Name A Seat Fundraiser at NRPL

The New Rochelle Public Library Foundation is offering donors a unique opportunity to stand up for the arts by taking a seat: Individuals, organizations and businesses are being offered the chance to become a permanent part of the newly refurbished Ossie Davis Theater with a personalized nameplate on one of the new seats.

    For the next six months, individuals, social groups, community groups and businesses can “purchase” naming rights to one of the new seats being installed in the  Ossie Davis Theater or be recognized by naming one of the library vestibules. It’s all part of the NRPLF’s “Name-a-Seat” Fundraiser. “The Ossie Davis Theater offers hundreds of cultural events every year, and this is a wonderful opportunity for PTAs, neighborhood associations and other community and civic groups that represent our diverse community to support the arts and be represented in one of the city’s most valued cultural centers,” said Dr. Cheryl Archbald, co-chair of the New Rochelle Public Library Foundation fundraising committee.

     The Ossie Davis Theater’s new layout includes 138 individual seats aligned in 10 rows; 124 seats are available for naming.  Supporters of the Library and the arts who donate $300 per seat to be “named” in the fifth through 10^th rows will be recognized with a nameplate on each seat “purchased.” A donation of $1,000 allows a donor to name one of 38 premium seats in the second through fourth rows. “Perhaps 30 members of a scout troop, book club or sports team will each contribute $10 to name a seat, or a graduating senior class will name a seat as a class gift or as a way to show their appreciation for a favorite teacher,” suggested Dr. Archbald. Donors may select the message they wish to put on the nameplate, up to three lines of 27 characters each, including spaces and punctuation.

     Supporters who wish to select the exact seat to be named and donate electronically may use the NRPL Foundation’s interactive Select-a-Seat tool at nrplfoundation.org/ossiedavistheater. Donors interested in contributing larger amounts may name entire rows of seats at a discounted rate per seat or be recognized on high-profile naming plaques inside the theater, inside the vestibule adjacent to the refurbished Memorial Highway entrance or inside the vestibule near the Lawton Street entrance. For more information on those naming opportunities contact Betsy Kravitz, co-chair of the NRPL Foundation fundraising committee, at bmk926@aol.com. All seat and vestibule naming is on a first-come, first-served basis. A donor appreciation event is scheduled for October 2013.

     For more information on naming seats in the Ossie Davis Theater call the NRPL Foundation at 914-632-7878, ext. 1600 or email info@nrplfoundation.org. Brochures with seat-naming order forms that detail the fundraiser are available at the Library.