over three years)
To help support English for Speakers of Other Languages, the Family Literacy Program and the Youth Workforce Development Program

Whitney Museum of American Art
$50,000 (over two years)
To provide capacity building support to help develop and pilot community-based educational programming for the Whitney's new downtown site

Young Audiences New York, Inc.
$40,000
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 2011

Alvin Ailey Dance Foundation, Inc.
$90,000 (over three years)
To help support the Ailey School Scholarship Program and the Ailey Athletic Boys Program

The ArtsConnection, Inc.
$25,000
To help support the Take 5 and the Teen Reviewers and Critics (TRaC) programs

Brooklyn Botanic Garden Corporation
$100,000 (over two years)
To help support the Garden Apprentice Program for middle and high school youth

Center for Family Life in Sunset Park
$50,000
To help support the Center's Life Lines Community Arts project for underserved youth

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

The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art
$50,000
To help support the Saturday Outreach Programs for New York City public high school students

Coro New York Leadership Center
$35,000
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.
$75,000 (over two years)
To help support the hiring of a new staff member responsible for managing evaluation activities

Elaine Kaufman Cultural Center/Lucy Moses School for Music & Dance
$40,000
To help support high-quality music classes for underserved students in the Young People's Division

Figure Skating in Harlem, Inc.
$80,000 (over two years)
To provide general support to this sports and academic program

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

Jazz at Lincoln Center, Inc.
$75,000
To help support the Middle School Jazz Academy for young people from underserved communities

New Heights Youth, Inc.
$70,000 (over two years)
To help support the College Bound Program

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

Publicolor, Inc.
$30,000
To help support the COLOR Club, Next Steps, and Next Steps Prep programs

Queens Council on the Arts, Inc.
$40,000 (over two years)
To help support the High School to Art School (HS2AS) initiative

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

Rocking the Boat, Inc.
$100,000 (over two years)
To provide general support to this youth development organization

Row New York, Inc.
$35,000
To help support the Empowerment through Rowing and Academics (ERA) Program for girls and young women in New York City

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

StreetSquash, Inc.
$35,000
To help support the College Access and Beyond 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

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