The shoes tapped furiously on Broadway as The American capped the year with its first annual fund-raising benefit. Broadway's four-time Tony award-winning musical, “Bring in ‘Da Noise, Bring in ‘Da Funk,” depicting the stirring plight of the African American experience through tap dancing, music, and drumming, set the stage for a successful benefit attended by more than three hundred members and friends of The American. Tami Margolis chaired the event.
Cautiously reserving two hundred seats during the initial planning phases, the benefit was so embraced by the membership that an additional hundred tickets had to be ordered by October. “I knew that this fund-raiser had a great deal of potential, but I was surprised— and yet not so surprised—at how quickly we were sold out,” said Margolis, who began to publicize the event in September. As a result of the event's success, the foundation raised over $45,000.
The concept of an annual fund-raising event for The American appears to be very well-received, despite early concerns about possible scheduling conflicts during the meetings of The American. In fact, for many the evening began with pre-theater dinners and parties organized by individuals for groups from particular regions or for reunions of old friends and associates. A unanimous “Bravo!” was proclaimed for this special affair and has led to a request to the Foundation board to make this fundraising campaign an ongoing, annual event. During these meetings the Executive Council of The American elected four new board members of the Foundation. Donald Meyer, Sandra Walker, Robert Wallerstein, and Tami Margolis formally took their seats on the Board. Robert Pyles, president-elect of The American, took the seat of liaison of the Executive Committee.
The Foundation was happy to report the success of last year's grants to the Chicago-Minneapolis pilot project in telecommunications, academic candidate Assistance, and the visiting professor project. Thomas Pappadis reported that classes, supervision, and committee meetings were being held between the two cities. It took very little time for the analysts to learn the technology and become comfortable with the use of telecommunications. Deanna Holtzman reported that CORST has established a subcommittee to administer the advertisement of the $5,000 grant for an academic candidate and the evaluation of applications. With the help of Elise Snyder and the Fellowship Committee, two sites were selected for the visiting professor program. Robert Michels will go to Louisville and Arthur Rosenbaum will go to Indianapolis to spend a weekend teaching and supervising in areas that are underserved by psychoanalysts.
In addition, the foundation established a Web site, with the assistance of Carol Lindemann, a member of the Board, to provide information about our activities and to link with other national and international psychoanalytic sites. Please visit us at: . New proposals are being considered for this year by the Foundation board of directors. The board remains committed to receiving proposals from individuals and committees both within and outside the American, and to developing outreach programs using multimedia approaches.
The Foundation's board of directors wish to express appreciation and thanks to all our contributors throughout the year, who help make the Foundation's efforts in supporting psychoanalysis throughout the United States possible.
Harvey L. Rich is chair of the American Psychoanalytic Foundation.