Dear Friends,

One of us an artist and the other a former public school teacher, we have always shared a combined passion for Arts Education. This led to our first major endeavor: the founding of Frank Sinatra School of the Arts, a New York City high school where students pursue an equally rigorous arts and academic curriculum. It was very important to us that this be a public school, accessible to ALL children, regardless of their need or background. It is with great joy that we have watched the school's students achieve at such extraordinary levels since the school first opened in 2001. Frank Sinatra School of the Arts now holds one of the highest graduation and college enrollment rates of all New York City public schools -- we believe this is a true testament to the arts' power to inspire student learning, hard work, and self-esteem.

We founded Exploring the Arts (ETA), our nonprofit charitable organization, to help support ours and other public schools in need of resources. Sadly the arts are always first cut when public school budgets are tightened, and it has been our greatest pride and joy to watch ETA's many Partner Schools be able to sustain and grow their arts programs with ETA's help, even during tough economic times. As the adage says, "it takes a village" -- and so ETA works to leverage resources from the private sector and arts world to support our public schools.

Our commitment to supporting Arts Education has only grown stronger each year as we witness the powerful, positive impact the arts have in the schools we serve. The majority of students we work with live below the poverty level and many will be the first in their families to attend college. They look forward to attending school each day in an environment that celebrates their individual creativity and instills a strong work ethic. The arts are key to their success.

Thank you for your interest in Exploring the Arts. We have been lucky to see our greatest dreams come true, and now it gives us great pleasure to help the next generation of artists and leaders fulfill their own dreams.

Best wishes,

Tony Bennett & Susan Benedetto

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