Beach Blanket Babylon Scholarship For The Arts Winners Announced

 Jo Schuman Silver, producer of Steve Silver's Beach Blanket Babylon announced last night the three Bay Area high school winners of The Steve Silver Foundation and Beach Blanket Babylon "Scholarship for the Arts." The event featured an opening performance from the cast of Beach Blanket Babylon as well as a welcome speech from Mayor Gavin Newsom and former Mayor Willie L. Brown, Jr.

Out of nine finalists who performed in the live competition at Club Fugazi, Chelsea McLaughlin (Dance) from Eastside College Preparatory High School in East Palo Alto performing to "Georgia on My Mind," Shaylin Hoye (Acting) from Marin School of the Arts at Novato High School in Novato performing a monologue from Equus and Sara Lemesh (Voice) from Terra Linda High School in San Rafael performing an aria from the opera A Masked Ball walked away with $10,000 each towards their college education.

A celebrity panel of judges, including four-time Grammy Award winner Tracy Chapman, San Francisco's Mr. Nightlife Harry Denton, Composer Gordon Getty, San Francisco Opera's General Director David Gockley, KMEL's Chuy Gomez, Actress Rita Moreno, California Shakespeare Theater's Artistic Director Jonathan Moscone, American Conservatory Theater's Artistic Director Carey Perloff, ABC7's Don Sanchez, Berkeley Repertory Theatre's Artistic Director Tony Taccone, KRON-TV/KCBS Radio/Live105's Jan Wahl and ODC/Dance's Artistic & Executive Dance Director Brenda Way were present at Club Fugazi to select one winner each in the voice, dance, and acting category. Star 101.3's Don Bleu served as Master of Ceremonies.

Steve Silver's Beach Blanket Babylon has a long-standing commitment to philanthropic efforts in the community and has been involved with numerous charities and organizations including American Conservatory Theatre, San Francisco Ballet, San Francisco Opera, San Francisco Symphony, the UCSF Cancer Center, Make-A-Wish Foundation, the Child Abuse Prevention Society, among others.

For more information on this scholarship program visit www.beachblanketbabylon.com.