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:
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 (dba Queens Museum)
$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:
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