New York City has been going through some budget cuts. In 2023, New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced that all libraries would be closed on Sunday due to budget cuts, per Time Out. These budget cuts have trickled into the public education system, specifically the New York City Professional Performing Arts School.
The school’s theatre program, Waterwell, has been undergoing several budget cuts and now faces closure. Waterwell has operated for 13 years and boasts successful alumni, including Jesse Eisenberg, “The Bear” actor Jeremy Allen White, and Grammy-winning singer Alicia Keys.
Students have created a GoFundMe to offset the program’s cost and allow for the program to remain open during the 2023-2024 school year. Students raised $46,000 of its $102,000 goal within three days, per W42ST.
While the fundraiser has a long way to go, a new surprise donation has helped further this goal. Below, we explore how the program’s alums are stepping in to save their alma mater.
Alicia Keys, Roc Nation, and other alums have donated hefty amounts to the school.
Alicia Keys and Roc Nation have pledged to donate $60,000 to the school, per the New York Daily News. This influx is on top of the $46,000 already raised. The Jay-Z-founded label has also promised to keep the school’s doors open until the Department of Education finds a permanent solution.
“I had no idea that it was going to be this big and blow up this huge,” Tennyson Artigliere, a 7th grader at NPPAS and founder of the GoFundMe page, said via ABC 7 NY. “Today we found out that Roc Nation is going to be donating $60,000 and will also pledge to continue to fund the program until the DOE can sufficiently keep the program going.”
Keys isn’t the only alum to pitch in. Allen White has donated an undisclosed amount and promoted the fundraiser on Instagram Stories, via DailyMail. “It’s an incredible program with some incredible teachers, Allen White wrote. “Please help IF YOU ARE ABLE. I have donated.”
The money from NPPAS alums will help the program remain for the 2023 to 2024 school year.
Alicia Keys has donated to several charities and programs.
This isn’t the first time the “Girl on Fire” singer has pledged money. Keys has given thousands to various charities over the last decade. She’s a dedicated philanthropist who co-founded and runs her non-profit organization, Keep A Child Alive (KACA).
According to the KACA website, the organization was founded in 2003 by Keys and Leigh Blake. The goal is to improve access to food, water, and medicine in Kenya.
“In 2001, I was asked to perform in a remake of Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On” that Bono and my dear friend Leigh Blake were producing,” she told Impacting Our Future. “It was to draw attention to the AIDS crisis that was claiming millions of lives in Africa.”
She continued: “After I witnessed firsthand the suffering of children and families in South Africa, in 2002, I knew I would never be the same. I remember specifically feeling that whether you live or die should never depend on where you were born. We had to do something. I’d always had an affinity for children. I couldn’t forget the looks on their mother’s faces as they begged me for help getting the drugs and so together, we created Keep a Child Alive.”
Two decades later, the non-profit organization expanded into several countries, including South Africa, India, Malawi, and more. Keys acts as the organization’s global ambassador. She helps provide antiretroviral medicine to African and Indian families and children with HIV in impoverished areas, per The Gordon Parks Foundation.
Although KACA is a big part of her charity work, Keys has worked and fundraised for various charities like From the Ground Up, an educational non-profit helping students access scholarships and other tools, according to Look to the Stars.
Ultimately, her charity work has led to numerous accolades, including a BET Humanitarian Award. What’s the next move for the singer-songwriter? Only time will reveal the next charity on her list.
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