Our 20th Anniversary Celebration

20th Anniversary Invite, Created by Appolllo Bey

On April 27, 2017, Treehouse Shakers celebrated our 20th Anniversary. We held a benefit at The Sixth Floor Loft in NYC and filled the space with supporters, teachers, executive directors, headmasters, friends, family, and company members. We also had the wonderful privilege to honor three outstanding organizations and people, all of whom have believed in the power of the arts for young people, believed in the importance of placing our resources with young people, and who have believed in Treehouse Shakers.

Brooklyn Kindergarten Society & James Matison

Thirteen years ago we partnered with an organization called Brooklyn Kindergarten Society (BKS). This is an organization that has dedicated itself to providing high quality early childhood education to children from low-income families for the last 125 years. They have six early childhood learning centers located in public housing in Brooklyn. Thirteen years ago, we invited these students and teachers to see our performances, through Treehouse Shakers’ then beginning subsidized ticket program. Many of these students were not only seeing their first performance, they were also leaving their Brooklyn neighborhood for the very first time. I’ll never forget, these students asking us if we lived in the theater, were we all sisters, and did we know that when you leave Brooklyn you have to take a bridge, OVER water. To this day we continue to partner with BKS, and it is still just as exciting as it was that very first time, for all of us, when BKS is in our audience.

Executive Director, James Matison of Brooklyn Kindergarten Society with John Anselmi,
Treehouse Shakers' Board Member

Margaret Murtagh, Director of Reformed Church Nursery School
At Reformed Church Nursery School classes are purposely kept small. The teachers are kind, friendly, intelligent and passionate. The arts are everywhere; there is music, dance, art, storytelling, creative drama, cooking and puppet making. The students are engaged, full of wonder, delight and thought. The woman who leads this school is unlike any school director or headmaster. Everyday, she sits, laughs and eats with her teachers at lunchtime. Her door is always open, bustling with parents, teachers and school staff. This is a school that the moment you walk into it, you don’t want to leave. It is a place of joy and incredible learning that is nourished in a way that has made this school a leader in education. We are so happy to have honored the director of Reformed Church Nursery School, Margaret Murtagh. And thank her for her continued partnership with Treehouse Shakers.

Margaret Murtagh, Director of Reformed Church Nursery School (Center), surrounded by the teachers and staff of RCNS

Ellen Kodadek, Executive & Artistic Director, Flushing Town Hall

And lastly, our 20-year journey has taken us to Ellen Kodadek, the Artistic & Executive Director of Flushing Town Hall, a beautiful historic theater that sits in the middle of bustling Flushing, Queens, a densely Asian neighborhood, in the most diverse borough in the world. Ellen curates work that reflects her global audiences. Ellen provides a wide variety of arts that are incredibly thoughtful, powerful and enjoyable. I often marvel at her ability to work with her community, local council members, government agencies and community leaders as she creates inspiring, sometimes challenging, and thought-provoking artistic programming. Ellen is an advocate for the arts, AND she is a leader in helping and supporting artists, giving generous space grants for developing new work. She nurtures artists through her space, but she also nurtures artists every day in conversation, love, and her own generous spirit. Over the years, Ellen has programmed our work, including Hatched numerous times, and has also given us a very generous space grant for the development and premiere of our new piece for the very young, Olive & Pearl.

Left to Right: Mara McEwin, Ellen Kodadek (Flushing Town Hall) & Emily Bunning (Treehouse Shakers' Co-Founder)

Check Out Our 20th Anniversary Video
Created by Nel Shelby Productions

Thank you to everyone who made this year's event, one to forever remember, and mark this exceptional time in our company's history.