Please join Alli and Alejandro on Wednesday, January 17, at 7 pm in the SMR, Room 105. A light dinner will be served. Bring your friends!
Did you know that President Obama declared Martin Luther King Jr. Day a day committed to service? Well, he did! Although we can’t host service projects on MLK Day due to classes, OSA did want to acknowledge the spirit of the day by introducing Juilliard students to ASTEP, Artists Striving to End Poverty, a not-for-profit community organization. ASTEP was born out of former Juilliard student group, ARTreach, and a former faculty member. ARTreach did everything from serving food at soup kitchens to running an arts camp in rural Florida to helping with recovery efforts in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina (The NOLA Project). The NOLA Project made its mark at Juilliard by being one of the longest running student led service initiatives.
After the founders of ARTreach graduated from Juilliard, they collaborated with a faculty member and formed ASTEP. ASTEP was conceived “to transform the lives of youth using the most powerful tool they had: their art. Today, ASTEP connects performing and visual artists with underserved youth in the U.S. and around the world to awaken their imaginations, foster critical thinking, and help them break the cycle of poverty.” (quoted from the ASTEP website).
Learn more about ASTEP with Juilliard alumni, Alli Job (Double Bass BM ’09 and MM ’11), staff attorney at Jazz at Lincoln Center, and Alejandro Rodriguez, (Drama BFA ’09, Group 38), actor and Director of the Artist as Citizen Conference with ASTEP. Alli and Alejandro will share with you all the amazing local and global opportunities that ASTEP offers and provide information about the Artist as Citizen Conference hosted here at Juilliard in June. Alli and Alejandro were members of The NOLA Project and can share their experiences with ARTreach and how it impacted their time at Juilliard and how it continues to impact them today.
Please join Alli and Alejandro on Wednesday, January 17, at 7 pm in the SMR, Room 105. A light dinner will be served. Bring your friends!
