FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
THE BROOKLYN CONSERVATORY OF MUSIC
RECEIVES GRANT AWARD FROM
THE AMY WINEHOUSE FOUNDATION
Grant Award to Support Scholarships
For Teen Jazz Program
January 16, 2013, Brooklyn, NY – The Brooklyn Conservatory of Music (BCM) is pleased to announce that today it has received a $25,000 grant award from the Amy Winehouse Foundation, in support of scholarships for BCM’s Teen Jazz Program. To-date, BCM is one of only two organizations in the United States, and the first in New York State, to receive a grant from this foundation, whose mission is to support and empower children in need through music education and therapeutic programs, as well as, on-site facilities for addictive behaviors.
BCM’s Teen Jazz Program offers a comprehensive program of private lessons, jazz combo rehearsals, R&B Choir, Teen Jazz Big Band, and jazz theory classes, taught weekly by some of New York’s leading jazz professionals. The program is supervised by Michael Bates, Teen Jazz Program Coordinator, and overseen by Pete Robbins, Dean of Programs and Dorothy Savitch, Music Partners Director. Scholarship students would not be able to take part in this program without support provided by funders such as the Amy Winehouse Foundation.
Janis and Mitch Winehouse stated “We chose the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music as one of the first recipients in the US to receive a grant from the foundation because it was a perfect fit for us. Not only was Janis (Winehouse) born in Brooklyn, which made Amy half American, but the BCM is exactly the type of organization that Amy would have loved. Their commitment to jazz music and their scholarship program for disadvantaged youth is exactly in line with our mission. ” Executive Director Karen Geer commented that “The generosity of the Amy Winehouse will make it possible to for us to transform the lives of students through scholarships in the Teen Jazz Program. We are truly honored by this award.” The inaugural Amy Winehouse Foundation Inspiration Awards and Gala, which will be held at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York on March 21, 2013, will raise money for the foundation’s grant program.
Students in the Teen Jazz Program come from all over Brooklyn, including Cypress Hills (PS 89, IS 171, Union Square Academy of Health Sciences, High School for Construction Trades, Engineering and Architecture), East Williamsburg (MS 126), Clinton Hill (MS 282), Bushwick (Williamsburg High School for Architecture and Design, Achievement First Bushwick Middle School), Sheepshead Bay (Brooklyn Technical High School), Crown Heights (Bishop Ford Central Catholic High School), Dumbo and Woodhaven.
Brooklyn Conservatory of Music (BCM) Contact: Arlene Kriv, Director of Marketing and Public Relations
Phone: 212-316-0193/
brooklynconservatory@gmail.com
Amy Winehouse Foundation (AWF) Contact: Tracey Miller, TMA, Inc.
Phone: 609-383-2323, ext.11/ tracey@tmapublicity.com