Albany, NY  (January  21,  2009)
State  Senator  Velmanette  Montgomery (D-Brooklyn) announced the Senate's confirmation of Brooklyn artist Danny Simmons  as  a member of the NYS Council on the Arts. Senator Montgomery recommended Mr. Simmons for this post.

 

Danny Simmons is the Vice-Chairman and Co-founder of Rush Philanthropic Arts Foundation, a New York based foundation dedicated to providing disadvantaged urban youth with significant exposure and access to the arts, as well as providing exhibition opportunities to under-represented artists and artists of color.

"Danny  and his Foundation staff have helped to expose youth from my Senate District to the visual and cultural arts," said Senator Montgomery in expressing her appreciation to Mr. Simmons for his many philanthropic contributions. The local organizations that Simmons has supported and worked with on behalf of youth include the Brooklyn Museum, Pratt Institute and the Brooklyn Academy of Music.

 

The NYS Council on the Arts, which is comprised of 20 members, is responsible for promoting all fields of the arts as a State cultural resource and administering grants-in-aid to nonprofit cultural organizations.

Senator  Montgomery noted that Simmons' oversight of funding support for arts and education programs is needed now more than ever in the wake of Governor Paterson's plans to cut spending for the arts by $8.3 million in the 2009-10 State Budget. According to the NYS Alliance for Arts Education, the proposed budget cuts will impact 55 cultural institutions Brooklyn-wide.

 

In  acknowledging  the Senator's support of the arts, Simmons said, "As you know, the arts are a vital and integral part of Brooklyn's development. Brooklyn  is fast becoming the go-to place in New York State for cutting edge arts and culture, and your support of the arts has paved the way for this to happen."

 

Mr. Simmons is also the President of the Rush Galleries in Brooklyn; Executive Producer of Def Poetry Jam, the owner of the Corridor Gallery, and member of the executive boards of the New York Foundation for the Arts, the  Brooklyn Museum, the Brooklyn Public Library, and the Brooklyn Academy of  Music.  He  is  also an accomplished painter and curator whose work has been  shown across the country. Mr. Simmons holds an M.A. in Public Finance from Long Island University and studied social work as an undergraduate at New York University.