All of us here at Rush Philanthropic Arts Foundation have a tremendous amount to be thankful for during this week of Thanksgiving, and above all, we are thankful for YOU!
We’re also tremendously thankful for the wonderful kids we work with every day.
Take just a moment to watch this short video and you’ll find out more about why we do what we do—featuring some of our most successful students! What better way to see what your donation makes possible?
We couldn’t be prouder that, as Rush nears its 20th Anniversary, we have had the opportunity to see students like Quentin and Shalisa grow up in our programs, and return to teach the NEXT generation of Rush Kids.
Without the generosity of donors to our year-end campaign like YOU, we couldn’t continue providing arts education to improve the lives of underserved public school kids in New York City and New Jersey.
Thank you for your support! And from all of us here at Rush, have a wonderful Thanksgiving!
October 21, 2014, New York – Designer, entrepreneur, and philanthropist Kimora Lee Simmons announced today at a press conference held at the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) in New York that she has established a $1 million scholarship fund that will be dispersed in partnership with the Rush Philanthropic Arts Foundation beginning in the 2014-2015 academic year. The Kimora Lee Simmons Scholarship Fund will benefit and inspire the next generation of designers, artists and fashion industry leaders. The fund will be distributed to three educational organizations in New York and Los Angeles, including the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT), the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising (FIDM) and Rush Teens, with the most significant gift being given to FIT.
“Fashion has been at the core of my creative life for more than 25 years and I am thrilled to be able to provide similar opportunities for the next generation of designers, executives, and artists,” said Kimora Lee Simmons.
The gift to FIT will underwrite scholarships for students across various disciplines and support them in their quest for higher education and creative careers. The program will also include the opportunity to intern with KLS Kimora Lee Simmons in New York City.
We are deeply grateful to Mrs. Simmons for her generosity,” said FIT President, Dr. Joyce F. Brown. “With the exceptional scholarship fund she has established at FIT—a public college—she has demonstrated her recognition of the need to identify and support those young people who may not otherwise have the opportunity to develop their creative talents. I thank her on behalf of the college—and all of the students who will benefit from this gift.
By establishing this fund, Kimora Lee Simmons aims to recognize the aspiring talents of today who have demonstrated promise in the areas of art and design and a commitment to community service.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
For more information contact: mmcneal@rushphilanthropic.orgRush Education ’13, The Year of Language: Concurrent exhibitions of artwork created in Rush Education Programs
Opening Reception: Saturday June 8th, 1-2pm Corridor Gallery 334 Grand Ave, Bklyn, NY (C or G trains to Clinton/Washington)
Opening Reception: Wednesday, June 12th, noon-1pm Rush Arts Gallery 526 W 26th St. Suite 311 New York NY (C or E trains to 23rd Street)
HOURS: On view throughout June by appointment only
Rush Philanthropic Arts Foundation is pleased to announce the opening of Rush Education ’13, two concurrent exhibitions of artwork created in Rush Education Programs. On view simultaneously in both Rush Galleries: Corridor Gallery (334 Grand Avenue, Clinton Hill, Brooklyn) and Rush Arts Gallery (526 W. 26th Street, Suite 311, Chelsea, Manhattan) is a range of artwork including drawings, paintings, kinetic sculptures, videos, collages, photographs, sculptures and installations. The opening ceremonies are Saturday June 8th 1-2pm at Corridor Gallery and Wednesday June 12th noon-1pm.
For the 2012/2013 school year and summer sessions, our education theme has been Language. While working on contemporary art projects, students learned various forms of ancient and modern communications, the principles of Braille and the Morse Code, foreign language translations expanded their already broad vocabulary. In addition to a year of hands-on art making related to the theme, students collaborated with students from Bard and the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane dance companies for readings, dance interpretations and drawings inspired by Calvino’s Invisible Cities and participated with Weaving Hand to create a tapestry for the Levi’s flagship store display in the Meatpacking District.
Rush Toddlers, our youngest students, completed their first pilot program year and produced many new works of art. The Toddlers were taught the concepts of gallery etiquette, curating a show and offering critique. They studied the artists Keith Haring and Jean Michele Basquiat and created works in their style. Other projects included illuminated alphabets, photography and pattern design.
Rush Gallery in the School partners are The Thurgood Marshall Academy Lower School, an elementary school in Harlem; The Young Women’s Leadership School in Bushwick, Brooklyn serving middle school students, Lyons Community School, in Bushwick. Brooklyn serving grades 6-12; MS 226, a junior high school in South Ozone Park, Queens and PS 171, an elementary school in Long Island City, Queens. Through Rush Gallery in the School, students have the opportunity to learn about contemporary art, interact with working artists and create work in a variety of media. Operating all aspects of their own gallery, students learn about museum practices including how to measure and plan the use of the exhibition space; design and write an exhibition brochure; promote the exhibition within the school community; install works of art and act as museum docents, introducing their work to parents, teachers, fellow students, and friends.
Rush Kids, Rush Teens and Rush Toddlers is a year-round education program that immerses children and teens in the study and practice of contemporary art. This intensive art-making program serves exceptionally talented visual arts students who were selected from our partnership schools in Harlem, South Ozone Park, Long Island City and Bushwick and from the neighborhoods of Rush Galleries.
