NEW YORK, June 1 /PRNewswire/ -- The outstanding artwork of more than 80 New York City public school students is featured in this year's P.S. Art exhibition at the Tweed Courthouse. Made possible by Bank of America, the fourth annual P.S. Art show includes 53 paintings, drawings, and sculptures in a variety of media, as well as photographs and three-dimensional design projects.
(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20050720/CLW086LOGO-b)
More than 600 pieces of artwork were submitted by students from public schools across the city for consideration in this year's exhibition. Every region of the public school system is represented in the exhibition and featured artists range in age from five to nineteen, working individually and in groups.
Caroline Kennedy, vice chair of the Fund for Public Schools, led a panel of judges that selected the works. Other judges include Lillian Lambrechts, senior vice president, director of corporate art program, Bank of America; Thomas Cahill, president, Studio in a School; Sandra Jackson, director of education, Studio Museum in Harlem; Stephen Kroninger, graphic designer; Deborah Schwartz, president, Brooklyn Historical Society; and Miguel Luciano, artist and educator.
"P.S. Art is an extraordinary demonstration of the talent of New York City's public school students, and the valuable role of the arts in education," said Ms. Kennedy. "The Department of Education's comprehensive arts curriculum and new training for arts teachers -- thanks in part to the support of Bank of America and their generous grant to enhance arts education -- have helped to produce outstanding quality among this year's entries. The success of P.S. Art motivates us all to expand arts opportunities available to public school students."
"Bank of America believes encouraging arts education in the public schools is critical to the development of this country's future leaders," said Alan Rappaport, New York Market President for Bank of America. "Our support of P.S. Art is a natural extension of the Bank's partnership with the Fund for Public Schools and complements our ongoing support of major New York cultural institutions including The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Carnegie Hall. The talent displayed in this year's P.S. Art competition and the sheer volume of entries received speaks clearly to the level of interest this city's students have in furthering their arts and cultural education."
Bank of America has generously contributed more than $1 million to the New York City Department of Education to support arts education in the city's public schools.
Bank of America and the New York City Department of Education are also working closely with DonorsChoose, an online philanthropic organization supporting the public schools, to recognize New York City's best art teachers and help inspire even more young artists. Bank of America will acknowledge the art teachers whose students have been named winners in the P.S. Art competition by directly funding arts projects in their classrooms through the DonorsChoose website. Bank of America will also inspire new artists by displaying the winning submissions in several of its more than 75 branches around the City.
P.S. Art is open to the public and will be on display at the Tweed Courthouse until September 5th.
About the Fund for Public Schools
The Fund for Public Schools is the nonprofit organization affiliated with the New York City Department of Education (DOE). The Fund plays a pivotal role in improving public education in New York City by strengthening the DOE's relationship with the private sector and supporting system-wide reforms. Working with the DOE's Office of Strategic Partnerships, the Fund secures critical funding for education reform initiatives; helps businesses create partnerships and programs to support city schools; and reaches out to the entire city to create awareness about the needs of the public schools. For more information about the Fund for Public Schools, visit http://www.fundforpublicschools.org/
About Bank of America
Bank of America is one of the world's largest financial institutions, serving individual consumers, small and middle market businesses and large corporations with a full range of banking, investing, asset management and other financial and risk-management products and services. The company provides unmatched convenience in the United States, serving more than 54 million consumer and small business relationships with more than 5,700 retail banking offices, more than 16,700 ATMs and award-winning online banking with more than 19 million active users. Bank of America is the No. 1 overall Small Business Administration (SBA) lender in the United States and the No. 1 SBA lender to minority-owned small businesses. The company serves clients in 175 countries and has relationships with 98 percent of the U.S. Fortune 500 companies and 79 percent of the Global Fortune 500. Bank of America Corporation stock (NYSE: BAC) is listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
Photo:
http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20050720/CLW086LOGO-bAP Archive:
http://photoarchive.ap.org/PRN Photo Desk, photodesk@prnewswire.com
SOURCE: Bank of America
CONTACT: Elizabeth Berberich of the Fund for Public Schools,
+1-212-374-5542, or eberberich@nycboe.net; or Melissa Fox of Bank of America,
+1-212-933-2929, or melissa.a.fox@bankofamerica.com; or Bianca Wright of RF
Binder Partners, +1-212-994-7545, or bianca.wright@rfbinder.com
Web site: http://www.bankofamerica.com/
http://www.fundforpublicschools.org/
