Lincoln Center and IAVA Launch Creative Partnership to Assist Recent War Veterans

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, July 6, 2012

Lincoln Center and IAVA Launch Creative Partnership to Assist Recent War Veterans

Provides Employment Opportunities and Free Tickets; Partnership to be Celebrated at Midsummer Night Swing on July 12th

NEW YORK - Today, Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA), the nation's first and largest nonprofit, nonpartisan organization for veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, announced a creative partnership with the Lincoln Center for Performing Arts to provide veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars exposure to the performing arts and job opportunities via a fast-track program for open positions at the performing arts center.  Lincoln Center will also develop an advisory board comprised of veterans to develop future initiatives. This partnership will benefit over 11,000 IAVA members in the New York City-area as well as new veterans and their families visiting from across the country.

“Lincoln Center wishes to thank the many service men and women who have made such heroic contributions in Iraq and Afghanistan.  We owe them a huge debt,” said President of the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts Reynold Levy.  “We also know that exposure to the performing arts – whether at a ballet performance, the opera, a theater event, a new film or a night at the symphony – has the power to changes lives. We hope to support our veterans by offering both our performances and employment opportunities to them.” 

As part of the partnership, Lincoln Center will distribute complimentary tickets to IAVA members and their families to various series at Lincoln Center.  This is a formalized extension of a program initiated last fall where the performing arts center distributed the first-ever HD movie theater broadcast of New York City Ballet’s “George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker” to the Armed Forces Network.  Further, Lincoln Center’s Human Resources department will work with IAVA to provide our members with early access to employment opportunities.

“IAVA applauds Lincoln Center and the performing arts community for welcoming home our nation’s newest veterans and their families. From Bob Hope to the USO, there has always been a powerful connection between our military, veterans and the arts. In that spirit, this creative partnership will help countless new veterans and their families reconnect during an often difficult transition home,” said IAVA Founder and Executive Director Paul Rieckhoff.  “Thousands in this New Greatest Generation are also returning home ready, willing and energized to be our country’s next great teachers, doctors and lawyers as well as writers and artists. We hope this partnership with Lincoln Center will encourage thousands more veterans to contribute to and advance the very freedom of expression we fought to protect.”

On July 12th Lincoln Center will host 200 Iraq and Afghanistan veterans at Midsummer Night Swing, for a night of live music and dancing at one of New York’s most popular summer festivals. The night will be a “Welcome Home” celebration for metro-area veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan and a celebration of the partnership between Lincoln Center and IAVA.  The Losers Lounge will perform hits of Michael Jackson and Prince in an epic pop music dance-off.  Veterans will be treated to a cocktail reception in a private tent adjacent to the dance floor in Damrosch Park, located at 62nd Street between Columbus and Broadway at Lincoln Center. Veterans and their families can sign-up to attend the launch event on July 12th here.

About Lincoln Center: Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, Inc. (LCPA) serves three primary roles: presenter of artistic programming, national leader in arts and education and community relations, and manager of the Lincoln Center campus. A presenter of more than 5,000 free and ticketed events, performances, tours, and educational activities annually, LCPA’s series include American Songbook, Great Performers, Lincoln Center Festival, Lincoln Center Out of Doors, Midsummer Night Swing, the Mostly Mozart Festival, White Light Festival, and the Emmy Award-winning Live From Lincoln Center. As manager of the Lincoln Center campus, LCPA provides support and services for the Lincoln Center complex and the 11 resident organizations. In addition, LCPA is leading a series of major capital projects, now nearly complete, on behalf of the resident organizations across the campus.

If you are a member of the media who wishes to arrange an interview with IAVA Executive Director Paul Rieckhoff, President of the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts Reynold Levy, or an IAVA Member Veteran, please contact Michelle McCarthy at (212) 982-9699 or michelle@iava.org.



Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (www.IAVA.org) is the country's first and largest nonprofit, nonpartisan organization for veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and has more than 200,000 Member Veterans and civilian supporters nationwide. Its mission is to improve the lives of this country's newest generation of veterans and their families.

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