Celebrity-Hosted Event Benefits Rush Arts Philadelphia's Community Programs

PHILADELPHIA - Sept. 30, 2018 - PRLog -- Rush Arts Philadelphia (RAP), a project of Rush Philanthropic Arts Foundation (RPAF), has announced the honorees for the 2018 ART FOR LIFE PHILLY benefit on November 3, 2018 at the Painted Bride Art Center in Philadelphia. It is the first time Art for Life is being held in Philadelphia. The honorees are Judith Brodsky, founder of the Brodsky Center which recently relocated to the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Art (PAFA) from Rutgers University; Philadelphia figure and portrait painter James Brantley; and Jane Golden, executive director of Mural Arts Philadelphia.

Artist, poet and philanthropist Danny Simmons founded RAP in 2016 after relocating his home to Philadelphia from Brooklyn, NY. For more than two decades RPAF provided under-served inner-city youth in New York City with significant exposure to the arts, as well as developed and supported under-represented artists through two New York City galleries. Simmons decided to locate RAP in the Logan section of Philadelphia to spur a revitalization of the neighborhood through the arts. Since RAP's founding the organization has offered visual and performing arts classes to children and adults, including free progressive, multi-week programs, and exhibitions that have provided exposure to emerging artists and curators of color, while also introducing the Logan residents to high-quality fine art. RAP has exhibition and programming partnerships with the Barnes Foundation, Art Sanctuary, PAFA, the African American Museum in Philadelphia (AMMP), and Mural Arts Philadelphia (MAP), among others. RAP artist studios were also the site of the AAMP Residency for Art & Social Change and MAP erected a mural of Danny Simmons's work directly across the street of the RAP Gallery at 4954 Old York Road.

The ART FOR LIFE fundraiser was a must-attend annual affair in the Hamptons and for Art for Life Philly, Danny Simmons hopes to create a new cannot miss event, with a more accessible ticket price starting at $150. Donors can further support the event by purchasing art donated by visual artists for the occasion.

ART FOR LIFE PHILLY's hosts are Angela and Vanessa Simmons, daughters of Danny's brother Joseph "Rev. Run" Simmons. Rev. Run headlined the first RPAF fundraiser nearly twenty-five years ago and Angela and Vanessa were recently elected to the board of RPAF. Manayunk real estate development and entrepreneur, and Angela and Vanessa's colleague on the PRAF board Lenny Bazemore serves as co-host and Jo-Jo Simmons will serve as honorary co-host.

Event Chairs include music legend Kenneth Gamble and entrepreneur, Temple University professor and television commentator Marc Lamont Hill and social entrepreneur Taneshia Nash Laird, and the host committee includes Yona Deshommes, Drew Giddings and Haqq Islam.

Past honorees and supporters of the ART FOR LIFE fundraiser in the Hamptons include Will Smith, Oprah, Jay Z, Serena Williams, Ava DuVernay, Susan Sarandon, Magic Johnson, Alec Baldwin, Anna Wintour, LL Cool J, Lady Gaga, Sarah Jessica Parker, Soledad O'Brien, Alex Waislitz, Nari Ward, Arianna Huffington, Jerry Seinfeld, Dave Chappelle, Michael Bloomberg, Kimora Lee Simmons, Martha Stewart, and Gordon Parks among many others.

For additional information or to purchase tickets for visit: http://rushphilanthropic.org/artforlifephilly/.

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About Rush Arts Philly

Rush Arts Gallery's  mission is to build a community-driven art space that provides opportunities to both local artists and curators, focused on community revitalization and relevance to the people of the surrounding neighborhoods, and arts-based educational opportunities for local youth who can benefit from them the most.