2014 Family Dynamics Art Auction A Great Success

The 4th Annual SCO Family Dynamics Art Auction was a huge success! Thanks to our wonderful supporters and all the artists who donated their work, last night’s benefit raised a record amount and will help us to expand after-school arts programming in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Bushwick and Brownsville. Thanks, everyone!

4th Annual SCO Family Dynamics Art Auction A Great Success

The 4th Annual SCO/Family Dynamics Art Auction on April 28th was the most successful yet, raising funds to support and expand the after-school art program for children at MS 35 in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn. 

“New Knowledge,” a painting featuring the neon palate and wildly inventive architecture of Williamsburg artist Erik Parker, won the largest bid. The benefit, held at Site 109 on the Lower East Side, drew 200 attendees who participated in a live and silent auction including works by artists Robert Szot, Ron Diorio Ron Agam, Ryan Keeley, Jim Plunkett and Dan Rizzie, all of whom donated their work. The children in the art program created and donated “Carousel Horse Collage” representing one of the horses on Jane’s Carousel in Brooklyn Bridge Park. 

“We are very grateful to everyone who supports our programs,” said SCO Executive Director Gail Nayowith. “Thanks to all of you, our children at Family Dynamics are getting a rich exposure to creativity, a critical doorway to dreaming and self-expression.” According to a recent report by Comptroller Scott Stringer, 28% of  public schools lack an art teacher – and half those schools are in Central Brooklyn and the South Bronx. 

Erik Parker was this year’s Honorary Chair; previous honorary chairs for the Auction have included Julian Schnabel in 2011, Dustin Yellin in 2012 and Donald Sultan in 2013.  The event was co-chaired by Jeremy FitzGerald and Joni Grossman.

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 annually reaches 7,000 children, youth and adults with after-school & summer school activities, workforce readiness, family support services and the arts. Some 100 students now attend the after-school art program and Family Dynamics plans to expand the number served by 75 in the next school year.