Alicia Keys and Roc Nation inspired a seventh-grader to save her school’s performing arts program.
On Monday (March 18), TMZ reported that the singer-songwriter partnered with the interdisciplinary company to donate $60,000 to the New York City Professional Performing Arts School, as budget cuts threaten to permanently close the school’s arts program.
The cause is currently being led by 12-year-old Tennyson Artigliere, who Keys values because she is an alumnus of the school. The massive outpouring of financial support has helped the student so much that she has now surpassed her $102,000 goal, and her GoFundMe has received more than $56,000 and counting.
Actor Jeremy Allen White, also an alumnus of the institution, has donated before and even shared the link on his Instagram profile.
Additionally, Alicia Keys and Roc Nation have vowed to help raise funds for the program every year until the city can fund it on its own.
In other news, her musical Hell’s Kitchen will soon be moving to Broadway, as the main cast was recently confirmed.
Announced via Deadline last month, the show will star Shoshana Bean (“Mr. Saturday Night”), Brandon Victor Dixon (“Hamilton”), Kecia Lewis (“Ain’t Misbehavin'”), and the Broadway debut of Chris Lee and Maleah Joi Moon.
Additional casting will be announced at a later date.
“Hell’s Kitchen” premiered at the Public Theater last year and concluded its run in mid-January. Next, it will move to Broadway’s Shubert Theater, with previews starting on March 28 and performances on April 20.
Shortly after the Broadway premiere was announced, Keys said, “Good things take time, and for 13 years I’ve been dreaming about, writing, and finding inspiration in a musical based on my experiences growing up in Hell’s Kitchen, New York.
“Hell’s Kitchen was inspired by my life, but it’s not a biographical story. It’s a story about family relationships and identity: who are we? Who do we want to be? Who do we want to be?”
She continued: “The soundtrack contains new songs that I’m excited to bring to the world along with the many albums I’ve released, songs you know but have never heard – rearranged and reinterpreted.”
