Annette Bening Honored By Variety’s Power of Women For Her Work With The Fund

Annette Bening and Dreamworks' Stacey Snider were among Variety's Power of Women honorees.

Congratulations to Annette for being honored for her work with The Actors Fund at Variety’s third annual Power of Women luncheon last Friday. Annette, joined by her husband Warren Beatty, represented us at the event at the Four Seasons Beverly Wilshire in Los Angeles. Over 450 guests attended the luncheon, celebrating women in entertainment and the charities they support. (Other honorees included Mary J. Blige, Eva Longoria, Lea Michele, Stacey Snider, and Olivia Wilde).

Angela Lansbury introduces Annette Bening at the 3rd Annual Variety's Power of Women event, September 23, 2011 in Los Angeles.

Angela Lansbury was on hand to introduce Annette who delivered a riveting speech to guests. Thanks to Annette’s participation, The Fund received a full page ad that appeared on the morning of the event! Thanks for the support, Annette and Angela!

Read the article in Variety.
Download a pdf of our full page Variety ad.
View pictures and video of Annette and Angela at the event.

Curtain Call: The 20th Anniversary Dreamgirls Benefit Concert

It’s been ten years since the unforgettable one-night-only 20th Anniversary performance of Dreamgirls, the Tony Award–winning musical by librettist Tom Eyen and composer Henry Krieger. The event, which was a benefit for The Actors Fund, took place September 24, 2001, at The Ford Center (now The Foxwoods Theatre) — not long after the 9/11 attacks. Actors Fund President Brian Stokes Mitchell, who had a cameo in the show, began the evening with a pre-show speech to remind everyone that, in the face of the horrible events everyone in New York City had just witnessed, it was more important than ever to remind ourselves that the show must go on.

Under the Musical and Artistic Direction of Seth Rudetsky, the evening starred the incredible trio of Audra McDonald, Heather Headley and Lillas White, and also featured appearances by Malcom Gets, Darius de Haas, Norm Lewis, Alice Ripley, Brad Oscar, Billy Porter, Emily Skinner, James Stovall, Tamara Tunie and Patrick Wilson. Danny Herman and Brenda Braxton co-directed and co-choreographed the evening. Nonesuch Records released a recording of the event, which is still available.

The event raised over a million dollars for The Fund, and just a few of the supporters who came out for the show included Matthew Broderick and Sarah Jessica Parker, Betty Buckley, Celeste Holm and Patti LuPone.

Check out this preview performance by Audra, Heather, and Lillas on The Rosie O’Donnell Show:

Taking Time Out: Liz Callaway Visits The Lillian Booth Actors Home

Liz greets Peter Neufeld (one of Broadway's most successful managers and producers) during her September 8 visit to The Lillian Booth Actors Home.

One of the more special highlights of life at The Lillian Booth Actors Home are the regular visits by some of the entertainment industry’s best and brightest, each of whom take time out of their busy schedules to perform for and spend some time with their now-retired compatriots residing at The Home. This month’s amazingly generous guest was Tony nominee and Emmy winner Liz Callaway, who performed a few of her favorite show-stopping numbers (including Memory and Something Wonderful) accompanied by the always-fabulous keyboardist Phil Reno. Liz was also interviewed by John Erman, and spent time greeting all of the residents who’d stopped by for the festivities.

A very special thank-you to our wonderful supporter John Erman, who donates his time and talent to make these special monthly visits possible.

John Erman and Liz.

The Actors Fund’s Lillian Booth Actors Home is an assisted living and skilled nursing care facility that provides a comfortable living environment on six acres of property in Englewood, New Jersey. Click here to learn more about The Home and its services.

Remembering 9/11: An Actors Fund Story

On this day of remembrance, we pay tribute to the victims of 9/11 by taking a moment to remind our community that The Fund provides an important safety net for members of the entertainment industry. With a crisis like 9/11, this message becomes even more urgent. The Fund helps our colleagues to face challenges and crises that can arise in anyone’s life. In difficult times, we’re there to assist and guide. For example, through The Actors Fund Work Program, people learn how to translate industry experience into other job opportunities; through our Entertainment Assistance Program, our social workers provide intensive case management that is sensitive to the competitive nature of work in the industry. The following story is one example of how these two programs made a big difference in one person’s life.

