Exploring the Arts (ETA) Awarded Major Grant from the Eugene M. Lang Foundation to Launch New "Lang Arts Scholars" Initiative

NEW YORK, July 11, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Exploring the Arts (ETA) is pleased to announce it has been awarded $700,000 by the Eugene M. Lang Foundation to support ETA's new Lang Arts Scholars initiative, which will provide underserved New York City teens access to fully-funded, intensive training in an artistic craft, as well as college and career preparatory support.

Program Details
Through this initiative, ETA will engage New York City cultural partners to provide three years of intermediate and advanced artistic training to a group of 15 public school teens chosen annually from ETA's roster of 27 Partner Schools throughout the five boroughs. Spanning their 10^th, 11^th, and 12^th grade years, participants will receive weekly after-school training in either Music, Dance, or Theatre.  The students will also participate in ETA's monthly Saturday preparatory program for college and career readiness, focusing on writing, financial literacy, application to college, and career pathways in the arts. In addition, ETA's Lang Arts Scholars will spend the summer before 11^th grade on a college campus, attending pre-college and summer arts intensives. The summer before 12^th grade, they will be offered paid, office internships in arts administration.  ETA will welcome its first cohort of Lang Arts Scholars in 2019.

"I would have loved to be part of something like this as a kid growing up in Queens. This is why my wife and I started Exploring the Arts nearly 20 years ago – to encourage the next generation of young artists." – Tony Bennett, ETA Co-Founder

"We are extremely grateful to The Eugene M. Lang Foundation for their generosity and proud to launch this initiative at a time when the City itself is working to build a more equitable and inclusive arts and culture sector, which has long been our personal mission. The arts are not a luxury and all students deserve opportunity." – Susan Benedetto, ETA Co-Founder & President

"The Eugene M. Lang Foundation is honored to collaborate with ETA, which brings a history of commitment and expertise to the expansion of arts education in New York City's public schools. My father, Eugene M. Lang, who developed other cohort programs in science and medicine, would be proud to see this concept extended in the arts.  We look forward to engaging with the ETA Lang Arts Scholars and their teachers as the program unfolds." –Jane Lang; Board Chair, Eugene M. Lang Foundation

About Exploring the Arts
Exploring the Arts (ETA) is a 501c3 nonprofit organization founded by legendary singer and painter Tony Bennett and his wife Susan Benedetto, a former public school teacher. ETA's arts education and youth development programs currently serve 38 public high schools throughout New York and Los Angeles. At the heart of ETA's work is a vision to provide greater equality of resources and opportunity in the arts to underserved youth. ETA's programs are funded in part by the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, The Joel Foundation, The Annenberg Foundation, and The Pierre and Tana Matisse Foundation, among others.

About the Eugene M. Lang Foundation
The Eugene M. Lang Foundation is a private family foundation established in 1963 by celebrated philanthropists Eugene M. and Theresa Lang. The Foundation prioritizes giving to programs and organizations that are demonstrably creative in concept and excellent in substance; that elevate people's spirits, goals and capacities above the level of basic needs, primarily through opportunities for meaningful education, participation in the arts and civic activity, and enhanced health and social services; and that promote inventiveness and entrepreneurship.

SOURCE Exploring the Arts