Arts Horizons Receives Quality Of Life Grant From Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation

2010-04-30 14:19:31 (GMT) (WiredPRNews.com - Art, Press Releases, Social Responsibility)

Englewood, NJ – (WiredPRNews.com)) – Arts Horizons, one of the largest arts-in-education organizations in the New York/Metropolitan area, has been selected by the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation to receive its prestigious Quality of Life grant to improve opportunities, access and day-to-day quality of life for families and individuals living with disabilities.

Founded in 1999 by the late Dana Reeve, The Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation is committed to supporting non-profit organizations that seek to improve the quality of life for people living with paralysis, and bestows its Quality of Life awards to deserving recipients twice a year. Most recently, the Foundation awarded a total of $520,000 in grants to 75 nonprofit organizations in the United States and Canada that are helping people with disabilities live independent and active lives.

Arts Horizons will use the $4080 grant received from the Reeve Foundation to help fund its ArtBeat Program, a unique partnership between Arts Horizons, New York City Hospitals, and the New York City Department of Education. The Program brings arts-rich, safe, creative, educational and emotionally uplifting environments and music education workshops to young students who are hospitalized for extended periods of time. The ArtBeat Program has been adopted by three hospital locations in New York City as part of the Comprehensive Evaluation Plan which establishes and assesses specific goals and indicators of progress to support student rehabilitation and learning.

“Arts Horizons and Hospital Schools are honored, grateful and excited to have the support of the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation to continue our very necessary work for hospitalized children to live and learn through the arts,” said Dena Malarek, Senior Program Manager, Special Populations of Arts Horizons. “The importance of our ArtBeat Program to hospitalized children cannot be measured in words or dollars, but in the happiness on the faces of our students.”

“The Quality of Life program that Dana Reeve created eleven years ago is based on freedom,” said Peter T. Wilderotter, President and CEO of the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation. “We are happy to be able to support Arts Horizons to create more independence, increase opportunities, and provide support for those living with paralysis along with their families and caregivers.”

The Reeve Foundation’s Quality of Life grants are divided into three categories: Actively Achieving, Bridging Barriers and Caring and Coping. Some grants are funded through a cooperative agreement with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Award #1U59DD000338), and are awarded to nonprofit organizations that address the needs of people living with paralysis caused by spinal cord and other injuries, diseases and birth conditions. Close to 1,600 grants totaling nearly $13 million have been awarded to organizations since the program’s inception.

About the Reeve Foundation
The Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation is dedicated to curing spinal cord injury by funding innovative research, and improving the quality of life for people living with paralysis through grants, information and advocacy. For more information, and to review the entire list of Quality of Life grant recipients, please visit: www.ChristopherReeve.org or call 800-225-0292.

About Arts Horizons
Arts Horizons, located in Englewood, NJ, is a premier arts-in-education, non-profit organization that reaches more than 250,000 children, teachers and parents a year throughout the New York/Metropolitan area, with vibrant school and community-based programs where children gain appreciation for the arts. Founded in 1978, Arts Horizons is funded in part by the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York and New Jersey State Councils on the Arts as well as numerous foundations, corporations and generous individuals. To learn more about Arts Horizons, or the Arts Horizons ArtBeat Program, please visit: www.artshorizons.org or contact Dena Malarek at dena@artshorizons.org, or call (201) 567-1766 Ext. 108.

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