In keeping with our theme for the year, Rush Kids, Teens and Toddlers are ready to publish their very own book, Rush Education: The Year of Language ’13, which will be available for sale during the summer and will be used to support Rush Kids programs.
Please join us for the opening receptions, which are free and open to the public.
Rush Philanthropic Arts Foundation is dedicated to providing disadvantaged urban youth with significant exposure and access to the arts, as well as providing exhibition opportunities to underrepresented artists and artists of color. The organization was founded in 1995 by brothers Russell, Danny, and Joseph “Rev. Run” Simmons.
Tangie Murray is the Executive Director; Meridith McNeal is Director of Education; David Camacho Assistant Director of Education and Dennis Buonagura is Education Coordinator.
Rush Teaching Artists
Sameeh Alderazi, Claudia Alvarez, Soraya Broukhim, Bill Brovald, Dennis Buonagura, David Camacho, John Casey, Cecile Chong, Ernest Concepcion, Carrie Cooperider, Giuseppe Di Lelio, Scott Greenfield, Yolanda Gonzalez, Damond Haynes, Valerie Hegarty, Hawley Hussey, Reg Lewis, Alexandra Limpert, Meridith McNeal, Sara Montoya, Gabriel Pacheco, Ed Rath, Jacob Rath, Rachel Rath, Marie A. Roberts, Patrick Rowe, Alexandra Smith and Rachael Wren
Rush Education Partnerships
Cynthia Alberto, Weaving Hand
Leah Cox, Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company and Bard College
Ella Rosewood, Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company
Stacey Temple, St Joseph’s College Gallery and Dance Department
Rush Gallery in a School Partnerships
Lyons Community School, Brooklyn; PS 171, Queens; MS 226, Queens; Thurgood Marshall Academy Lower School, Manhattan; The Young Women’s Leadership School, Brooklyn
Rush Education Volunteers and Interns
Shalisa Chang, Jennifer Dodson, Gerard Lordahl, Ica Morales, Anaeli Andrea Sánchez Pérez, Jacob Rath, Patrick Rowe, Grace Sanfilippo
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For more information please visit us at www.rushphilanthropic.org
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Rush Education Programs are made possible through contributions from Bloomberg, Fox Broadcasting Company, Rick Davidson, Goldman Sachs & Co., Star Jones, The Kraft Group/New England Patriots Foundation, Tamara Mellon OBE, Mitch & Robin Modell, Motsepe Family Foundation, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs/NYC Department of Sanitation/NYC Department of Education, New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature, Pepsi-Cola Company, Saker ShopRites Inc., Russell Simmons, Soledad O’Brien & Brad Raymond Foundation, Sun Capital Partners Inc., T.D. Bank N.A., Tamia & Grant Hill Foundation, Target, the Tyler Perry Foundation, Inc., and numerous individuals.
This program is also supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, in partnership with the City Council.
With our 14th Annual Art For Life fast approaching we take a look at last years 13th Annual Art For Life, a record breaking year, and look forward to sharing more details in the coming weeks…save the date, July 27th, 2013!!!Stay tuned in!!!
Gold Sponsors
Silver Sponsor
On Saturday, July 28th, 2012, Rush Philanthropic Arts Foundation celebrated the Thirteenth Annual ART FOR LIFE East Hampton Benefit at Russell Simmons’ private East Hampton estate. With over 800 guests, a record-breaking $2.1 million was raised to provide New York City youth with arts access, exposure and education.
Rush welcomed Bombay Sapphire and Tyler Perry Studios as Gold Sponsors and Target as a Silver Sponsor. Sutra Productions returned as a Décor Sponsor.
ART FOR LIFE 2012 was hosted by CNN’s Soledad O’Brien and featured special performances by Billboard’s “Artist to Watch” Diggy Simmons, Grammy award-winning artist Melanie Fiona, the timeless Salt-N-Pepa, and the iconic multi-platinum Grammy award-winning artist Anita Baker. The evening honored recording artists Mariah Carey and Nick Cannon, Betsy Z. Cohen CEO,Bancorp Inc., Tamia and Grant Hill The Grant Hill Foundation, and Marc J. Leder, Co-CEO, Sun Capital Partners Inc.
It was a night to remember with our honorable guests and supports arriving in style and having the time of their lives while changing and uplifting the lives and creativity of thousands of Rush Kids!
The Thirtheenth Anniversary ART FOR LIFE celebrated “Living In Color” Infusing orange, aqua, chartreuse, and fuchsia, the bright theme lit up the East Hampton night. The event was once again brought to life by Sutra Productions’ talented design team who created an amazing world of imagination with their décor and live performance characters.
For the fourth year, Charity Buzz took the luxury auction online raising over $230k!
Bombay Sapphire and Target’s support throughout the years has been invaluable!!!
Each year we have the support of many, and the following two inspirational figures we have no words to describe our gratitude towards.
Soledad O’Brien, Art For Life’s host and Star Jones, our Rush Kid Auctioneer, we cannot do this without you!
