At Art for Progress we take great pride in the work that we do, and we are so proud of the many accomplishments and countless success stories over the years. Our summer program over the past seven years has been one of our great achievements. We were fortunate to have a wonderful partner in the Pierre and Tana Matisse Foundation. We appreciate their trust and unwavering support through some unprecedented challenging times. With their support, we had the opportunity to touch the lives of hundreds of NYC students looking to pursue careers in the arts, music and fashion.

As we celebrate our 20 year anniversary, it’s been a time for reflection and appreciation for all of the people who have been part of this amazing journey. They say it takes a village. Well, it certainly takes a lot of dedicated people willing to work hard to fulfill a mission. So, thank you to everyone who played a huge or small role in it. With our grant for the summer program coming to an end after 7 years, our 2024 program had a different feel to it. As we look back, we are grateful for the opportunity and will cherish the experience.

The Matisse Foundation empowered and challenged us to be bold in our approach. They told us the most important thing is to adapt and be creative in trying to achieve impactful programming. We really took that to heart and each year we made a sincere effort to achieve that goal. During the pandemic, they told us it’s alright to use the funds for general support. You don’t have to produce the program this year, but we understood that the kids really needed it. We created a program online and opened it up to anyone who wanted to attend. It’s quite possible it was one of the more impactful things we accomplished over our 20 year history. We provided a much needed platform for artists to share their stories, struggles and how they were coping with the challenges of the pandemic. As things opened up, our discussions shifted to our final two years, when we expanded the programming for younger students and a more focused program.

Over the last two years, we empowered our teachers/mentors to work with small groups of four to six students We created focused programs in visual arts, music, music production and fashion design. Some of the programs took place in the personal studios of our mentors. Students had the opportunity to experience what it’s like to step into a real working artist’s life. These experiences, and so many of the their experiences over these 7 years, will last a lifetime for many of our students.