Mission
Statement Arts is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to bringing the creative visual & performing arts to underserved, low-income individuals. We channel creativity to educate, to enhance intellectual performance, to empower and guide, and to build self-esteem. Statement Arts is committed to giving our students an intercultural and interdisciplinary arts experience to which they do not have access. Statement Arts believes in the power of art to inspire social, cultural, and environmental education to further a legacy of responsible global citizenship.

About Us
Statement Arts was conceived at the High School of Environmental Studies (HSES), an underserved public school in New York City’s Hell’s Kitchen. Inspiration for Statement Arts stems from the success of the ongoing Project: Urban Arts. Started in 2003, Urban Arts, is an art enrichment program whose goal is to supplement arts education in the New York City public school system.

Bios

Liza Politi (Co-Founder/Creative Director)
Liza Politi graduated from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, winning the Lee Strasberg Award for acting in her final year. She has spent the last 15 years working as an actress and model in New York City, appearing in countless television commercials and magazines. Liza has performed Off Broadway, in independent films and has been a spokesperson for Sensodyne, Volvo, Gerber’s, Olive Garden, and Allegra advertising campaigns, appearing in Martha Stewart Living, O! the Oprah Magazine, Better Homes & Gardens, and Good Housekeeping. In 2000, Liza was presented with the Joseph P. Reilly Award from the Screen Actors Guild in recognition for her efforts in resolving a national strike.

After September 11th, 2001, Liza spent nine months at Ground Zero working with the American Red Cross and The Salvation Army. In 2003, the FDNY honored her for a community outreach program that she co-founded for them in 2001.

Liza has also worked as an event coordinator for The Allison Getz Foundation; an AIDS awareness program, September Space; a 9-11 Community Center and for Kids with Cameras; a non-profit organization based on the 2004 Academy Award-winning documentary, Born into Brothels, whose mission is to empower marginalized children through art. She currently works as a coordinator for National Geographic photographers, organizing International photography workshops throughout Europe.

Georgia DeFalco (Co-Founder/Executive Producer)
Georgia DeFalco graduated from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana in 2000 with a BA in music education, minoring in vocal performance. After graduation, she moved to Chicago and sang at Davenport's Cabaret while teaching musical Hinsdale Middle School. In 2001, Georgia moved to New York City.

Currently, she works at The High School of Environmental Studies, building the music program to include musical theater, a madrigals troupe, and several choirs. Her groups tour and compete around the United States.

Sarah Hamilton (Treasurer/Executive Director)
Sarah Hamilton graduated from the prestigious New York University, Tisch School of the Arts where she worked with members of the Royal Shakespeare Company. She has appeared on New York and London stages as Cressida in Troillus and Cressida, Isabelle in Measure for Measure, and Katrina in Chapter 8 a play about prejudice written and produced by the performers themselves. She has performed in several film and television roles and as lent her voice to numerous national television and radio commercial campaigns such as the Chapsitck, Covergirl make-up, V-8 Splash, and Sony Televisions. She also was involved in the hugely successful CD-Rom game, The Longest Journey, where she played the character of April Ryan.

Sarah’s philanthropic involvement started because of two major life changing episodes, a 2002 diagnosis of Multiple Sclerosis and a 2004 diagnosis of Cancer. Both of which remain symptom and cancer free after medication, surgery, and a series of treatments. However, because of this she found a passion for possibility and a new empowered belief that a problem is as only as big as we make it. She is harnessing these energies into Project: Urban Arts to head up a program for inner city kids to instill in them a belief that anything is possible no matter how dire the circumstances.

Nicola Kinsella (Technical Director)
Australian born, Nicola Kinsella moved to New York City in 1999, and now resides in Jersey City, NJ. She has spent many years working in both large and small corporations in the areas of e-commerce, business analysis, project management and publishing.

She launched Nicola K Photography in May 2003, and in more recent times she has focused her work on capturing the expressions of children. In addition to photography, Nicola, co-founded Dazzled in 2005. Dazzled is an Australian based company dedicated to bringing educational relevance and experiential learning to the world, that is currently focused on promoting and facilitating education tourism in Australia.

Nicola feels privileged to have been able to combine her love of children, photography and education in her previous volunteer work with Kids With Cameras, and now in her work with Statement Arts.

Nicola holds a Bachelor of Arts from Macquarie University, Sydney.

Cordelia D. Roosevelt (Founding Board Member)
Cordelia was born and raised in New York City. In her senior year at Harvard University she won the John Brookings Imrie Memorial Award. Bestowed annually, this honor is conferred by a review committee comprised of both faculty and students. Prior to co-founding Urban Arts, Cordelia served as a board member and director of the children's art program for A Window Between Worlds, an LA-based arts organization.

In response to September 11th, 2001, Cordelia co-founded and co-managed a donation-driven warehouse during the nine-month Rescue and Recovery mission at the World Trade Center. For her work, The President’s Council on Service and Civic Participation, in conjunction with The White House, honored her with the President’s Volunteer Service Award. Cordelia also received three individual FDNY commendations in addition to an American flag that had flown over the site.

In October 2005, in association with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Cordelia is sponsoring a group of anthropologists, aid workers, and journalists traveling to the Kakuma refugee camp in northwestern Kenya. In Africa, she will oversee "Project Kakuma," the return of handwritten biographies compiled nearly 20 years ago by Sweden Save the Children. The restoration of these papers to their rightful owners will help Sudanese refugees obtain passports and other legal documents when they return next year to Sudan.

Cordelia currently volunteers in the New York University Hospital emergency department. She is a member of the Harvard Club and the National Arts Club, as well as a trustee of the Theodore Roosevelt Association.