Alicia Keys and Roc Nation made a student’s dream come true when they swooped in and came to the rescue. Together, they helped the middle schooler save her art program at the Professional Performing Arts School in Hell’s Kitchen.
According to the New York Daily News, the “Girl On Fire” singer heard the cries of Tennyson Artigliere, who had been grinding to raise money to keep the school’s theater program from being shut down and decided to take action.
Being an alumnus of the school herself, Keys donated $60,000 to help fund the program and with the $53,000 Artigliere had already raised, that put the total well north of $100,000 to help secure another year of theater for the students of PPAS.
The New York Daily News reports:
“I wanted to save my school, I wanted to make a difference,” Tennyson said.
“The day I received the email that the performing arts program would be cut, I immediately messaged my school group chat,” she added. “We brainstormed about what we could do. We wouldn’t let the program that brought so many students so much happiness and brought us together be cut short.”
The student said she has been in contact with Keys, who on top of the donation pledged to help raise money until the city can sufficiently fund the program.
Still, the money will only secure one more year of the program. Earlier this week the arts theater partner, Waterwell, informed families that the program would be shuttering as the money to fund it was drying up. That’s when Artigliere took action which caught the attention of Alicia Keys, Roc Nation, and even actor Jeremy Allen White (The Bear), who all contributed to the online fundraiser.
As to where it goes from here, well, that’s anyone’s guess as the future of the program is still in limbo.
More from the Daily News:
“The price of the services changed during the school year,” Manhattan high school Superintendent Gary Beidleman told reporters at a Thursday media briefing. “It wasn’t a budget cut that occurred.”
“I appreciate the alumni of the school, who reached out, who stepped up,” he said. “There is a plan in place” replacing the professional theater company with school teachers, “and students will continue to receive those services. And we’ll see some Oscar winners in the next 10 years.”
Heather Lanza, Waterwell’s education director, told parents that the program planned for a $531,000 budget this school year, about 20% of which PPAS confirmed Feb. 29 it could no longer pay. Waterwell denied that they changed their budget midyear or knew from the school that they were looking for a new theater program provider.
Hopefully, this issue gets resolved one way or another as these kids need as many programs as possible to help them grow and evolve into their best possible selves.
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Photo: Getty
