The Center For Arts Education Awards Scholarships To Six Aspiring Artists

The 2010 Edward R. Wiener Arts Scholarship Winners Announced

June 8, 2010, New York, NY -- The Center for Arts Education (CAE), the New York City based nonprofit leading the effort to stimulate and sustain quality arts education as an essential part of every child’s K-12 education in the city’s public schools, is pleased to announce the recipients of the 2010 Edward R. Wiener Arts Scholarship Program. Six outstanding high school students who participated in CAE’s 13-week Career Development Program (CDP) internship and are interested in pursuing a career in the arts will each receive $4,000 toward their post-secondary education in the arts.

“These six students demonstrated outstanding enthusiasm and extraordinary talent. We are pleased to know they will continue to pursue an education in the arts,” said CAE’s Executive Director Richard Kessler.

Gary Padmore, a CDP graduate from the class of 2000 and a member of the scholarship selection panel, said, “This year 14 graduating seniors applied for the scholarship. It was a very difficult decision, but we were able to narrow it down to six recipients, representing five high schools and six different artistic interests.”

The winners of the 2010 Edward R. Wiener Arts Scholarship are:

• Tasnuva Ahmed
  Tasnuva is a senior at High School of Art & Design. This semester she interned at Rockwell Group. In the fall she will start her studies in architecture at New York City Technical College.
• Fotis Banis
  Fotis is a senior at Academy of American Studies. This semester he interned at Health Science Communications. In the fall, Fotis will attend Hunter College where he plans to major in Creative Writing.
• Dominique Davenport
  Dominique is a senior at High School of Art & Design. She was an intern at CUE Art Foundation this semester and she will be an Illustration major at the Fashion Institute of Technology this fall.
• Yasha Gruben
  Yasha is a senior at International High School at Prospect Heights. He interned this semester in the Education Department at The Roundabout Theatre. Yasha will be a Creative Writing major at Hunter College this fall.
• Alysha Holligan
  Alysha is a senior at Thomas A. Edison CTE High School. She interned in the Resource Library at Rockwell Group. In the fall, she will attend the School of Visual Arts, where she will pursue a degree in Interior Design.
• Maria Estefania Pardo Becerra
  Estefania is a senior at Bayside High School. She spent her spring interning at the Flushing Council on Culture and the Arts. In the fall, she will continue on her journey to becoming a professional percussionist as a Music Performance major at Queens College.

The Edward R. Wiener Arts Scholarship, established in 1991 by Arline Vogel, Mr. Wiener’s daughter, commemorates the importance that art played in her father’s life, by providing an opportunity for high school students to pursue their education and ultimately their careers in the arts. A native New Yorker and a successful jewelry designer, Mr. Wiener attended public schools in New York City, graduating from James Monroe High School in 1931. He never had the chance to attend college.

The Center for Arts Education took over the administration of the Scholarship in 2007 and expanded its reach beyond Manhattan by offering it to CAE Career Development Program participants representing all five New York City boroughs. Since 2007, 16 CDP graduates have received a total of $58,000 from the Edward R. Wiener Arts Scholarship.