Young At Arts + 20

I was delighted to return home to Boston at the end of February as a guest speaker at the 25th Anniversary Gala commemorating the Walter Suskind Memorial Fund's Young At Arts program at the Citi Center for the Performing Arts.

Joe Spaulding, (L), head of the Citi Center, handed the mic over to little old me.

Throughout the school-themed event, the audience of 400 was introduced through film to Walter Suskind, who helped transport 1,200 young children out of Holland during World War II.  His friends, the Vanderpols, founded the Young At Arts program as a tribute to Suskind, and 25 years after its inception, Young At Arts is still going strong.

Twenty years ago, as a high schooler, I was selected to be a part of the Young At Arts program, serving as a teen reviewer in the local paper, The Brookline TAB.  As a part of the "Critics Circle," I was given carte blanche in the Boston performance scene, seeing the Boston Ballet, opera, and all the major touring shows coming through the city at that time.  Then before I left Boston for college, I interned a year in the administrative offices of the Young At Arts program and learned a bit about arts administration.

I kept my remarks short and sweet (and joked, "like me"), thanking the Young At Arts program for giving me an invaluable education in creative collaboration, gaining many of the skills I use daily in running my own production company, Tongue in Cheek Theater, in New York City.

Thank you to all the wonderful people who have made Young At Arts a diverse, creative and collaborative program for 25 years!