Art For Life honorees Nick Cannon and Mariah Carey, Betsy Z. Cohen, Tamia and Grant Hill, and Marc Leder accepted their honoree portraits created by our very own Rush Kids! Your commitments to our communities and others will never go unnoticed!
Our support was and is endless…
Art For Life 2012 was taken over by DJ M.O.S and performances by Melanie Fiona, Diggy Simmons, Salt-N-Pepa…
and of course the timeless Anita Baker delivering an epic performance!
With your support we will continue our work to inspire and save lives of thousands of youth and emerging artists through the power of art!
“Art saves lives, its that simple”- Russell Simmons
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Tuesday Toddlers jumped (literally) right back into the swing of making rocks at yesterday’s class. Last week, each formed a paper-mache rock and left them at Corridor (guarded by Sameeh) to dry – and they were each overly anxious to get down to the business of rock painting THIS week. Strong solid colors first and then drips, dots, stripes and splashes for the patterned designs. Roma’s looked like a lava rock and others looked like they were from a salt water coral reef.
Mick and Ami were geologists for a day!
Here’s the Toddler Line Up – including Lena’s big brother Jacob (a Rush Kid)!
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Rush Teaching Artist Patrick Rowe is a member of a really interesting group called LearningBank. The idea is that artists share their expertise, by giving time teaching your own skills, you are able to then take classes held by others.
LearningBank held an all day series during the Pratt MFA Thesis Event last week and Patrick asked if we would like to get a Rush Teen involved.
We of course, were thrilled to be part of this exciting process! During an after-school time slot, Rush Teen Ajani did a superb job teaching a LearningBank class.
Here are some pictures from her class:
Notice that she had them actively engaged in a critique at the end!
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Yet another example of Rush students making connections to the greater art community!
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Attention Artists and Curators!
Rush Gallery and Corridor Gallery exhibition program seeks to facilitate a contemporary dialogue between new audiences and emerging artists, curators and writers through thematically structured group exhibitions. A team of artists and curators reviews submissions annually.
The gallery offers an excellent opportunity for independent curators to realize their projects in an established venue that makes innovative contributions to the contemporary art world. Please follow the directions on our website www.rushartsgallery.org.
Check out the New Video’s of the Exhibitions at Corridor Gallery
Silafando A Gift to You on My Journey, at Corridor Gallery
COLLIDEscope at Corridor Gallery with RUSH Arts Gallery and Rush Philanthropic Arts Foundation
Dimensions Variable: Multiracial Identity features artists Firelei Báez, Yael Ben-Zion, Cecile Chong, Dennis Redmoon Darkeem, Nicky Enright, Lorra Jackson, Sara Jimenez, Redell & Jimenez, and Saya Woolfalk, whose work expresses various aspects of their diverse, yet highly individual backgrounds. It opens on April 4, 2013, 6-8pm at Rush Arts Gallery at 526 W. 26th Street, Suite 311, in Chelsea. Curated by Gabriel de Guzman, the exhibition challenges a monolithic view of race and examines contemporary issues of identity, hybridism, and racial ambiguity. Several artists in the show directly tackle issues that relate to race and cultural awareness. Others deal with these issues subtly by acknowledging the spread of multiculturalism in our global society and the ways in which race and ethnicity are fluid and depend on perception and context.
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April 13th Artist Summit with Danny Simmons
On View at CORRIDOR GALLERY
COLLIDEscope: The Birth, Metamorphosis and Evolution of the Abstract Actual prepare to take its viewer on an intimately stimulating journey on how isolated abstract ideals converge on a collision course to form the concrete tangible. Emerging from their cosmic infancy and changing forms as they begin their juxtaposed flight with one another through spatial reality, the abstract is ever evolving until it reaches the precipice of maturation. At that point, an abstract kaleidoscopic rainbow of acrylic, organic shapes, paper mache, black ink, fragmented patterns, x-ray film and even window soot collide to provide new and converged absolutions to complex philosophical issues that we face today.
On View at Corridor Gallery
SILAFANDO – A gift to you for my journey – Portraits of village alkalos (chiefs) and elders made while on a 930 km circumnavigation of The Republic of The Gambia,West Africa by foot.
A Solo Exhibition of Jason Florio
‘Al Haji Harouna Tonkara – Suduwole village – the Gambia
Gallery Hours:
Rush Arts Gallery
Wed. – Sat. 12 – 6pm
526 W 26th St, Suite 311
New York, NY 10001
PLEASE NOTE THE 526 W 26th ST Elevator is not working since Hurricane Sandy
Elevators are available at the 508 and 516 W 26th St Entrance
Corridor Gallery
Fri. – Sat. 12-6pm
334 Grand Avenue
Brooklyn, NY
Rush Arts Gallery + Corridor Gallery are core programs of the Rush Philanthropic Arts Foundation, a 501 © 3 organization founded in 1995 by brothers Russell, Danny and Joseph “Rev. Run” Simmons. Rush Arts Gallery is dedicated to providing exhibition opportunities to an emerging artistic community and exposes disadvantaged urban youth to contemporary arts and culture through educational programming initiatives.