Letter

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, and it was our longheld dream to give back to the communities and institutions that had for many years helped shape our own dreams and careers. 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, and 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.

We first established Exploring the Arts (ETA), our nonprofit charitable organization, to provide additional support to the Frank Sinatra School's arts programs. It is all too often that public schools face budget cuts and must forego their arts offerings, and it has been our greatest pride and joy to watch the Frank Sinatra School succeed aided by this additional help.

Inspired by the school's success, we broadened ETA's mission so that we could expand our support to more public high schools with deserving arts programs, and so in 2008 ETA began assisting new partner schools. Our commitment to arts education has only grown stronger each year as we witness the powerful, positive impact the arts have in the schools we serve.

On behalf of the talented, student artists we serve and their dedicated teachers, we thank you for your interest in Exploring the Arts and for sharing our commitment to the importance of arts education. 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

Click here to watch a video about our work.