Julianna Margulies Observes 'Folk Dance Residency' Students

Young Audiences New York (YANY) Children's Arts Award Honorees made a special visit to P.S. 46 in Upper Manhattan on January 7 to witness a dazzling dance performance by 7- and 8-year-old art students. YANY 2009 honorees Julianna Margulies, Emmy-Award winner; and Rino Scanzoni, Chief Investment Officer, GroupM North America & Chairman - Mediaedge:cia North America, spent the morning observing second grade students during the school's YANY "Folk Dance Residency." The honorees met with school administrators and received an in-depth look at the positive impact YANY arts programming has on children in the 180 New York City public schools the organization serves.

P.S. 46 Principal George Young and YANY Executive Director John G. Schultz welcomed the 2009 Children's Arts Award honorees and recognized their commitment to YANY and to advocacy for children's arts education. Each year, YANY devotes an evening to honoring community leaders from the fields of business, media and entertainment recognizing their support of arts education. Ms. Margulies and Mr. Scanzoni will be joined at a benefit gala in March by Kathy Eldon and Amy Eldon Turteltaub, Co-Founding Chairs of Creative Visions Foundation, in being honored by YANY (www.yany.org) for their extraordinary contributions to the arts and their dedication to arts education in the NYC school system.

"Collaborative arts education programming is more essential than ever in today's economic climate of school budget cuts and program reductions," said Mr. Schultz. "Young Audiences New York enjoys the privilege of providing New York City school children with the vital arts experiences that enrich their lives. We are delighted to honor the outstanding individuals who serve as advocates in the belief that arts education can enhance a child's life-long connection to the arts and engage students in all areas of study."

This year, the 8th Annual Children's Arts Awards Benefit will be held on Monday, March 9, at Cipriani-Wall Street. Noted author and chef Rocco DiSpirito will be the guest host for the event.

In addition to honoring the award recipients, the benefit will include YANY-supported performances by public school students. Co-Chairs include Griffin Dunne, Trudie Styler, Mickey Sumner and Denise Weimann. Past Arts Award Honorees include Vanessa Williams, Matthew Modine, Gregory Hines, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Wynton Marsalis and Richard Thomas.

Young Audiences New York is a leading multi-disciplinary arts and culture-based program provider. With more than 50 years of arts-in-education expertise, Young Audiences provides innovative and diverse programs to children Pre-K-12 that promote creativity and academic achievement, teach essential life and learning skills and provide opportunities for children and families to learn together, all of which support the development of a well-rounded individual.

Young Audiences New York, a chapter of the national Young Audiences organization, has been advancing arts education in New York City public schools since 1952. Beginning as a modest series of chamber music recitals, Young Audiences has steadily grown into one of New York City's leading providers of diverse and innovative arts programs for schools in all five of the city's boroughs.

YANY has taken the lead to ensure that children receive the arts programming that is so critical to social, personal and academic development. As of December 1, 2008, YANY is increasing the amount of subsidy monies available through any of its programs -- residencies, performances, family programs and professional development -- to help lessen the financial strain on city schools. "YANY strongly believes that even in a time of financial crisis, providing children with arts-infused curriculum in dance, music, theater, literary and visual arts is not expendable," said Mr. Schultz.

Julianna Margulies is a critically acclaimed television, film and stage actor whose roles have ranged from Medieval High Priestess (in the TNT miniseries "The Mists of Avalon") to a Broadway run as the wild child of a remarkably dysfunctional modern family ("Festen"). Julianna began her television career with appearances series such as "Law and Order," and "Homicide: Life on the Street." Her role in the pilot episode of "ER" was originally scripted as a single episode stint, but after overwhelmingly strong audience reaction to her portrayal of Nurse Carol Hathaway, the character remained on the show for six seasons, with Julianna receiving an Emmy Award, six Emmy nominations, two Screen Actor Guild Awards, and four Golden Globe nominations. Julianna has since appeared in the miniseries "The Mists of Avalon" and "The Grid" (each of which earned her a Golden Globe nomination), as well as "Hitler, the Rise of Evil" and "The Lost Room." She has also guest-hosted "Saturday Night Live," and had leading roles on "Scrubs," HBO's "The Sopranos," and Fox's "Canterbury's Law," which she starred in and also produced.

Julianna's film resume begins in the 1991 action thriller "Out for Justice," following which she has gone on to critically lauded and markedly varied leading roles in films including "What's Cookin'," "Paradise Road," "The Man from Elysian Fields," and the upcoming "City Island," which reunites her with her "Elysian Fields" co-star Andy Garcia.

On the stage, her role in "The Substance of Fire" at the Aoslo Theater has been succeeded by commanding performances in Yale Repertory's "Fefu and her Friends," "Ten Unknowns" at Lincoln Center (for which she received the Lucille Lortel Award), MCC Theater's "Intrigue With Fay," "The Vagina Monologues" at the Westside Arts Theater and most recently, "Festen" on Broadway.

Julianna provides hands-on support for groups addressing a number of issues, including Lou Gehrig's disease, AIDS, and political activism, as well as promotion of the Arts. Support for the theater arts has long been a passion for Julianna, and keeping theater alive and making it accessible to youth - as well as to the public at large - is one of her primary concerns. She sits on the board of MCC Theater and is an active fundraiser in the world of New York theater.

Rino Scanzoni was executive vice president, managing director of MediaVest Entertainment, which specialized in media planning and implementation for the entertainment industry until December 2000. MediaVest Entertainment represented Paramount Pictures and Home Video and was a division of MediaVest North America, part of the Starcom MediaVest Group. Prior to the formation of MediaVest Entertainment in 1999, Scanzoni served as executive vice president and director of national broadcast for MediaVest and prior to that TeleVest and D'Arcy Masius Benton & Bowles, a position he assumed in April 1990. Under his management of the national broadcast group, billings tripled as a result of additional assignments from key clients as well as significant new business growth. Scanzoni is currently responsible for all trading activity across GroupM in North America and was named Chairman of MEC in March 2007.