Jamie Drake, Best & Company and Founding Board Members Will Be Honored as The Alpha Workshops Continues to Celebrate Its 20th Anniversary
NEW YORK (April 2015) – This year marks two decades of success for New York City-based non-profit The Alpha Workshops, an organization that provides creative HIV-positive individuals with industry-specific training and employment in the decorative arts. The 20th Anniversary celebration will continue with the annual Alpha Awards on May 12, 2015 at The Broad Street Ballroom in the Financial District.
The benefit will honor Alpha’s founding Board Members, Barry Head, Ellen Levy, Elinor Polansky and Barbara Small; Chip Brian and Michael Daddio of Best & Company; and Jamie Drake, in conjunction with the launch of the Alpha Workshop’s Scholarship Fund. For the first time, Alpha will introduce a specialized endowment to finance the tuition of incoming students, encouraging their studies in high-quality craft and focused artistry.
“All of our Alpha Awards honorees have given so much time and generosity to The Alpha Workshops,” says founder and Executive Director Kenneth Wampler. “It has been incredibly rewarding to work with such talented individuals over the past two decades and we are ever so thankful for their contributions. We look forward to another twenty years of changing lives through decorative arts education.”
Over 350 influential New Yorkers will come together in an effort to raise awareness and funding in support of The Alpha Workshops’ $300,000 Benefit goal. In addition to live and silent auctions, guests and supporters of the organization are encouraged to participate in an online auction, where bidding is slated to begin on April 28, 2015. Please visit https://www.501auctions.com/alphaawards for more information and an opportunity to bid on offerings including luxury travel, dining experiences, and home decor items, among others.
Sponsors of the 2015 Alpha Awards are: Event Co-Chairs Steve Symonds and Jonathan L. Raiola, Auction Co-Chairs Guy Clark and Jerry Austin, Bloomberg Philanthropies, Jamie Drake, Mary Fisher, Ellen Levy and Gregg Horowitz, and Steve Symonds.
The Alpha Workshops Gallery is located on the ground floor of 245 West 29th Street. Please visit www.alphaworkshops.org for more information.
ABOUT THE ALPHA WORKSHOPS
Dedicated to creating beauty and changing lives, The Alpha Workshops is the nation’s only non-profit organization providing creative HIV -positive individuals with industry-specific training and employment in the decorative arts. Founded in 1995, the multi-faceted organization encompasses The Alpha Workshops Studio School (AWSS), a vocational school licensed by the New York State Department of Education, and Alpha Workshops Studios, an award -winning professional design and decorative arts atelier staffed exclusively by AWSS graduates. In March 2015, The Alpha Workshops opened its first exhibition of fabrications and finishes in its new storefront gallery below its school and studio space. The venue will serve as a multipurpose atelier, showroom, exhibit and event space. Alpha’s staff of artists also produce hand -painted wallpapers, custom built and hand-finished case goods, hand-fabricated lamps, and accessories made to specification and available through select showrooms.
