SACHIKA at the 2014 Imagine Awards celebrating Inner-City Arts 25th Anniversary

Atmosphere at the  2014 Imagine Awards celebrating Inner-City Arts 25th Anniversary  

Designers To-Tam and To-Nya Sachika attend  the 2014 Imagine Awards
celebrating Inner-City Arts 25th Anniversary 

On Friday November 7th, fashion designers To-Tam and To-Nya Sachika with their assistant Barri Yoko, attented the 2014 Imagine Awards celebrating Inner-City Arts 25th Anniversary. Being artists and designers themselves, and knowing about how important it is for a child to get access to tools such as art classes, to maximize their mind frame, creativity and ability to excel at many things; the SACHIKA TWINS couldn't be happier to witness and celebrate such an amazing organization.

For 25 years, Inner-City Arts has been a beacon of hope for thousands of Los Angeles' Most underserved youth.

" At Inner-City Arts, we are committed to making sure that every child ho steps foot on our campus is given the opportunity to access and unlock their creative potential through exposure to the visual and performing arts. We help students explore innovative solutions, learn from mistakes, and tap into their imagination to solve complex problems. As we celebrate our 25th anniversary, we are re-affirming our commitment to bringing the arts to the center of learning in Los Angeles, and we hope you will continue to champion our cause. Inner-City Arts is a magical place. "

 - Bob Smiland, President and CEO, Inner-City Arts

The wonderful evening took place at beautiful venue The Theater at the Ace Hotel in downtown Los Angeles. Beautiful arts from students attending the Inner-City Arts where displayed all around the venue as well as work for artist Alexandra Grant. Several donation booths were accessible at the reception area with delicious amuse-gueule stations and a full bar.

 Among the great presenters and speakers of the evening were the host Philip Palmer, Vince Caldera, an Inner-City Arts student and recipient of 2014 Barbara J. Schreter Scholarship, Craig Benell, Inner-City Arts Board Chair, Bob Gates, Inner-City Arts Co-founder and Artistic director, Crosby Haffner, Inner-City Arts board member and Bob Smiland, Inner-City Arts President and CEO.

25 years ago, co-founder Bob Bates had a vision to build an art space for kids. That first seed of inspiration has grown into a one acre campus, with 9 art studios and over a dozen professional teaching artists, that serves thousands of youth each year.

They were great highlights to the evening. First, it was the presentation of philanthropic leadership award to the Walt Disney Company, introduced by Eric Garcetti, the mayor of Los Angeles, who also announced that The Walt Disney company is donating another 1M to the Inner-City Arts. What a generous and tremendous contribution. The award was accepted by Jay Rasulo, Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer at the The Walt Disney Company. For nearly 2 decades, The Walt Disney Company has supported Inner-City Arts in cultivating the creativity of young people.

What an evening! LA Mayor, Eric Garcetti, on hand to present The Walt Disney Company with the Philanthropic Leadership Award at the 25th Anniversary Imagine Awards. Jay Rasulo, Disney's Senior Executive VP and CFO, had inspiring words about the fundamental importance of creativity.

The evening took a thrilling turn at the call for support. The audience was instructed to pledge their support to Inner-City Arts' Annual Fund by texting ART to 41444 with the amount and name. All names were displayed live on the giant screen on stage. The goal was to raise 25K and the audience exceeded the amount by reaching over 50K all while musically accompanied by a live performance by The Miskey Mountain Boys.

Guests were encouraged to the 25th anniversary benefit edition art pieces by Alexandra Grant. The complete series is available for purchase for $1250 with all proceeds benefitting Inner-City Arts. Alexander Grant is an artist living and working in Los Angeles. Her work is in the permanent collections of the Museum of contemporary Art (MoCA), the Los Angeles County Museum of Art ( LACMA), and the Hammer Museum and throughout the United States and abroad.

www.alexandragrant.com

Original piece by Alexandra Grant

To-Tam Sachika, Alexandra Grant and To-Nya Sachika

We absolutely loved the live musical performances from Judy Kuhn. She sang 3 songs and 1 of them is the classic Disney song theme of Pocahontas titled "Colors of the Wind". Judy Kuhn has been nominated for 3 Tony Awards and 3 Drama Desk Awards for her work. 

Last for not least, the grand finale of the evening had a great number of students, Alumni and teachers get on stage with each their own story, which all completed the saying "Because of Inner-City Arts, I AM.....".....The stage showed the words "I AM" at the end of the presentation. We loved it and how it showed the huge impact and benefits of Inner-City Arts.

It was so wonderful having 25 students, alumni, parents and teachers take the stage for the grand finale at the 25th Anniversary Imagine Awards. Each of them answered the prompt..."Because of Inner-City Arts, I AM...." -- and their answers could not have been more powerful.

A silent auction and after party was the cherry on Sundae to complete this wonderful evening to mark 25 years of successful difference and changing lives. 

THANK INNER-CITY ARTS!!!

To donate or know more about it, 
http://inner-cityarts.org/





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