Triple-Threat Week 3: Fundraising for TONYC!

Meet the Team for Week 3!  Alex, Mx. Daniels, Urgyen, Roni & Sulu!

Some thoughts from Roni Givigliano, TONYC Board member:

It seems like every fundraiser starts with “Now more than ever…” Because, in the arts, it is ALWAYS now more than ever.

Why? Because our system is broken; worse, it's not broken because it never understood how to support or feed the arts.

We build our nonprofits based on corporate structures that are destined to fail them.

I watch in dismay as the recent economic distress has stripped, as it always does, support for the arts no matter how critical, how crucial or how lifesaving they may be. It breaks my heart that the arts are considered ‘disposable’ 

Nonprofit arts organizations, particularly those that uplift underrepresented and marginalized communities are the first to go.

Why? Because most philanthropy is skewed to help the donor. When it no longer benefits them, the arts lose their purpose.

I vehemently disagree with this. I believe in TONYC, in the people and the communities involved in TONYC.

But we cannot rely on the capitalist, patriarchal corporate mentality.

So please, support TONYC.

Alex Chadwell is a Harrisburg, Pennsylvania-born and raised, New York City-based musician/composer, teaching artist/facilitator, administrator, and advocate.

His work as a composer is centered around the notion of “genre-fluid” music. The musical structures, harmonic language, instruments and technology he uses come from a wide array of genres which allows for the creation of hyper personal music. His music integrates non-musical and pre recorded sounds, innovative production methods, and storytelling.

An advocate for universal arts education and a believer in the power of arts and culture to be used to promote and facilitate equitable community development, Chadwell is an active teaching artist in New York City schools and after-school programs. He's worked with organizations such as Arts Education Partnership, Brooklyn Arts Council, St. Nicks Alliance, the New York Philharmonic's Very Young Composers program, Bethel Woods Center for the Arts, PrimeLife Arts Learning, the Center for Arts Education, and Highbridge Voices. He serves on The New York City Arts in Education Roundtable’s Advocacy Committee.

Sulu LeoNimm is Jersey-born, now living in Flatbush, Brooklyn. They have been part of Theatre of the Oppressed NYC from the earliest days, and this week marks TEN YEARS since jokering their first forum theatre performance "PGP", which took place at Judson Memorial Church with the Ali Forney Troupe, a night when the audience in the balcony hit capacity! Sulu is currently the interim executive director of TONYC, although they are seriously considering the title, coined by Philip, of "Executive Re-Director", to recognize the role shifts anticipated through the next year! Sulu thinks people should read Times Square Red / Times Square Blue, The City We Became, and everything by Octavia Butler.