Society`

EVENTS New York’s UNCF raises over $300K for HBCUs via “A Mind Is...”® Gala

By Audrey J. Bernard Society Editor

On Thursday, March 4, 2021, over 350 guests participated in the New York United Negro College Fund‘s (UNCF) virtual gala to raise critical funds to help students earn college degrees at the organization’s annual “A Mind Is...”® Gala. The online fundraiser was one of many across the United States raising funds to help students realize their dreams of a college education via HBCUs and many other colleges and universities across the United States. The success of the event exceeded all expectations raising over $300,000 to help local students in need get to and through college at some of the nation’s most important resources for students of color—historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs).

This event is always one of New York’s finest but due to the pandemic, UNCF’s vital fundraising events have had to scale down and move online. However, the virtual production did not lose its luster and was fabulous as ever even raising the bar for others to follow!

Black magnificence prevailed from start to finish! Infinity Song, a group on the rise recently signed by Roc Nation, got the evening started with “Lift Every Voice and Sing.” Michelle Miller, co-host of CBS This Morning: Saturday, kept the event moving without missing a beat! Miller’s team at CBS provided a great video featuring HBCU alumni Stacey Abrams. Kudos to the Taylor Company for the fabulous gala video featuring UNCF Scholar Sydney Green. Miller also introduced esteemed presenters Michael R. Bloomberg, Mellody Hobson, and Dr. Michael L. Lomax.

During the program filled with pomp and purpose, honorees were recognized for helping to advance educational opportunities for African Americans and their commitment to UNCF’s mission of uplifting HBCUs and empowering deserving, talented students to earn college degrees. This year’s honorees included: Thasunda Brown Duckett, CEO, Chase Consumer Banking, received the Leadership Award; PepsiCo, was presented with the Corporate Partner Award; and Dennis M. Walcott, president and CEO, Queens Public Library, was recipient of the Shirley Chisholm Award for Community Service. “UNCF is the premier organization that is helping to level the playing field for all,” stated Walcott.

In his greeting to the audience, Dr. Michael L. Lomax, president and CEO, UNCF referred to profound challenges brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. “Honestly, I thought that UNCF and some of our HBCUs would be permanently damaged. But across our country, hundreds of thousands of donors, allies, and New Yorkers like you stepped up to ensure that our HBCUs and our students would have much needed support. Because we share a profound belief, namely, that “A mind is a terrible thing to waste, but a wonderful thing to invest in.”®

The success of an event of this size draws from many supporters and sponsors. Sponsors for the UNCF “A Mind Is…” New York Gala included: Presenting Sponsor, JPMorgan Chase; Gold Sponsors —American Express, Bloomberg Philanthropies, BNY Mellon, Citi, Colgate, Delta Air Lines, PepsiCo, Taylor; Silver Sponsors— Foot Locker Foundation, Sony Corporation of America; Bronze Sponsors— AlixPartners, Penguin Random House, Schroders, Sourcepass, and Walton Family Foundation.

“We thank our sponsors for their support of this important and vital event,” Diego Aviles, vice president, development, UNCF said. “Especially during the pandemic, their critical efforts on our behalf will certainly help enable better futures for our students.” The exquisite evening ended with Grammy award-nominated singer and songwriter, Kenny Lattimore’s beautiful rendition of “Smile.”

To learn more about UNCF’s work in the Northeast, contact Diego Aviles at diego.aviles@uncf.org.

About UNCF

UNCF (United Negro College Fund) is the nation’s largest and most effective minority education organization. To serve youth, the community and the nation, UNCF supports students’ education and development through scholarships and other programs, supports and strengthens its 37 member colleges and universities, and advocates for the importance of minority education and college readiness. UNCF institutions and other historically Black colleges and universities are highly effective, awarding near-

ly 20% of African American baccalaureate degrees. UNCF administers more than 400 programs, including scholarship, internship and fellowship, mentoring, summer enrichment, and curriculum and faculty development programs. Today, UNCF supports more than 60,000 students atover 1,100 colleges and universities across the country. Its logo features the UNCF torch of leadership in education and its widely recognized trademark, ‟A mind is a terrible thing to waste.” Learn more at UNCF.org or for continuous updates and news follow UNCF on Twitter at @UNCF.

Honoree Thasunda Brown Duckett

Corporate Honoree PepsiCo Honoree Dennis Walcott

Presenter Mike Bloomberg

Presenter Mellody Hobson Performer Infinity Song

HARLEM COMMUNITY NEWSPAPERS

Jamaica Center for Arts and Learning with Sketchbook Exhibit

Jamaica Center for Arts & Learning (JCAL) is excited to partner with the Southeast Queens Artist Alliance (SEQAA) to present Process → Project: What Comes Out of Our Sketchbooks, curated by Rejin Leys and Damali Abrams. In this exhibition which continues through March 20th, the curators invited members of SEQAA and guest artists from outside Southeast Queens to show pages from their sketchbooks and other works that show different aspects of the creative process. At a time when many people ask “How did we get here?” with regard to the current cultural moment, there is a general desire to analyze and retrace one’s steps. Though at the intimate scale of individual art-making, Leys and Abrams provide a platform for artists to reveal the building blocks and sometimes nonlinear routes that are travelled as they arrive at their final works.

“Sketchbooks provide a behind the scenes look at the artistic process. In their sketches, artists test out ideas, record observations, practice skills, and plan future projects. This exhibition will present sketches, both loose and bound, by working artists with diverse practices: writing, painting, drawing, photography, collage, assemblage, sculpture, and paper-making. The shared act of sketching unites them.

Opening an artist’s sketchbook can become a journey inside the artist’s mind. Often representing intimate encounters with their thinking process, this invitation to experience such uninhibited experimentation is usually limited to those close to the artist, if at all. Public access to sketchbooks often become available only after the artist has died.

An exhibition of living artists’ sketchbooks provides perhaps more than a studio visit since multiple approaches to ideas are recorded that introduces the artist’s practice and highlights the conscious work executed behind the scenes.” Whether or not you’re a practicing artist, keeping a sketchbook can be a good way to encourage your creative thinking.” according to Rejin Leys, the co-curator of the exhibit. Activity kits (helpful but not required) will be available at JCAL for the duration of the exhibit.

Featured artists are: Damali Abrams, Laura Alvarez, Natali Bravo-Barbee, Ify Chiejina, Cecile Chong, Sherese Francis, iliana emilia garcia, Janet Olivia Henry, Jacqueline Herranz Brooks, Heather Hold- en, Marvenia Knight, Naomi Kuo, Rejin Leys, Carla Lobmier, Angela Miskis, Shervone Neckles, Selime Okuyan, Shenna Vaughn, Elizabeth Velazquez, and Lisa Wade. About SEQAA: “The Southeast Queens Artists Alliance is comprised of visual, literary, and multidisciplinary artists. Our mission is to nurture local talent and to support quality cultural programming by artists who want to share their work with people in the community and beyond. At the same time, we want to participate in the ongoing discussions in the neighborhood around development and gentrification, and the role of art and culture in our community.” Learn more at seqaa. org

In-person visits to the gallery can be reserved on March 20th with Rejin Leys. Other times can be reserved by special appointment. For more information and to RSVP, go to jcal.org/visit-the-gallery.

See the recording of a live-streamed workshop here, and share images of your own sketchbooks at #processtoproject.

Sketchbooks