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:
The ArtsConnection, Inc.
$35,000
To help support the Take 5 and Teen Reviewers and Critics (TRaC) programs
Baryshnikov Arts Center
$100,000 (over two years)
To help provide capacity building support for board and fund development and community engagement
BRIC Arts \ Media \ Brklyn, Inc.
$50,000 (over two years)
To provide capacity building support for the Downtown Brooklyn Arts Alliance to further the organization’s impact in the areas of advocacy, member services, and strengthening the cultural infrastructure of Downtown Brooklyn
Bronx Children's Museum
$100,000 (over two years)
To help support the Bronx Children's Museum as it moves from the pre-launch stage to the actual opening of its completed facility in the former Old Terminal Market Powerhouse
Columbia University in the City of New York/Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Art Gallery
$26,000
To complete a three-year capacity building project to create the Wallach Network of leading Manhattanville artists and community stakeholders and develop, pilot, implement, and begin to assess community-based arts and educational programming in the Wallach Gallery's new West Harlem location
Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, Smithsonian Institution
$225,000 (over three years)
To provide capacity building support to help the Cooper Hewitt to expand and deepen its design education programming for underserved audiences in New York City
The Council on the Arts and Humanities for Staten Island, Inc.
$100,000 (over two years)
To provide training in audience and professional development (including marketing, diversity, program development, fundraising, and community building) for Staten Island-based arts organizations to help them reach underserved audiences, including those not usually engaged with the arts
Dance Theatre of Harlem, Inc.
$75,000
To provide capacity building support for Dance Theater of Harlem as it approaches its 50th Anniversary
The Museum of the City of New York, Inc.
$200,000 (over two years)
To provide capacity building support in the areas of development and marketing and communications
The New York Public Library
$100,000
To support programs and services at NYPL’s Adult Learning Centers (ALCs), including free English language and literacy instruction and citizenship services for members of New York City’s at-risk immigrant population
NYC Salt, Inc.
$60,000 (over fifteen months)
To provide capacity building support for long-term sustainability and growth in order to connect more low-income, immigrant NYC youth to intensive high-quality pre-professional arts instruction and post-secondary and career opportunities in photography
Orchestra of St. Luke's/St. Luke's Chamber Ensemble, Inc.
$35,000
To help strengthen the programming and support the strategic growth of the Youth Orchestra of St. Luke’s, an intensive after-school instrumental learning program in the Hell's Kitchen area of Manhattan
Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Inc.
$100,000 (over two years)
To provide capacity building support to help develop and implement the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra’s first comprehensive strategic plan
The Queens Borough Public Library
$125,000
To provide support for two of the Queens Borough Public Library's most crucial programs: Kickoff to Kindergarten (K2K) and English for Speakers of Other Languages ( ESOL)
Queens Museum of Art New York City Building
$100,000
To renew support for the Museum’s New New Yorkers arts and literacy initiative
Sphinx Organization, Inc.
$25,000
To support and expand the capacity and sustainability of the Sphinx Organization's New York partnerships, programming, and impact
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:
Alvin Ailey Dance Foundation, Inc.
$60,000 (over two years)
To support The Ailey School Scholarship Program and The Ailey Athletic Boys Program
Ballet Tech Foundation, Inc.
$30,000
To help support citywide auditions for public elementary school children and provide tuition-free ballet training, from beginner to pre-professional level, for students from underserved backgrounds
Beam Center Inc.
$50,000
To help support the expansion of the BeamWorks Youth Apprentices program
Brooklyn Botanic Garden Corporation
$100,000 (over two years)
To help support the Garden Apprentice Program (GAP) over two years as it works to achieve youth development goals, integrate a new College Prep program, and introduce program improvements
Center for Family Life in Sunset Park
$50,000
To help support the positive growth and development of underserved youth in Sunset Park through the acquisition of pre-professional arts skills in Life Lines Community Arts Project
The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art
$60,000
To support the Saturday and Outreach Programs
Figure Skating in Harlem, Inc.
$120,000 (over two years)
To support academic, leadership, and skating programs for low-income New York City girls over two years, and to help achieve capacity-building goals in fundraising and operations in the second phase of the grant period
Groundswell Community Mural Project, Inc.
$50,000
To underwrite the afterschool programs and summer intensives, which provide youth the opportunity to create public art within their communities and develop 21st-century Skills, and to help support the completion of a strategic plan
Harlem RBI, Inc. dba DREAM
$150,000 (over two years)
To help ensure that out-of-school programs in East Harlem and the South Bronx continue to provide academic support and college access services to elementary, middle school, high school, and college students
Hudson River Community Sailing
$30,000
To strengthen engagement in and outcomes from its Youth Development Programs
Jazz at Lincoln Center, Inc.
$60,000
To help support the Middle School Jazz Academy and continue work with MSJA alumni
New Heights Youth, Inc.
$40,000
To help support College Bound, a year-round high school and college preparatory program serving student-athletes in grades 4-12, and Career Assist, a college completion initiative
Peter Westbrook Foundation, Inc.
$35,000
To provide program support for this youth development program anchored by the sport of fencing
Publicolor, Inc.
$90,000 (over two years)
To help support the COLOR Club, Next Steps, and Summer Design Studio programs
Rocking the Boat, Inc.
$100,000 (over two years)
To provide general operating support for this youth development organization that offers dynamic educational activities to middle school, high school, and college-aged young people and their communities in the South Bronx
Roundabout Theatre Company, Inc.
$100,000 (over two years)
To help create pathways for young adults into technical theatre training, professional mentorships, and employment
Staten Island Children's Museum
$25,000
To help support the Museum Intern and Ambassador Program for teens