The Noel Pointer Foundation is celebrating its 24th anniversary with a special gala on Thursday, December 12, at Weeksville Heritage Center, located at 158 Buffalo Avenue from 6-9:30pm.
The event will be hosted by Sylvia Gail Kinard Esq and will honor award-winning journalist and BK Reader Editor C. Zawadi Morris, who will receive an Outstanding Service Award; Pastor Jamaal Bernard, senior pastor at Christian Cultural Center Long Island Campus, who will receive an Outstanding Achievement Award; and Councilmember Robert C. Cornegy Jr., representative of Brookyln's 36th District, will receive an Outstanding Leadership and Humanitarian Award.
"When I decided to honor my husband's artistic and humanitarian legacy by launching The Noel Pointer Foundation in 1995, I did so with the firm conviction that music made a transformative difference and that every child deserves the opportunity to benefit from it," said Chinita Pointer, executive director of The Noel Pointer Foundation.
"Now 24 years and 34,000 children later, I am so proud of the work we are accomplishing right here in the heart of Central Brooklyn." Chinita Pointer, Executive Director of The Noel Pointer Foundation.
The Noel Pointer Foundation has served 34,000 youth across five boroughs since its inception in 1995. Programming spans in-school instruction across 36 NYC public schools and day care centers, as well as on-campus instruction at its headquarters in Bedford Stuyvesant's Restoration Plaza. Proceeds for the event will help support scholarships for NPF's Onsite Strings Programming.
This year's gala comes at a critical juncture in NPF's storied history as we prepare to move to a new home customized for music education in Cobble Hill in late 2020-early 2021, complete with sound-proofed studios, rehearsal spaces capable of accommodating both private lessons and ensembles, and climate-controlled instrument storage, said Pointer.
"NPF is at a watershed moment in its storied history. This year's gala celebrates the many accomplishments of the past quarter century, while we look forward to a new era of deepened impact "across Brooklyn, in all 5 boroughs", commented Tracey Capers, executive vice president of Programs at Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation and board chair of The Noel Pointer Foundation.
The move is made possible by $6.5 million in capital funding from The City of New York to support construction costs. The Foundation is currently raising soft costs associated with this ambitious effort.
To purchase tickets for the Gala, click here.
