JR, Visionary Artist, to be Honored at Lyc'e Fran'ais de New York Gala 2015

The Lyce Franais de New York (LFNY) will hold its 16 th annual Gala on Saturday, February 21, 2015, at the Park Avenue Armory in New York City, at which over 900 guests will celebrate artistic expression and the power of art to inspire and unite communities across the world. At the Gala, the LFNY will honor the visionary, New York-based French artist JR for his groundbreaking works and global reach.

Led by this year's Gala's co-chairs Anne-Galle Van de Weghe, Catherine Flores Sille, Nastassja Balick Coppers and Anthony Coppers, the LFNY Gala is a high point of fundraising activity at the school. This special event raises upwards of $1.9 million to support the LFNY's academic, art, extracurricular and cultural programs, as well as the school's scholarship fund.

The 2015 Gala, "Sortir du Cadre The World is Your Canvas," celebrates art as a form of self-expression and as a means of bringing communities together. Art and community hold important places in the school's bilingual, pluricultural curriculum which prepares students to be highly inquisitive, dynamic, creative contributors to the world around them.

"As JR himself likes to say, the streets of the world are his art gallery," notes Sean Lynch, Head of School. "We are honored to be celebrating an artist who focuses his lens on people in places where artists might not typically venture into favelas, small villages and factories and who brings them to life on the sidewalks and buildings of our planet for all to appreciate. He reminds us that every life has value and that each of us is deeply connected to one another by our shared humanity. I can't think of a more important message to present to young minds."

During this year's Gala, JR will receive the Charles de Ferry de Fontnouvelle award, named for the school's founder. Past recipients of the award include Christine Lagarde, Thierry Henry, Charlie Rose and Jean Paul Gaultier.

About JR
Winner of the 2011 TED prize, JR is an artist who launched the global participatory art project INSIDE OUT. His latest projects in New York City involve a collaboration with New York City Ballet and UNFRAMED Ellis Island, an exhibition on the abandoned hospital of Ellis Island that brings alive memories of the 12 million immigrants that entered the United States through this place, by pasting archival images onto the walls.For more information, visit JR-art.net.

About the Lyce Franais de New York (LFNY)
Founded in 1935, the LFNY is a non-profit, independent, and private coeducational institution located on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. The LFNY is chartered by the Board of Regents of the University of the State of New York, and accredited by the French Ministry of National Education and by the New York State Association of Independent Schools (NYSAIS). The school offers a French-based bilingual education to a diverse community of 1367 students representing nearly 50 nationalities from early childhood through high school. The school's mission rests on three pillars: academic excellence, personal growth and development, and global citizenship.

For more information, visit www.lfny.org, or follow us on @lyceefrancaisny.

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