April has been a busy month for the Development team at New Urban Arts and we are thrilled to share the highlights of our April fundraising events!

One of the standout moments of the month was our participation in 401Gives, an initiative that brought nonprofits across Rhode Island together for a day of giving. This year, we committed to a unique project: hosting a puppet-making livestream on YouTube. Despite the challenge of this project, our team rose to the occasion with lots of enthusiasm and creativity. Collaborating across departments, staff members who don’t typically work together joined forces to create a quirky and entertaining production – that even our community AND our students tuned in to watch. Together, we raised an impressive $6,028! 

April also marked a milestone as we celebrated our 27th birthday and honored Daniel Schleifer’s remarkable 17 years of dedication to New Urban Arts. Our annual birthday bash was a resounding success, both in terms of fundraising and heartfelt celebration. Thanks to the overwhelming support of our community, we raised $28,852, making this our most successful birthday bash to date. Thank you for donating to our work, partying with us (because we all deserve to have fun amidst all the hard work we do!), and admiring Penelope the goat as much as we did (she was the most popular auction item of the night!) We are blown away by your support and grateful to each and every one of you who contributed to the success of these events.We feel lucky to be surrounded by a community that believes in our work as much as we do and sees the importance of access to creative spaces for young people. So thank you for your support and thank you for seeing why our work matters. We appreciate you and our students appreciate you!