Town Hall Honors Laurie
M. Tisch & Peter
Yarrow
By Liza Young
|
(L-R)
Marvin Leffler, President, Town Hall & Dr. Charlotte
Frank, Sr. V.P. McGraw-Hill; with Honoree Laurie Tisch |
|
(L-R)
Marvin Leffler, President, Town Hall & Dr. Charlotte
Frank, Sr. V.P. McGraw-Hill; with Honoree Peter
Yarrow |
Celebrities and visionaries
recently gathered at the lavish Princeton Club for the gala
celebration of Town Hall’s
84th season. Town Hall has a rich history dating back over
four scores, when suffragists built the area to serve as a
meeting spot to further their movement, and continues through
the present day to serve as an ideal acoustical setting for
grand musical performances, while maintaining a mission of
culturally serving the community beginning at a young age,
through programs such as The Magic of Theatre, which uses theatre
to help children develop daily life skills.
President of Town Hall, Marvin Leffler, expressed excitement
in beginning the new season, indicating readiness to embrace
the challenges of a dynamic cultural horizon.
The celebration at
the Princeton Club also included the bestowal of “Friends of the Arts” awards. President Leffler
presented Laurie M. Tisch, one of today’s foremost icons
in cultural advocacy and philanthropy, with a plaque in “recognition
of abiding achievement, enrichment, and support of the arts.” Tisch
graciously accepted the award, thanking her family and colleagues
for the role they have played in her mission (of furthering
the arts in education). Tisch is currently serving as board
chair on the Campaign for Educational Equity, founded to understand
and ultimately overcome inequities in education.
She praised Town Hall
as “one of the great centers of
artistic excellence” and described her fellow honoree,
the legendary Peter Yarrow, of Peter, Paul and Mary, as having “compassion
and generosity…making life more meaningful, especially
for children.”
President Leffler,
in presenting the award to Yarrow, introduced him by stating: “If we had an index card with the name
Peter Yarrow on it, where would we file it, with song writers?
Yes. Under songwriter, performing artist, activist, visionary…But
how many would initially think to file him under educator?” In
line with the noble mission of Town Hall to use the power of
music to educate youngsters, Yarrow, has expanded his social
crusade using music to include furthering the moral development
of children. Yarrow, in 2000, founded the organization, “Operation
Respect,” as part of a movement designed to build a culture
of mutual respect and sensitivity among children.
The spark for this
movement was lit when Yarrow was touched, at a Folk Festival,
by a song entitled, “Don’t
Laugh At Me,” whose lyrics include: “Don’t
get pleasure from my pain.”
The song is used within
the context of curriculum designed to teach children conflict
resolution. Yarrow’s program
has reached summer camps, girls and boys clubs, and schools
throughout the country.
Yarrow, in accepting
the Town Hall “Friends of the Arts” award
credited his mother—who taught English, speech and drama
to high school students—for inspiring his work: “It
was she who gave me a sense of the connection between the arts
and the humanity in people it can inspire.”
Charlotte Frank, Senior Vice President of McGraw Hill, was
warmly thanked by Yarrow for her instrumental role in the creation
of Operation Respect. Yarrow recounted the day he came to talk
with Frank at a time when she was the head of curricular instruction.
Frank, in her humorous
retelling of the story, said, “I
was in the middle of working on getting out test scores when
I was told that a Peter Yarrow was at the door. I responded
that I didn’t have time. When I was told he wasn’t
leaving, I asked, ‘Who’s Peter Yarrow?” Frank
realized he was the Peter Yarrow of Peter, Paul and Mary, and
thus began the collaboration which Yarrow described as “paving
the way” for his mission which he considers as important
as the one he was involved in during the Civil Rights movement.
The celebration at
the Princeton Club would not be complete without a performance
by Yarrow, who played his famous “Puff
the Magic Dragon” as well as “Don’t Laugh
At Me,” with the audience joining in to sing along.#
