Publicolor’s Record-Breaking 15th Anniversary Celebration-Students in their Spotlight

[Mitchell Acks]

 

 

Publicolor, the esteemed not-for-profit education innovator, held its most successful fund-raiser to date on Monday, April 25^th celebrating 15 years creating safe and inspiring environments for learning in New York City’s most underserved public schools and communities. Ruth Lande Shuman (Founder and President) and Deven Parekh (Board Chair) hosted the 15^th Anniversary Celebration at Martin Luther King, Jr. High School in Manhattan welcoming more than 500 guests and raising $955,000 to fund its comprehensive academic and youth development programs and its college scholarships.

This year, Publicolor honored The Estée Lauder Companies’ Volunteers for their generous and steadfast support of Publicolor students and programs, and CNN’s Soledad O’Brien for her exemplary documentaries on underreported and underserved communities in America.

Two of the school’s hallways were home to colorful cocktails, passed hors d’oeuvres, where guests put on Tyvek jumpsuits over their party clothes and painted alongside Publicolor students consisting of 22 painting stations headed by art, architecture, fashion, and interior design – including artist Ross Bleckner; interior designer Jamie Drake; fashion designers Nicole Miller and Patrick Robinson; Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia’s Creative Director Gael Towey and graphic designer Stephen Doyle, among others. The students of Publicolor were available to meet guests along with their helping the team leaders throughout the painting process and staff the paint stations

Distinguished guests included First Deputy Mayor Patti Harris; Chancellor of New York City Public Schools Dennis Walcott; composer Philip Glass; architect and designer Gaetano Pesce, designers Lella and Massimo Vignelli and art patrons Beth Rudin deWoody and Sherry Bronfman, among many others.

 

The night concluded with a presentation onstage honoring CNN’s Soledad O’Brien and the Estée Lauder Companies’ volunteers, stories from Publicolor participants, and the gala's first live auction, led by Swann Galleries’ president Nicholas Lowry, which incited lightning rounds of raising money for scholarships. Speeches and stories were followed by a sing-along of Ben E. King’s “Stand By Me,” with students in the program, Publicolor staff, and other guests joining in.

Truly an event like no other where the students participate with the adults in every aspect of the evening's festivities.