New York, NY, January 16, 2024—Today, Juilliard announces the completion of the Jerome L. Greene Scholarship Challenge. The matching challenge inspired 50 donors to commit a total of $5 million that was matched 1:1 by the foundation, resulting in $10 million in new scholarships for Juilliard students. The scholarship challenge is especially significant given Jerome (“Jerry”) L. Greene’s impactful history with the school as a generous scholarship donor and a Juilliard trustee (1985-99). Additionally, the Jerome L. Greene Foundation's current president and CEO, Christina McInerney, is a Juilliard trustee. Juilliard honors the foundation and its longstanding dedication to artistic education at Juilliard Celebration, the school’s annual benefit, on Monday, February 5, 2024.
Juilliard’s 2024 Celebration will feature a vibrant performance bringing together students and distinguished alumni from the music, dance, drama, and preparatory divisions. Following the performance, guests are invited to a festive party to enjoy live music, dancing, and an informal dinner curated by acclaimed chef Kwame Onwuachi of Lincoln Center’s award-winning Tatiana. The evening’s participants will include Greene Scholarship alumni including Adam Driver (Group 38), Joanne Tucker (Group 38), Denys Drozdyuk (BFA ‘09, dance), Tim Fain (MM ‘00, violin), Nathalie Joachim (MAP ‘96; Pre-College ‘01; BM ‘05, flute), Joaquina Kalukango (Group 40), bassist Endea Owens (MM ‘18, jazz studies), and other special guest artists to be announced. Juilliard Celebration captures the diverse and vibrant range of composers, choreographers, and students who collaborate at the school and 100 percent of this benefit’s net proceeds will support scholarships for the coming year at Juilliard.
“The excellence of a Juilliard education demands the utmost affordability," said Juilliard’s president, Damian Woetzel. “The enduring support of the Jerome L. Greene Foundation has been a model for supporting young artists and the arts themselves and has laid the path toward making Juilliard ever more tuition-free. We are deeply grateful to the foundation for its philanthropic leadership.”
Initiated in spring 2022, the Jerome L. Greene Foundation Challenge committed to match $100,000 scholarship gifts up to $5 million to enhance existing endowed funds and inspire new endowed scholarships. Each $100,000 gift received by the school was matched by the foundation 1:1, and at the end of 2023, 50 new commitments had been made. Including the matching funds from the foundation, the total contribution to the endowed scholarship is $10 million. With more than 90 percent of Juilliard students qualifying for financial aid, this milestone furthers the school’s continued goal of removing financial barriers and expanding access to all who qualify to study and pursue their artistic dreams at Juilliard.
“Funding scholarships in the arts is an investment in innovation, in free expression, and we at the JL Greene Foundation believe it greatly benefits society,” said Chris McInerney, president and CEO. “Scholarships are about hope and the recognition of potential. Juilliard students are the very best in their discipline—making sure that these artists continue toward fulfilling their goals unburdened by school debt is essential to bringing their gifts and talents to the world.”
In 1985, Jerry Greene contributed $1 million through his foundation to establish the first endowed scholarship fund in Juilliard’s history that supported students in all three divisions: music, dance, and drama. The Jerome L. Greene Foundation has provided major support ever since, generously donating more than $30 million to scholarships over the last 40 years. Continuing the foundation’s deep partnership with the school, Dawn Greene (McInerney’s mother), supported Juilliard’s scholarship fund from 2000 to 2010. More than 620 individual students have received more than 1,000 Greene Foundation Scholarships since its inception; recipients have included Summer Camargo (BM ’23, MM ’24, trumpet), Chanel DaSilva (BFA ’08, dance), Adam Driver (Group 38), Denys Drozdyuk (BFA ’09, dance), soprano Ying Fang (MM ’13, voice; Artist Diploma ’15, opera studies) Njioma Grevious (BM ’21, violin), mezzo soprano Samantha Hankey (BM 15, MM ‘17, voice), John Heginbotham (BFA ’93, dance), Nathalie Joachim (MAP ’96; Pre-College ’01; BM ’05, flute), Anthony Mackie (Group 30), bassist Endea Owens (MM ’18, jazz studies), Joanne Tucker (Group 38), and Tony Siqi Yun (Pre-College ’20; BM ’24, piano). The completion of the latest matching challenge celebrates Greene and the foundation, and their transformative impact on generations of students and on the landscape of the arts.
About Juilliard Celebration
2024 Juilliard Celebration: A Benefit for Scholarship Honoring The Jerome L. Greene Foundation
Monday, February 5, 2024
6pm: Arrival at Juilliard’s Peter Jay Sharp Theater
7-8:15pm: The Performance: Peter Jay Sharp Theater (155 W 65th St, New York, NY 10023)
Please visit the Juilliard performance calendar for tickets to the performance which will be available later this month.
8:30-11pm: The Party: Alice Tully Hall (1941 Broadway at, W 65th St, New York, NY 10023)
For Celebration (annual benefit) tickets to the performance and party, please visit giving.juilliard.edu/celebration.
About the Jerome L. Greene Foundation
Founded in 1978, the Jerome L. Greene Foundation supports leading institutions and organizations in New York City and beyond. The Foundation is an independent family foundation established by Jerry Greene, who was deeply committed to providing access and opportunity for all New Yorkers. Today the Foundation furthers his vision by supporting exemplary cultural organizations, programs that advance human achievement in science and medicine, the right to free expression, and encouraging tomorrow’s leaders in the arts and social justice.
About The Juilliard School
Founded in 1905, The Juilliard School is a world leader in performing arts education. The school’s mission is to provide the highest caliber of artistic education for gifted musicians, dancers, and actors, composers, choreographers, and playwrights from around the world so that they may achieve their fullest potential as artists, leaders, and global citizens. Led by President Damian Woetzel since 2018, Juilliard is guided in all its work by the core values of excellence, creativity, and inclusivity, and is committed to expanding affordability and access to the highest level of artistic education.
Located at Lincoln Center in New York City, Juilliard offers undergraduate and graduate degrees in dance, drama (acting and playwriting), and music (classical, jazz, historical performance, and vocal arts). Currently more than 800 artists from 43 states and 44 countries and regions are enrolled in Juilliard’s College Division, where they appear in more than 700 annual performances in the school’s five theaters; at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully and David Geffen halls and at Carnegie Hall; as well as at other venues around New York City, the country, and the world. The continuum of learning at Juilliard also includes nearly 400 students from elementary through high school enrolled in the Preparatory Division, including its Music Advancement Program (MAP), which serves students from diverse backgrounds often underrepresented in the classical music field. More than 800 students are enrolled in Juilliard Extension, the flagship continuing education program taught both in person and remotely by a dedicated faculty of performers, creators, and scholars. Beyond its New York campus, Juilliard is defining new directions in performing arts education for a range of learners and enthusiasts through a global K-12 educational curricula as well as pre-college and graduate studies at The Tianjin Juilliard School in China.
juilliard.edu | @juilliardschool
Contact: Allegra Thoresen | [email protected]
For more information about coverage and press tickets for the performance or celebration, please contact [email protected]
Image: Juilliard Celebration, 2023. Photo by: Rosalie O'Connor, courtesy of Juilliard.
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