Following September 11^th, 2001, The Fund initiated a variety of programs and services to help members of the entertainment industry directly affected by the attacks. Counseling programs were initiated, social workers helped link people with special services and job search seminars were expanded for those whose sideline work was in lower Manhattan.

One of the first participants in this expanded job search seminar was a 40-year-old SAG/AFTRA actress member who had a long-term, temporary position at a major financial company located next to the World Trade Center. Having always supplemented her acting career with work as an office temp, she found herself without a job, and suffering anxiety and stress.

She learned about AWP’s job search seminar from a flyer posted at her union. She was relieved to connect, especially because her former employer provided no support and it was difficult securing assistance from other public and private support services.

She gained job search assistance, social service support and help from the weekly support group, and began working full-time as an administrative assistant where a flexible work schedule allowed her to audition. She also received mental health support and guidance, from our Mental Health Services. This is just one of many stories of those we help every day in need, crisis or transition.

We join our fellow Americans in remembering everyone we lost on that September morning. And remember:  Everyone needs help sometime, and The Fund is ready when that time comes. Visit us at www.actorsfund.org.

 

Los Angeles Estate Planning Seminar

Whether we think we do or not, all of us need an Estate Plan. On September 14, 2011, The Actors Fund will offer Estate Planning for Everyone, a comprehensive seminar that will tell you everything you need to know about organizing yours. Presented by Janice Burrill, SVP and Philanthropic Consultant for Wells Fargo’s Philanthropic Services, and Wally Munro, The Actors Fund’s Director of Planned giving, the seminar will take place from 1–2:30 in The Actors Fund’s Los Angeles Offices.

Check out this video, in which Wally briefly explains Estate Plans and how The Actors Fund can help:

The Actors Fund encourages everyone to organize an Estate Plan, and we’re here to advise you along the way. And if you’d like to include The Actors Fund through one of our Planned Giving programs, we can help you take care of that, too — any size donation is always welcome, as every little bit helps The Fund help everyone. There are many ways to give (and there are numerous rewards, including tax benefits), and you will join the list of so many others who chose to remember The Fund in this way, including Edwin Forrest (for whom we’ve named The Edwin Forrest Society), Helen Hayes, Albert Hackett and Lynn Redgrave.

For more information on the seminar, or to learn more about how The Fund can help you set up your Estate Plan, contact Wally Munro at 212.221.7300.

Hey Los Angeles — Help Us Out By Taking The Broadway Arts Center Survey

Interested in assisting the cultural development of downtown L.A.? The Actors Fund Housing Development Corporation (AFHDC), together with its partners including the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs and Artspace, has launched a National Endowment for the Arts–funded survey to assess the housing needs of the Los Angeles entertainment, performing and visual arts communities.

To make it a success, we’re encouraging members of the creative community — artists of all disciplines, individuals associated with the arts, entertainment and creative industries, arts and cultural organizations and creative commercial businesses — to complete the survey before October 10, 2011.

This project will help further the development of downtown Los Angeles’s Broadway Arts Center (BAC), a facility still in the planning stages, which will provide affordable artists’ housing, performance/exhibition space, educational facilities, and creative business space, and serve to help in the revitalization of the Historic Broadway Theater District. The results will help the partners secure further support and funding for the project, as well as influence the BAC’s location, size, number, and type of creative spaces/facilities, design features, amenities, programs and affordability.

We want to be sure the new facility meets everyone’s needs throughout the community, so the more of you who participate, the better! There are two separate surveys, one for individuals and another for organizations, so please take a few minutes to complete one of them (or both, if you’re eligible), and then help spread the word to your colleagues.

Please visit http://www.creativespacela.org/ to take the survey, and thank you for your participation.

The project team consists of a public/private partnership including The Actors Fund, The Los Angeles DCA, Bringing Back Broadway, the Community Redevelopment Agency of the City of Los Angeles (CRA-LA), the City Planning Department Urban Design Studio, the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC), California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) and Artspace. If you’d like BAC project updates, “like” Creative Space L.A. on Facebook.

The AFHDC works to develop affordable, supportive and senior housing for the performing arts community that improves lives, creates jobs, fosters economic development and revitalizes communities. For more information visit The Actors Fund’s website, or contact the AFHDC’s President and CEO, Scott Weiner at 212.221.7300 ext. 106 or sweiner@actorsfund.org.