The Pixel: Urban Arts Newsletter January
Expanding with a Pickaxe
We are thrilled to share that in December 2023, Urban Arts received our third highly competitive $4M, Education Innovation and Research (EIR) grant from the U.S. Department of Education for our new Creative Coders initiative. Creative Coders will expand our successful high school computer science (CS) programming to middle school students through video game design, using a rigorous curriculum in partnership with Minecraft Education. We will partner with 70+ schools and 3,450 students over the next four years. Read more from our CEO Philip Courtney here.
#iykyk Color Ball 2024
The Urban Arts Color Ball is happening on April 16th, 2024! Our annual gala brings together powerbrokers from tech, media, and entertainment with inspired students from Urban Arts. Go out for good and secure your ticket today! Add April 16 to your calendar, snatch up a seat here! #BouncefortheChildren 2023 look back here.
For more information, email Genevieve King at Genevieve@urbanarts.org
Urban Arts Needs YOU!
January is National Mentoring Month. Be a mentor with bright, capable students and share your journey. It’s all about access and exposure. Who helped you along the way? At Urban Arts, our mentorship program is a lowkey way to make high-key impact. Chat with underrepresented students so they too may define their own futures.
Email joelle@urbanarts.org for more info or click here.
Thank You, Riot!
Thank you to Riot Games for including Urban Arts in their Social Impact Fund Vote this year. We are so grateful to be one of many amazing organizations that Riot’s generous player community supported for 2023. Riot, and their players, are committed to greater change globally. Their Social Impact Fund addresses deeply systemic issues in Education, Opportunity, Citizenship and Sustainability, while bringing their community together. Thank you, Riot. Game on!
A New York Grant of Mind
We’re excited to announce a grant award totaling $99,000 over two years from the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA) to support the nonprofit arts & culture sector. NYSCA Chair Katherine Nicholls added, “Thanks to the unwavering support of Governor Kathy Hochul & our Legislature, NYSCA is so proud to support the work of organizations and artists from all across New York. Spanning the entire breadth of the arts and culture sector—from world-renowned performers to after-school programs, from long established museums to community arts collectives—these organizations and artists together are a powerful driver of health, tourism, economy and education for our residents and visitors. On behalf of Council and staff, congratulations to Urban Arts and thank you for your perseverance, your creativity and your tireless service to New York State.”
