Friday, February 7, 2024
7:00 pm
Polish American Hall
5 Pulaski Place
Port Washington
***
Honorees
Susan Isaacs & Elkan Abramowitz
Leslie Stern & Andy Abramowitz
Arts Education Leadership Award
Susan Geffken Burton
Stephen Moore
Founder's Award
Elise May
***
DJ -- Drinks -- Dinner -- Raffles
This HEARTS tradition helps raise money for our mission to
enhance, support, and promote the arts and arts experiences
in our public schools and the Port Washington community!
If you're not able to join us in-person, please make a donation
to support our organization and further our work in the community.
enhance, support, and promote the arts and arts experiences
in our public schools and the Port Washington community!
If you're not able to join us in-person, please make a donation
to support our organization and further our work in the community.
INFORMATION
TICKETS
Tickets = $125 each
Special ticket for educators only $75
DIGITAL JOURNAL
A great way to recognize an honoree, celebrate HEARTS, and/or promote your business!
The Red Party Digital Journal will be shown on a continuous loop on a large monitor throughout the event.
OPTIONS
* $50 for text only ad
* $100 for ad with text and photo(s)
To purchase a text or text/photo ad, fill out the form to the left.
Tickets not required for a digital journal ad.
Submit your Digital Journal ad by Jan. 31, 2025
Please email images (300 jpg or greater) to: [email protected]
SPONSORSHIP
RUBY - $300 Level
*2 complimentary tickets to the Red Party.
*Name included in all social media marketing.
SILVER - $600 Level
*4 complimentary tickets to the Red Party.
*Name included in all social media marketing.
*Name and message will run on digital journal all evening.
PLATINUM - $1,500 Level
*8 complimentary tickets to the Red Party.
*Name included in all social media marketing.
*Name will remain on HEARTS website for one year.
*Name and message will run on digital journal all evening.
*Signage at the event.
GOLD - $2,500 Level
*10 complimentary tickets to the Red Party.
*1 Reserved Table.
*Name included in all social media marketing.
*Name will remain on HEARTS website for one year.
*Name and message will run on digital journal all evening.
*Signage at the event.
DIAMOND - $5,000 Level
*20 complimentary tickets to the Red Party.
*2 Reserved Tables.
*Name included in all social media marketing.
*Name will remain on HEARTS website for one year.
*Name and message will run on digital journal all evening.
*Detailed Sponsorship Signage at the event.
ABOUT THE HONOREES
Susan Isaacs & Elkan Abramowitz
Leslie Stern & Andy Abramowitz
Leslie Stern & Andy Abramowitz
Ever since they moved to Port Washington in 1971, Susan Isaacs and Elkan Abramowitz have prioritized involvement with the community, and the arts have been an important focus of these efforts.
Susan Isaacs is the bestselling author of fifteen novels including Compromising Positions, Almost Paradise, and Bad, Bad Seymour Brown. She has written two screenplays as well as a nonfiction work. Susan is an active member of the literary community, serving roles with many organizations including Poets & Writers and Mystery Writers of America.
Elkan Abramowitz is a leading white collar criminal defense lawyer experienced in handling civil and criminal matters in state and federal court for individual and corporate clients. Among the many roles Elkan has assumed through the years, perhaps less known is his Screen Actor Guild membership for cameo appearances in Susan’s movies.
More locally, Susan and Elkan are enthusiastic supporters of the Port Washington Public Library, Landmark on Main Street and of course, HEARTS. Susan and Elkan are delighted that their children Andy Abramowitz and Elizabeth Picciuto and their families have become part of the Port Washington community as well.
Leslie Stern and Andy Abramowitz met through music as fellow drummers in the Brown University Band, where they served as Vice President and President. It’s been a steady beat ever since. They moved to Port Washington in 2001.
Leslie proudly served on the HEARTS board for eight years as recording secretary. A former book editor and English teacher, Leslie switched careers twelve years ago and founded Leslie’s Leashes, a dog walking and pet sitting business serving the North Shore. When not running the business, Leslie is President of The Shelter Connection, a volunteer organization helping the Town of North Hempstead Animal Shelter. In addition to her passion for animals, Leslie still loves playing the drums and is a member of multiple rock bands performing on Long Island and NYC.
While Andy has not picked up his drumsticks since becoming a dad, he continues to champion music and the arts not only as an audience member for his family’s various recitals and performances, but also as the past president and board member of Landmark on Main Street and Temple Beth Israel. Professionally, Andrew Abramowitz is a corporate and securities transactional attorney with his own practice.
Susan Isaacs is the bestselling author of fifteen novels including Compromising Positions, Almost Paradise, and Bad, Bad Seymour Brown. She has written two screenplays as well as a nonfiction work. Susan is an active member of the literary community, serving roles with many organizations including Poets & Writers and Mystery Writers of America.
Elkan Abramowitz is a leading white collar criminal defense lawyer experienced in handling civil and criminal matters in state and federal court for individual and corporate clients. Among the many roles Elkan has assumed through the years, perhaps less known is his Screen Actor Guild membership for cameo appearances in Susan’s movies.
More locally, Susan and Elkan are enthusiastic supporters of the Port Washington Public Library, Landmark on Main Street and of course, HEARTS. Susan and Elkan are delighted that their children Andy Abramowitz and Elizabeth Picciuto and their families have become part of the Port Washington community as well.
Leslie Stern and Andy Abramowitz met through music as fellow drummers in the Brown University Band, where they served as Vice President and President. It’s been a steady beat ever since. They moved to Port Washington in 2001.
