NY Leaders in Arts & Entertainment to Join FPWA for 'Personally Speaking' Series

 Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies logo

WHO: Jennifer Jones Austin, CEO and Executive Director of FPWA; Cynthia López, Commissioner of the New York City Mayor's Office of Media and Entertainment; Tamir Muhammad, Director of Content and Artist Development, Time Warner, Inc.; Martha Diaz, Founding Director, Hip-Hop Education Center; Edwin Torres, Deputy Commissioner of New York City’s Department of Cultural Affairs.

WHAT: On Wednesday, June 3, this American-Express-sponsored Personally Speaking Series will explore how the arts & entertainment communities can engage further with the NYC non-profit philanthropic sectors by uplifting and inspiring NYC's underserved.

WHERE: The Bryant Park Hotel Screening Room - 40 W 40th Street/NYC

WHEN: Wednesday, June 3, 2015 – 6-8pm

BACKGROUND: FPWA has assembled a stellar panel that incudes Cynthia Lopez, NYC Commissioner of The Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment (MOME), whose mission includes supporting relevant media and entertainment industries in New York City. MOME consists of the Office of Film, Theatre and Broadcasting, which facilitates and supports film and TV production throughout the five boroughs, and NYC Media, the official TV, radio and online network of the City of New York.

Also joining the panel is Tamir Muhammad, Director of Content & Artist Development for Time Warner Inc., who is responsible for a new content initiative that creates meaningful ways for today’s content creators to further engage Time Warner’s divisions (Warner Bros., HBO and Turner Broadcasting) with the company’s longstanding focus on the development of the next generation of storytellers.

The final panelist is Martha Diaz, award-winning community organizer, media producer, archivist, curator, educator, mentor, and social entrepreneur. In 2010, Diaz founded the Hip-Hop Education Center to cultivate and professionalize the field of hip-hop-based education. Diaz is a Professor at New York University's Gallatin School and a Columbia University Community Scholar.

The evening’s panel will be moderated by Edwin Torres, Deputy Commissioner of Cultural Affairs for the City of New York, the largest cultural funding agency in the United States.

The Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies (FPWA) is an anti-poverty, policy, and advocacy nonprofit with a membership network of nearly 200 human-service and faith-based organizations. Through its network of member agencies, FPWA reaches close to 1.5 million New Yorkers of all ages, ethnicities, and denominations. FPWA strives to build a city of equal opportunity that reduces poverty, promotes upward mobility, and creates shared prosperity for all New Yorkers.