The Arthur Miller Foundation (AMF) has announced the honorees who will be recognized during the organization’s 2024 gala event on Oct. 27. The Arthur Miller Foundation Honors will be awarded to Tony Award-nominated “Hell’s Kitchen” producer Alicia Keys, that musical’s Tony-nominated book writer Kristoffer Diaz and musician and arts educator Linda Aziza Miller.
In addition to these individuals, the benefit will also celebrate the 10th anniversary of AMF’s theater education programs, which are presented in a partnership with New York City Public Schools (NYCPS).
Co-founded in 2013 by Sandi Farkas and Rebecca Miller, Arthur Miller’s daughter, AMF is a nonprofit dedicated specifically to expanding theater education in public schools.
AMF first partnered with a single NYC public school to pilot a program in support of theater teachers. After this experience, AMF honed its mission to create sustainable theater programs in NYC public schools. According to AMF’s executive director, Jaime Hastings, their three-year intensive provides four types of support to theater educators.
These four include: 1) mentorship, pairing current teachers with either a seasoned educator or theater artist who help current educators build lesson plans and create culturally responsive theater curricula and approaches to classroom teaching. 2) AMF coordinates cultural partner residencies. Through these, partner organizations — such as Lincoln Center Theater and New Victory Theater — occupy an eight-to-10-week residency inside a public school classroom to offer expertise in a theatrical discipline in which the teacher may not be as versed. 3) AMF also provides classroom resources — from rehearsal cubes to pipe-and-drape paneling to a theatrical library — as well as tickets to live performances. The foundation grants a stipend to educators to take students to see Broadway shows. 4) AMF offers professional development opportunities for every theater educator in a school supported by this program.
At the time of AMF’s pilot program, 15 teachers in New York City were supported by AMF. Today, that number has grown to 117 theater educators in public schools throughout the five boroughs, plus an expansion to public schools in Bridgeport and Norwalk, Connecticut.
The aforementioned initiative bolsters educators who already have teaching positions in public schools. AMF is also working to increase the number of qualified teachers in hopes that more schools will create a theater program.
The foundation is offering interested individuals 50 percent tuition scholarships to earn their master’s of education and theater certification via the City University of New York graduate program in educational theater.
AMF has dedicated itself specifically to theater education, though the foundation values arts education writ large. As Hastings noted, visual arts and music have been certified subjects for decades. Theater was officially categorized as a certified subject for New York state schools in 2005. “We are playing catchup to music and visual arts,” Hastings said.
Notably, Keys is an alumnus of the New York City public school system. An advocate of arts education, she has continued to provide opportunities for young artists. In recognition of these efforts, Keys will receive the AMF Arts & Culture Award. Diaz, who is also a graduate of NYCPS, will be honored with the AMF Legacy Award for his impact on the American theater. Miller, who previously taught at NYC’s Professional Performing Arts High School, where Keys was one of her students, will receive the AMF Excellence in Arts Education Award.
AMF patrons are invited to attend the Oct. 27 matinée performance of “Hell’s Kitchen.” An awards ceremony on the stage of the Shubert Theatre will follow. The presentation will also include the performance of a musical number by NYCPS students. Tickets and sponsorship packages are now available.
The John Gore Foundation, the charitable arm of Broadway.com, part of the John Gore Organization (parent company of Broadway News), is a fiscal contributor to AMF.
Correction: An earlier version of this article misstate the year in which theater was officially categorized as a certified subject for New York state schools. This has been corrected.
