Friday, February 27th, 2009
More than 160 people shed off the stock market's new lows and a driving rain storm to attend an evening of fine wine and food at the new BrassWorks building at 105 Grove Street in Montclair. Our special guests, including business leaders, noted artists, school board administrators including the Superintendent of Newark Public Schools, principals and town representatives from Montclair and Newark and nearby communities, were treated to a constant stream of top level jazz, fine wine and food.
The evening was cleverly designed to engage the sense from start to finish with each suite of the unique BrassWorks building featuring a different fine wine and lives performance from an array of outstanding professionals and students musicians under the direction of pianist and bandleader, Oscar Perez. Students from both Jazz House Kids programs and our partnering organization, JazzConnections sounded wonderful. Robert Silver who opened his office, The Bravitas Group, to the organization's event remarked, "What a wonderful cause. I am really glad that Brassworks could be part of it." The event was catered by Montclair's own Fascino Restaurant and underwritten by JHK board members, most notably Montclair residents Deborah and Jason DeSalvo, who hosted the evening and added support from Mary Curtin Creaser and Tom Creaser.
According to the New Jersey Arts Education Census Project, nearly 42% of the total NJ spending on elementary arts education comes from outside sources like Jazz House Kids. "In these tough economic times, it is more important than ever to support fabulous organizations like JHK that help our children in their schools," said Mr. DeSalvo. "The fact that we were able to raise more than over $25,000 in an environment like this, speaks directly to the importance and relevance of JHK's mission."
Special thanks!
Events like this just don't happen; they require tremendous support from so many people. JHK wishes to express its sincere gratitude to its many volunteers and trusted board members who helped make the evening a huge success, especially to the DeSalvo's and Creaser's for hosting our first tasting! A heartfelt thank you to our many supporters who embrace our mission to deliver innovative arts programming!
