2017
http://www.blackenterprise.com/lifestyle/russell-simmons-art-for-life/
Celebrities, business luminaries, and artists gathered on July 15 at the Art For Life benefit, one of the hottest Hamptons parties of the summer. But besides enjoying the luxury of fine dining, live entertainment, an array of art on display, attendees raised over $1.1 million for an art education initiative founded by brothers Russell, Danny, and Joseph “Rev Run” Simmons.
Art For Life Honoree Chuck D. and Russell Simmons (Photo Credit: Jason Kempin/Getty Images Courtesy of Rush Philanthropic Arts Foundation)
Their organization, Rush Philanthropic Arts Foundation (RPAF), was launched in 1995 to provide children of color with access and exposure to the arts while helping to develop and support underrepresented artists, curators, and audiences. To fund the org, proceeds from Art For Life benefit RPAF’s arts education and gallery programs, which have directly served tens of thousands of at-risk youth for the last two decades. This year, the benefit, “Midnight at the Oasis,” was held at Fairview Farms in Bridgehampton, New York, and sponsored by Merrill Lynch, UBER, and Coty Inc. Renowned journalist Soledad O’Brien returned to host the gala, which welcomed stars like Star Jones, Super Bowl champion Darrelle Revis, artist Elle Varner, and legendary music executive Kevin Liles.
While on the red carpet, Black Enterprise spoke to the 2017 Art For Life honorees, including former President, Consumer Beauty Division for Coty Inc. Esi Eggleston Bracey; legendary hip-hop artist Chuck D; Chief Brand Officer for Uber Bozoma Saint John; former President of Programming for BET Stephen G. Hill; and 2017 featured artist, Sanford Biggers.
“It’s a dream come true. I’ve been coming to this event for a long time and now to be honored amongst such great artists, I’m so excited about that,” Saint John told BE, before mentioning her recent move from Apple to Uber.
Hill, who announced a surprising departure from BET in March, spoke about how the power of art unites cultures and stimulates innovation.
With the growing demand for STEM jobs, O’Brien lamented that funding for art programs “are often one of the very first things that get cut” from schools. She added her thoughts on the huge impact RPAF has made in the lives of disenfranchised children through scholarships and its signature programs in New York City schools.
BE also spoke to Tony, Grammy, and Emmy Award-winning artist Cynthia Erivo, who delivered a stellar performance at the benefit.
“Art is a wonderful way of teaching,” she said. “Whenever a child is able to access art, it opens up another side of them, and I think that’s important to share. The more ways that we can get kids to learn, the better.”
During the dinner, Russell Simmons took the stage and joked about the all-vegan menu created by Great Performances Chef De Cuisine Mark Russell, urging guests to keep an open mind. He also stressed how vital art is to student achievement and our overall well-being.
“When kids struggle, there’s nothing greater than exercising creative muscles,” said Simmons. “The creative process is how we move from step to step in life. Beyond the political landscape that we find ourselves in, the political landscape before that or even before that, we’re here to do the work for our kids. You guys have helped us do that for 22 years.”
Later, the media mogul hosted a live auction that raised an impressive $150,000 in less than 10 minutes. However, Chuck D stole the night with a surprising performance of the 1989 classic hip-hop hit “Fight The Power.”
Following the dinner and performances, Danny Simmons talked to BE about the immense impact that Art For Life has had on inner-city kids.
“We have been able to reach thousands of children through the New York City School System, we put kids in college, [and] we have kids who been through college that come back and teach other kids,” he said, adding that they plan to expand the programs outside of New York and Philadelphia. “We want to make this national because we know it works.”
Jaleel Wilson, a 19-year-old freshman at LaGuardia Community College in New York, is just one of the students who benefited from RPAF. He told BE that the Art For Life scholarship he received last year has helped him financially and pushed him closer to his aspiration to launch his own art organization.
“It’s helped me with college so that I don’t have to come out of my pocket and spend money for college. So I appreciate them very, very much for that.”
Likewise, Ardelia Lovelace, a 19-year-old student at the Fashion Institute of Technology, said being awarded a full scholarship through the Rush Arts has relieved her of an immense financial burden. No longer am I “worrying about how am I going to pay for college,” instead, the scholarship “allowed me to put that money and focus onto other things instead of stressing about if I’m in debt and how much I owe.”
She added, “Art is such an amazing part of life and I feel like a lot of people aren’t able to experience that.”
