BCAP Awarded by President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities; Honored by First Lady

First Lady Michelle Obama Honors Heart of Brooklyn’s BCAP Initiative; One of 15 Youth Programs Awarded Nationwide

First Lady Michelle Obama will recognize Brooklyn Cultural Adventures Program (BCAP), the youth education program that gave rise to the award-winning Heart of Brooklyn cultural partnership, with a prestigious National Arts & Humanities Youth Program Award at a White House ceremony on Wednesday, October 20. Heart of Brooklyn Director Ellen F. Salpeter and BCAP Summer Camp Adventurer Jamell Allen-Thomas will accept the award on behalf of the thousands of children served by BCAP since 1998.

Selected from a pool of more than 400 nominations, BCAP is one of 15 after-school and out-of-school programs across the country to be presented with a 2010 National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Award (formerly, the Coming Up Taller Award- BCAP also was named a 2009 semi-finalist for the Coming Up Taller Award) from Mrs. Obama. The award is the highest honor such programs can receive in the United States. BCAP is one of two New York City-based organizations to be recognized at the ceremony, along with youth media organization Global Action Project.

The National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Awards are administered by the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities (PCAH), in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), and the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS). With the award, Heart of Brooklyn will also receive $10,000 to support its engaging programming that weaves connections between art, world culture, literature, history, nature and science.

The Awards Ceremony will be streamed live at www.whitehouse.gov/live at 11am, EST.

Learn more about BCAP’s innovative programming and the Heart of Brooklyn cultural partnership by visiting www.heartofbrooklyn.org/bcap.