SCO/Family Dynamics supporters raised critical funds at 5th Annual FD Art Auction

Some 200 art-loving supporters celebrated the SCO/Family Dynamics 5th Annual Art Auction & Cocktail Party on April 28th at Site/109 in Manhattan. The successful sale of 26 pieces of artwork by local and nationally-renowned artists at live and silent auctions raised critical funds for SCO/Family Dynamics’ after-school art programming, which serves hundreds of children and teens in high-need communities throughout Central Brooklyn.

Contributing artists included: Honorary Artist Chair Harif Guzman, as well as Ryan Keeley, Richard Phillips, Alison Jackson, Ron Diorio, Robert Szot, Deborah Brown, Erik Parker, Clayton Calvert, Andrew Fladeboe, Eric Demarchelier, Patricia Avellan, Ashley Woodson Bailey, Georgia Elrod, J Grabowski, Ann Jackson, Richard Jacobs, Anthony E. Kieren, Glenn Paul Smith, Ross Watts and Brian Pearson.

Interim Executive Director Douglas O’Dell said: “Art matters greatly, because students in many low-income NYC neighborhoods receive little or no arts education. It offers our young people a rich exposure to creativity – a critical doorway to dreaming and self-expression, and we’re grateful to everyone in this room for helping us bring these academic and social opportunities to the children at our after-school programs.”

With the funds raised through the auction, and in collaboration with Materials for the Arts, Family Dynamics has increased the number of youth involved with art programming from 83 in 2011 to more than 250 in 2015 at the Beacon Center at M.S. 35 in Bedford-Stuyvesant. As their contribution to the auction, students created a large mixed media portrait of President Barack Obama made of fabric, beads and other nonconventional materials.

The event was co-chaired by longtime Family Dynamics supporters Jeremy FitzGerald and Joni Grossman, with famed contemporary artist, Harif Guzman, serving as this year’s Honorary Artist Chair.  Previous Honorary Artist Chairs for the Auction have included Julian Schnabel in 2011, Dustin Yellin in 2012, Donald Sultan in 2013, and Erik Parker in 2014.

Family Dynamics, a program of SCO Family of Services, is committed to protecting children and strengthening families. Based in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Bushwick and Brownsville, Brooklyn, Family Dynamics serves 5,000 children, youth and community members at nine locations throughout Central Brooklyn with programs including after-school and summer school activities, as well as workforce readiness, youth mentoring, music, recreation and the arts.

SCO Family of Services provides human services for 60,000 children, youth, families and adults each year in New York City and on Long Island. For more info, go to www.sco.org