Celebrities, business luminaries, and artists gathered on July 15 at the Art For Life benefit, one of the hottest Hamptons parties of the summer. But besides enjoying the luxury of fine dining, live entertainment, an array of art on display, attendees raised over $1.1 million for an art education initiative founded by brothers Russell, Danny, and Joseph “Rev Run” Simmons.
Art For Life Honoree Chuck D. and Russell Simmons (Photo Credit: Jason Kempin/Getty Images Courtesy of Rush Philanthropic Arts Foundation)
Their organization, Rush Philanthropic Arts Foundation (RPAF), was launched in 1995 to provide children of color with access and exposure to the arts while helping to develop and support underrepresented artists, curators, and audiences. To fund the org, proceeds from Art For Life benefit RPAF’s arts education and gallery programs, which have directly served tens of thousands of at-risk youth for the last two decades. This year, the benefit, “Midnight at the Oasis,” was held at Fairview Farms in Bridgehampton, New York, and sponsored by Merrill Lynch, UBER, and Coty Inc. Renowned journalist Soledad O’Brien returned to host the gala, which welcomed stars like Star Jones, Super Bowl champion Darrelle Revis, artist Elle Varner, and legendary music executive Kevin Liles.
While on the red carpet, Black Enterprise spoke to the 2017 Art For Life honorees, including former President, Consumer Beauty Division for Coty Inc. Esi Eggleston Bracey; legendary hip-hop artist Chuck D; Chief Brand Officer for Uber Bozoma Saint John; former President of Programming for BET Stephen G. Hill; and 2017 featured artist, Sanford Biggers.
“It’s a dream come true. I’ve been coming to this event for a long time and now to be honored amongst such great artists, I’m so excited about that,” Saint John told BE, before mentioning her recent move from Apple to Uber.
Hill, who announced a surprising departure from BET in March, spoke about how the power of art unites cultures and stimulates innovation.
With the growing demand for STEM jobs, O’Brien lamented that funding for art programs “are often one of the very first things that get cut” from schools. She added her thoughts on the huge impact RPAF has made in the lives of disenfranchised children through scholarships and its signature programs in New York City schools.
BE also spoke to Tony, Grammy, and Emmy Award-winning artist Cynthia Erivo, who delivered a stellar performance at the benefit.
“Art is a wonderful way of teaching,” she said. “Whenever a child is able to access art, it opens up another side of them, and I think that’s important to share. The more ways that we can get kids to learn, the better.”
During the dinner, Russell Simmons took the stage and joked about the all-vegan menu created by Great Performances Chef De Cuisine Mark Russell, urging guests to keep an open mind. He also stressed how vital art is to student achievement and our overall well-being.
“When kids struggle, there’s nothing greater than exercising creative muscles,” said Simmons. “The creative process is how we move from step to step in life. Beyond the political landscape that we find ourselves in, the political landscape before that or even before that, we’re here to do the work for our kids. You guys have helped us do that for 22 years.”
Later, the media mogul hosted a live auction that raised an impressive $150,000 in less than 10 minutes. However, Chuck D stole the night with a surprising performance of the 1989 classic hip-hop hit “Fight The Power.”
Following the dinner and performances, Danny Simmons talked to BE about the immense impact that Art For Life has had on inner-city kids.
“We have been able to reach thousands of children through the New York City School System, we put kids in college, [and] we have kids who been through college that come back and teach other kids,” he said, adding that they plan to expand the programs outside of New York and Philadelphia. “We want to make this national because we know it works.”
Jaleel Wilson, a 19-year-old freshman at LaGuardia Community College in New York, is just one of the students who benefited from RPAF. He told BE that the Art For Life scholarship he received last year has helped him financially and pushed him closer to his aspiration to launch his own art organization.
“It’s helped me with college so that I don’t have to come out of my pocket and spend money for college. So I appreciate them very, very much for that.”
Likewise, Ardelia Lovelace, a 19-year-old student at the Fashion Institute of Technology, said being awarded a full scholarship through the Rush Arts has relieved her of an immense financial burden. No longer am I “worrying about how am I going to pay for college,” instead, the scholarship “allowed me to put that money and focus onto other things instead of stressing about if I’m in debt and how much I owe.”
She added, “Art is such an amazing part of life and I feel like a lot of people aren’t able to experience that.”
Rocko’s Modern Life was part of the second wave of groundbreaking Nickelodeon cartoons released under the Nicktoons banner in the ’90s. A satirical, smart, and surreal take on modern life at the time, it was filled with anthropomorphic animals, incredible animation, and superstar voice work, plus a lot of udders. The show was a revelation, and quickly gained cult status among animation fans.
