About Young Artist Center
Third Street Music School and Exploring the Arts came together in 2025 to create an environment where young artists from all artistic disciplines can explore, learn, and thrive in a supportive artistic community. The center was built to showcase the legacy of music legend and New Yorker, Tony Bennett, who believed that the greatest gift society can give its young people is the opportunity to learn about truth and beauty through artistic expression.
Supporting NYC Public School Arts Programs
The legendary crooner was a fierce advocate of public education, and for years urged his fellow artists and his fans to underwrite the arts in schools.
Frank Sinatra School of the Arts
In September 2009, the $78 million Frank Sinatra School of the Arts, opened its permanent home in Astoria, Queens, just blocks from Bennett’s boyhood home.
Why Tony Believed in Supporting Arts Education?
"When you teach students quality, and to do things that will last forever, you create a world where it isn't just popular entertainment that is created, but quality work, art, is created.”
Legacy of Arts Education Support
In 1999, Tony Bennett and Susan Benedetto founded Exploring the Arts together, which promoted and supported arts education through more than 50 school partnerships in New York and Los Angeles.
Susan wrote about working with her husband on the joint pursuit. "I happen to be one of those lucky people who can honestly say that dreams do come true. Being able to work with my husband, Tony Bennett, has been one such dream," she wrote. "Together we founded a nonprofit organization, Exploring the Arts (ETA), to transform the lives of young people through arts education."
At the Young Artist Center, we understand firsthand the value of an arts education for our students, as well as the important role artists play in our society.
The arts teach empathy. The arts express and evoke emotion, enabling us to feel how others feel and find common ground. The arts help eliminate prejudice by encouraging multiple perspectives. And of course, the arts can be fun!
