Gold Coast Arts Ctr Receives $17.5K Grant From TD Charitable Fdn.

GREAT NECK, NY — April 5, 2018 — Thanks to a $17,500 grant from the TD Charitable Foundation, the charitable giving arm of TD Bank, America’s Most Convenient Bank®, the Gold Coast Arts Center can continue to bring enriching arts programming directly to schools throughout Long Island and Queens. These schools often have no other art or cultural options for their students.

The TD Charitable Foundation grant will help support two of the Center’s key initiatives: The School for the Arts Scholarship Program and the Arts-in-Education Outreach Programs, which are aimed at providing art education and enrichment programs in underserved communities.

Since 1996, the Gold Coast Arts Center has been an affiliate of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Partners in Education Program; and the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C., and offers classes in visual and performing arts to students of all ages, backgrounds, and abilities — including children with special needs. The year-round programs encompass dance, music, theater, visual art, robotics, chess, and fencing. The Center also runs a summer camp and a VacationArts program offered on school holidays and vacations geared to children of working parents.

Scholarships give talented and financially deserving students opportunities to participate in these courses and programs. Last year’s scholarship funds, equating to 1400 scholarship hours, enabled 22 students to take classes in musical theater, drawing, and painting, 3D art, chess, robotics, ceramics, ballet, and music. These students hailed from communities throughout Queens (Hollis Hills, Fresh Meadows, Jamaica, Woodside) and Long Island (Albertson, and Great Neck).

The Center’s Arts-in-Education Outreach Programs bring exciting and enriching arts programming to schools on Long Island and in Queens that often have no other art options for their students. Programs include after-school classes, assembly programs and artist residencies. Past programs are Financial Literacy with Film/Music; Digital Arts, and Activism; Theater; Writing & Illustrating Myths from Around the World; Movement through Math; Bucket Drumming; and History through Hip Hop. Among the communities served in recent years are Westbury, Freeport, North Babylon, Glen Head, Roosevelt, and many others. At present, the Center is planning new programming with several of its partner school districts.

“Our school and outreach programs are designed to ensure that a wide and diverse range of students and teachers from the region will benefit from our programs,” said Regina Gil, Executive Director& Founder of the Gold Coast Arts Center. “Thanks to the TD Charitable Foundation grant, we will be able to reach more students who would otherwise have limited exposure to the cultural arts in all their forms. We – and our students – are extremely grateful to TD Charitable Foundation in helping make this possible.”

“TD is honored to support an organization that offers young people a chance to experience different art forms and develop creative thought that will stay with them for the rest of their lives,” said Anthony Esernio, Market President. “Gold Coast Arts is enabling students to learn fun and invaluable skills and we're happy to play a small part in this effort.”

For more information about the Gold Coast Arts Center, please call 516-829-2570, visit www.goldcoastarts.org, or stop by in person: The Center is located at 113 Middle Neck Road in Great Neck, NY, 11021.

About the Gold Coast Arts Center
The Gold Coast Arts Center is a 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to promoting the arts through education, exhibition, performance and outreach. Located on the North Shore of Long Island, it has brought the arts to tens of thousands of people throughout the region for more than 20 years. Among the Center’s offerings are its School for the Arts, which holds year-round classes in visual and performing arts for students of all ages and abilities; a free public art gallery; a concert and lecture series; film screenings and discussions; the annual Gold Coast International Film Festival; and initiatives that focus on senior citizens and underserved communities. These initiatives include artist residencies, after-school programs, school assemblies, teacher-training workshops and parent-child workshops. The Gold Coast Arts Center is an affiliate of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Partners in Education program, and the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. More information can be found at www.goldcoastarts.org.

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Photo caption
Left to right: Thomas Mazzino, Vice President, Store Manager, TD Bank, Great Neck; Regina Gil, Founder & Executive Director, Gold Coast Arts Center; and Anthony J. Esernio, Market President, Suburban New York Market, TD Bank on a recent tour of the Gold Coast Arts Center where the Center showcased some of the myriad of programs TD Bank helps support, including many that bring art and art education to underserved communities throughout the region.

Photo credit: Gold Coast Arts Center