With the announcement of a reboot this year at San Diego Comic-Con, we sat down with Nicktoons icons Tom Kenny (the voice of Heffer), Mr. Lawrence (Filburt), and the director of Rocko’s Modern Life: Static Cling, Cosmo Segurson, to talk about creating Rocko’s Modern Life and making cartoons in the golden age of Nicktoons.
Crafting an iconic cast of characters is always a collaboration, and for Doug Lawrence it was a nuanced and complex balancing act. “It’s done in layers,” he said. “The first layer you write it, storyboard it, and hope it works. The second layer is getting those voices on there and making sure that makes sense, and if you’re doing that right then every layer after that makes it better. So when you finally get into the room to do the cartoons we do, we can always change things. We can make them funnier and more articulate. At least on the shows we’re on, we’re constantly trying to make them funnier.”
Kenny agreed. “You’re just trying to take your little bit that you’re in charge of and make it as good as it can be,” he said. “You’re just trying to do good work. The first layer of the stuff we’re talking about is always a strong creator. In this case that’s Joe Murray, who thought of this show, these characters, and of Rocko, who definitely represents Joe and his recalcitrance about the modern world. That’s it, no matter how big this stuff gets. You come to Comic-Con and you see stuff on the sides of buses, but really anything cool starts with a guy who drew it on a napkin.”
Another crucial layer of the creation process is a great team, and Rocko’s Modern Life had that from the start. “During the show we would do an episode a week,” Kenny said. “Obviously with a series, there are idea cards up on the wall, there are storyboards, and they’re chasing all the stuff around. I never had the stomach for all that.”
“On a show like Rocko’s Modern Life, it was premise driven,” explained Cosmo Segurson, who also contributed to the original series as well as helming the upcoming reboot. “So guys like me and Doug, we would be writing the dialogue as we’d go.”
He continued, “They start with a couple of paragraphs and you flesh that out. But then we’re writing the dialogue, then the comedians who’re doing the voices are adding so much, so it’s always in flux.”
Lawrence jumped in to add, “Once you know your character, you start to say, ‘Oh, he wouldn’t say it like that.'”
“Hopefully what happens is like a hybrid of all these people and a little bit of all of their DNA gets into it,” Kenny said. “Like Cosmo says, it’s all premise driven and character driven. Who are these characters? How do they react to stuff? What situations can we put them in? That really hasn’t changed in like hundred of years,”
He went on: “Let’s take these characters and if they’re well delineated and definitive, then comedy ensues. But one of the battles is that these things can get watered down by corporate. A great thing about the Rocko resurgence is that Joe and his guys were very clear: if it’s going to happen, then it has to happen in a way that’s redolent of the original show, or else there’s no point.”
An outstanding feature of Nicktoons in the ’90s was the intelligent adult humor and satire that the teams would insert into all of their work, especially Rocko’s Modern Life. “We were really lucky. Joe Murray would fight for stuff and we all would,” Lawrence and Kenny explained. “Back then Nickelodeon animation didn’t have a big building. We were all just little separate things. So we were able to have a tête-à-tête with every executive. We talked directly to them and we could fight for our stuff. They’d say, ‘Oh, this is weird. We don’t want to do this.’ And we’d say, ‘No, it’s relevant. There’s a reason for this. We’re doing satire.'”
“There was much more of a feeling back then of something happened and the barbarians were able to get in the castle,” Kenny laughed. “It was like the inmates and the barbarians were hanging out together. You know, like Conan and the Joker.”
“It was open because Ren and Stimpy was successful, and it was just starting, so they didn’t know,” Lawrence said, expanding on the creative freedom the team had at the time. “We’d make jokes, and their standards and practices would go, ‘I don’t know if this is okay.’ And we’d say, ‘No, no, it’s okay.'”
The pair would later continue together at Nickelodeon, working to this day as SpongeBob SquarePants (Kenny) and Plankton (Lawrence) on one of the network’s defining animated series. “There were less eyes on it back then,” Kenny recalled. “It felt like the inmates outnumbered the guards, but now it feels like the guards outnumber the inmates.”
Lawrence added, “Which is all the more reason why Static Cling is amazing.”
Will you be checking out the new Rocko’s Modern Life reboot? Did you love Nicktoons as a kid? Did you catch the trailer at SDCC? Jump into our comments and let us know!
Images: Nickelodeon