New York, NY – December
29, 2009: The Stella Adler Studio of
Acting was named a winner in Chase Bank’s
Facebook election, “Chase Community Giving,” to name
the top 100 charities in the
United States. Each
winner was awarded a $25,000 prize towards their
programming. The studio will use their winnings to
expand their Outreach Division, which provides free
actor training to underprivileged students in
New York City.
"This grant will provide vital support for the
Stella Adler Outreach
Division, which serves over 300 low-income
and inner-city youth annually with free theater
programming. Students served come from families
whose income averages around $23,000 a year for a
family of four,” said Director Tom Oppenheim.
“We are going to do everything we can to bring our
community together for the next and final round of
voting. The cause is nothing short of funding for
the arts and social justice. The arts have the power
to heal and make whole, to address and serve
humanity in an elemental way, to uplift and edify.
Theater must be shared with everyone regardless of
economic status. The Stella Adler Outreach Division
democratizes access to the arts for New York City
youth."
Chase Community Giving, a grassroots campaign
launched November 16th to inspire a new
way of corporate philanthropy, allowed Facebook's
350 million users to choose from more than 500,000
of their favorite small and local charities and vote
for them to win their share of $5 million.
Throughout the campaign, Chase Community Giving fans
nominated tens of thousands of charities from all 50
states and the District of Columbia.
Throughout the nearly four weeks of Round One
voting, thousands of local charities created their
own grassroots campaigns to encourage supporters to
get out the vote, using e-mail campaigns,
appearances on the local evening news, Facebook
status updates and wall posts, and many other
methods.
In Round Two, the 100 organizations selected from
Round One will have the option to submit a Million
Dollar Grant proposal to Facebook users, detailing
the difference they would make in their local
community with new additional funding. Facebook
users will vote starting January 15, and on or
around February 1, one organization will receive $1
million from Chase, provided all eligibility
requirements and standards have been met and
reviewed by the Chase Community Giving Advisory
Board. Five additional organizations will receive
$100,000 each.
The Stella Adler Studio of
Acting is one of only two
New York
charities competing, and one of three theater
organizations in the nation.
If Stella Adler wins, the
studio will use the funding to expand actor training
to more underprivileged New York teenagers.
Established in 1949 by Stella Adler, the
Stella Adler Studio of Acting
was founded upon Adler’s
belief in the supreme seriousness of her art, and
has, for the last five decades, enriched every part
of the American theater and film arts. Adler’s
philosophies kept many well-known members of the
theater coming back for her intelligent and
passionate advice and the school has since trained
many of the brilliant actors of our time, including
Marlon Brando, Robert DeNiro, Elaine Stritch,
Benicio del Toro, and Salma Hayek. The Stella Adler
Studio of Acting is a nonprofit organization, which
trains over 500 actors annually and also presents
world-class lectures, poetry readings, jazz,
classical music, theater, and dance theater events.