Leslie proudly served on the HEARTS board for eight years as recording secretary. A former book editor and English teacher, Leslie switched careers twelve years ago and founded Leslie’s Leashes, a dog walking and pet sitting business serving the North Shore. When not running the business, Leslie is President of The Shelter Connection, a volunteer organization helping the Town of North Hempstead Animal Shelter. In addition to her passion for animals, Leslie still loves playing the drums and is a member of multiple rock bands performing on Long Island and NYC.
While Andy has not picked up his drumsticks since becoming a dad, he continues to champion music and the arts not only as an audience member for his family’s various recitals and performances, but also as the past president and board member of Landmark on Main Street and Temple Beth Israel. Professionally, Andrew Abramowitz is a corporate and securities transactional attorney with his own practice.
Susan Geffken Burton
Susan Geffken Burton started in Port Washington Schools in 2013 as a teaching artist and in 2018 got her dream job teaching students from Pre-Kindergarten to 5th grade through her work as the primary visual arts teacher at Daly Elementary School. Her teaching practice explores multiple artforms, including drawing, painting, printmaking, fiber arts, sculpture, and clay, as well as other mixed media creations with deep exploration in self-awareness and cultural connections through art. She leads the 4th and 5th grade Art Club, an after-school art program that uses unique materials and art making processes. She also heads the annual 5th grade Legacy Project guiding students to create large scale murals, mosaic installations, or other specially themed graduation projects. Prior to her work in Port Washington, she led art classes at St. Dominic's High School in Oyster Bay; at Usdan Summer Camp for the Arts where she led outdoor art programs combining nature, ecology and the arts; and at South Huntington Schools Summer Art and Music program. Burton has also led a private teaching practice featuring portfolio instruction, decorative painting, and canvas paintings. She is a graduate of the School of Visual Arts (BFA), and Long Island University's CW Post campus (MS). Beyond the classroom, she is proudly married to her husband Ken for 30 years and has two wonderful sons. Susan is grateful to be part of such an amazing school district that also supports the creative arts in so many ways.
Stephen Moore
Stephen Moore started his educational adventure at Highland Park Elementary, in Salt Lake City Utah. In third grade, he clearly remembers his teacher asking him what he wanted to be when he grew up, and of course he immediately responded, "An artist!" As a child he would doodle, draw, and "design" machines. And his first oil painting class in fifth grade was transcendent. At Utah State University, in northern Utah, he studied illustration and painting while driving a truck to pay for his education. After graduation, and on his way out of town, he dropped by his favorite professor's studio and bought a small painting as a talisman of inspiration. While on vacation to New York City he knew he had found his home and moved there to become an illustrator. He has worked for many publishers such as Scholastic, Dodd Mead, and The Daily News. The city's museums inspired him to return to school to study fine art at Pratt Institute where he received an MFA. He has shown his art at The Bronx Museum of the Arts, P. S. 122, and The Sculpture Center, to name a few. In 1997, and much to his surprise, he was offered a teaching position at P. S. 132 in Washington Heights where he taught for 7 years. For the past 21 years, Mr. Moore has been exceptionally lucky to have John Philips Sousa Elementary School be his art teaching home. He is known for doing large (sometimes too large) legacy art installations on the Sousa campus. Mr. Moore has found that teaching young children has been a joyful, and extraordinary adventure. He is a Nationally Board-Certified Teacher and has received the Title 1 Distinguished Educator Award. He is extremely grateful to Hearts for their support.
Elise May
Elise May, a former HEARTS board member, is an independent Teaching Artist/Arts Administrator, educator, actor, singer, and writer who has performed and taught in the U.S. and internationally. She works with actors, school districts, libraries and corporations on communication skills, community development and developing educational programs using theater arts for vocal empowerment. Focusing on inclusion, Elise has developed her local, state, and national award-winning programs, Storytime Theater, Expressive Elocution, Multicultural Voices, Creative Readers. She is President of the Board of Stage the Change: The Arts as a Social Voice, a Steering Committee member of the Arts for All Abilities Consortium (NYC), and an Advisory Board member for Books for Dessert, a literacy program for adults with disabilities. She has been a contributing writer for many professional arts journals and a contributing author of, “In It Together – How Student, Family, and Community Partnerships Advance Engagement and Achievement in Diverse Classrooms.” Elise has presented at the International Teaching Artist Conference, Arts for All Abilities Consortium, Kennedy Center PD for Art and Music Teachers; East End ENL/Bilingual Teachers Academy, Annual Conference of the Bermuda Union of Teachers, Huntington Arts Council PD and JOURNEYS, and NYSTEA Educator and Student Conferences. She is part of the devising creative and performance team of Branching Out, an original sensory immersive show for audiences on the autism spectrum at Tilles Center for the Performing Arts. She is also Program Director for Theater for Dessert, a theater program for adults with intellectual disabilities. Elise also co-produces and performs yearly in Landmark Radio Theater, a 1950’s style live radio show at Landmark on Main Street. Elise is extremely grateful to HEARTS for this honor and their support of programs she co-created (Master Class, Senior Sing-A-Long, Landmark Radio Theater and Theater for Dessert) as well as her school-based programs.
2025 RED PARTY COMMITTEE
Nissa Fine, chair
Andy Bly
Nita Ertel
Eric Gewirtz
Michele Posner Goldman
Dilia Kamensky
Leyalanny Mata
Nicole Smith-Goldberg
Sheri Suzzan
Beth Weisburd
Melissa Campanelli Williams
Andy Bly
Nita Ertel
Eric Gewirtz
Michele Posner Goldman
Dilia Kamensky
Leyalanny Mata
Nicole Smith-Goldberg
Sheri Suzzan
Beth Weisburd
Melissa Campanelli Williams
