Silent Art Auction to Benefit

Student artwork to raise funds for arts education in our schools

Miami, FL – May 4, 2004 – The Education Fund’s Seventh Annual Silent Art Auction entitled The Art of Found Objects will be held on Tuesday, May 4, 2004 from 6:00 to 8:30 p.m. at the Sonesta Beach Resort located at 350 Ocean Drive, Key Biscayne. The auction will feature more than 200 extraordinary art pieces created by Miami-Dade County public school students, teachers and other artists.

Ocean Bank, the Sonesta Beach Resort and The Education Fund sponsor The Art of Found Objects. All student and teacher artwork was created from unusual elements recycled from The Education Fund’s Ocean Bank Center for Educational Materials (OBCEM), a warehouse and distribution center operated by The Education Fund and sponsored by Ocean Bank. Through the OBCEM, local and national companies donate excess inventory, which is then made available to public school teachers to use in their classrooms. The program is a perfect example of the private and public sectors working together for the wellbeing of public school students. It also serves as superior recycling effort.

A committee of more than 70 leaders in the arts, education and business host the annual art auction, including Jose Concepcion, Kirk Landon, Rhoda Levitt, Seth Gordon, Maggie Hernandez, Niesen Kasdin, I. Stanley Levine, Monica Goldsmith, Parker Thomson, Sherwood “Woody” and Judy Weiser, Norma Quintero, and Sanford & Dolores Ziff.

The Art of Found Objects grew out of an annual art exhibition and contest sponsored by Ocean Bank and The Education Fund. For 10 years, The Education Fund’s Ocean Bank Center Art Exhibition has displayed striking artwork created by students and art teachers in Miami-Dade County Public Schools. The silent art auction directly benefits the visual arts programs in public schools. To obtain tickets, call 305-892-5099, ext. 12 or logon to www.educationfund.org/artrsvp.

The Education Fund’s Ocean Bank Center has leveraged more than $4.8 million in goods donated to the Ocean Bank Center by companies throughout South Florida and the United States. Teachers from almost every public school in the district visit the OBCEM on a weekly basis to obtain classroom materials such as paper, incentive items, books, tapes and art materials for their students.

Note to the Editor: For more than 19 years, The Education Fund has been initiating programs that provide critical support of public education. A non-profit organization, The Education Fund’s mission is to design and implement initiatives that involve the private sector in improving our schools and bringing excellence to public education.

SILENT ART AUCTION TO BENEFITMIAMI-DADE COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS

SILENT ART AUCTION TO BENEFIT
MIAMI-DADE COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS