Alumni and Friends of Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of

Music & Art and Performing Arts

PO Box 231485, New York, NY  10023

                                                                    212-595-1301

Julian LaVerdiere (LGA 89) received a BFA from The Cooper Union School of Art in 1993 and a MFA from Yale University Graduate School of Art, Sculpture Program in 1995.

In 1996 Laverdiere and fellow Yale grads; Vincent Mazeau, Paul Myoda and Randall Peacock, co-founded BIGROOM LLC, a Production Design Team, collectively united to conceive and engineer elaborate, environments, sets and special effects for print advertising, public events and  commercial television advertisements.

Since 1998, LaVerdiere has exhibited his sculpture, photography and drawings in gallery and museum venues including: The Andrew Kreps Gallery, Deitch Projects, Lehmann Maupin Gallery, CREATIVE TIME,  MOCA Miami, MOCA Cleveland, The Forbes Collection NYC, The Musee de Elysee in Lausanne Switzerland, The United Nations General Assemble Hall, LMCC. World Trade Center Studio Program, The Queens Museum of Art NY, PS1- MOMA NY, and The Library of Congress.

After the attack on the World Trade Center in 2001, LaVerdiere collaborated with fellow BIG ROOM artist, Paul Myoda, a team of architects and public art organizations Creative Time and The Municipal Arts Society to create the Tribute in Light, temporary light memorial to honor the victims of the WTC collapse. The Tribute was first illuminated from ground zero in March 2002, and was chosen by Mayor Bloomberg and the City of New York to become an annual ceremonial addition to the WTC Memorial.

 Dates Announced for 2009 Reunion. A&F looking for class leaders.

The annual reunion, which will be for classes ending in 4 and 9, will take place at LaGuardia High School on June 12 - 13, 2009. A&F is looking for enthusiastic class leaders to motivate classmates and look for the "missing" classmates. A&F will provide class leaders with a list of classmates, sample letters and e-mails to send, and will support your efforts. Please contact Steve Asher, executive director, at 212-595-1301 or steve@alumniandfriends.org if you are interested. For more information click here.

2008 Reunion Weekend a success: Alumni and Friends joined forces with SPAA-June 13-15, 2008

Approximately 700 alumni of the High School of Performing Arts and the graduates of classes ending in 3 or 8 of Music & Art and LaGuardia attended the reunion weekend on June 13-15.  We celebrated the 60^th anniversary of the High School of Performing Arts. We also celebrated the coming together of our two alumni associations: Alumni and Friends of LaGuardia High School and the School of Performing Arts Association.

 The High School of Music & Art, founded in the 1930s, made provision for artists, musicians, and singers.  Approximately 12 years later the High School of Performing Arts was created to accommodate actors, dancers and musicians.  Within 14 years of its creation, Performing Arts was incorporated into Music & Art to the extent that it shared one principal and one set of administrators with M&A.  Nevertheless, until 1984 the schools functioned in separate locations.  Performing Arts, located on 46^th Street, was the smaller facility with approximately 600 students, while Music & Art on 135^th Street had roughly 2000.

 In 1984 when the Lincoln Center building was ready for occupancy the move to the new location proved somewhat traumatic for both PA and M&A.  PA students found themselves in a huge building with a couple of thousand more people than they were used to.  The M&A group was also a bit overpowered by the Lincoln Center facility with its clearly separated studios.  Gone was the smell of paint from art classes or the sound of instruments in all parts of the building and gone, too, was the wood-paneled lobby of “the castle on the hill.”  It took several years to straighten out some of the kinks in the new structure and a few more to appreciate the remarkable advantages of the theater and concert hall, of the extraordinary light provided by the huge windows in the art rooms, and the comfortable size of the dance studios and rehearsal rooms.

Now, more than 20 years later, we occupy and enjoy a facility designed for our special needs with equipment and a location that is the envy of arts schools everywhere.  Together, we celebrate our success and treasure the memories of our unique and very special histories.  During the reunion weekend – June 13 – 15 – we paid tribute to both our past and present good fortune.

A&F Appoints New Executive Director, Effective January 3, 2008

Alumni & Friends is pleased to announce the appointment of Steve Asher as executive director effective January 3, 2008. Mr. Asher brings to the job extensive experience in the arts as well as in fund raising for charitable organizations.

Asher was executive director of the LAByrinth Theater Company and managing director of The Ridiculous Theater Company.As an independent off-Broadway producer he was responsible for such award winning shows as The Mystery of Irma Vep and Pete’n Keely.He was director of special events for the National Hemophilia Foundation where he created a series of musical events called Get Out the Song. As director of special events for the Gay Men’s Health Crisis he was responsible for the implementation and oversight of such large scale fund raising events as the AIDS Walk New York, Bernadette Peters at Carnegie Hall, Patti LuPone at Carnegie Hall, Doin’ What Comes Naturally: a tribute to Ethel Merman, and many others.

In short, he has more than 18 years experience in producing theatrical ventures, and has been responsible for raising more than $25 million in his 14 years producing major fundraising events. We look forward to a long and successful relationship with Steve.

You may email our new executive director at steve.asher@alumniandfriends.org.

Cordially,

Peter Frishauf,

President, Alumni & Friends, on behalf of the entire Board of Directors of A&F

Roy Eaton, M&A '46S up for a Grammy

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