Harlem School Of The Arts Announces Date Of Gala Since The Pandemic

After three years without its main fundraising event, the 59-year-old Harlem School of the Arts (HSA) has announced the return of its annual Gala.

The even is to be held at the world-famous Plaza Hotel on Monday, May 1st, 2023, 6:30 pm – 9 pm.   

The Gala was traditionally held each Fall – beginning in 2013 when actress Gina Torres and actor Laurence J. Fishburne III were the recipients of the Visionary Artist Award.  In 2016 the event morphed into the Masquerade Ball, and the honorees included Michael Feinstein, the Ambassador of the Great American Songbook, producer/director Stan Latham and his daughter, actress Sanaa Lathan. Since that time, the Gala has become one of the most highly anticipated New York events attracting business and entertainment leaders.

This year’s event will be a Spring affair in honor of the re-birth that the city has been undergoing since the lockdown.  In 2021, the Harlem School of the Arts re-opened its doors to in-person arts training, in a facility that had undergone significant renovation, thanks to the Herb Alpert Foundation.  Today, the organization is almost back to full capacity; the halls and instruction rooms alive with the sound of music, the shuffle of dancing feet; the interdisciplinary training of young people following their passion under the careful guidance of a small army of teaching artists and department chairs.  

New changes and new beginnings will be celebrated at this year’s Gala, as the organization’s new president & CEO, James C. Horton, takes on the role of co-hosting the event. Mr. Horton began his tenure on October 24^th, 2022, and has already established his unique style of leadership, with a focus on community and uplifting HSA’s founder Dorothy Maynor.  

In 1964, at a time of great political, social, and cultural unrest in the historic community of Harlem, Ms. Maynor decided to use the arts as a transformative tool, creating a haven for Harlem’s youth.  Almost six decades and thousands of young people later, HSA continues to provide the financial commitment and artistic resources necessary in the delivery of its youth development programs.  This is all made possible through fundraising activities like the Spring Gala, and the generosity of donors, sponsors, and individuals who care and support arts programming for young people.

For more on this year’s Spring Gala (May 1^st 2023, at the Plaza Hotel) – to donate or to purchase tickets and tables visit, www.harlemschoolofthearts.betterworld.org.

Photo credit: January 2023, Source.