Susan and Tony Bennett Host Exploring The Arts Benefit Gala on September 23 at Cipriani Wall Street

Susan and Tony Bennett Host Exploring The Arts Benefit Gala on September 23 at Cipriani Wall Street

Whoopi Goldberg to Host With Performances by Tony Bennett, Jerry Seinfeld and John Mayer

Charity Buzz Online Star-Studded Auction Begins September 16 Culminating with Live Auction at Gala

NEW YORK, Sept. 9 /PRNewswire/ -- Susan and Tony Bennett will host the second annual Exploring The Arts benefit gala to raise funds to support arts education in public schools. The evening will be held on Tuesday, September 23 at Cipriani Wall Street and will be hosted by Whoopi Goldberg. Tony Bennett along with Jerry Seinfeld and John Mayer will perform at the event. Honored at the event will be Reed Hastings, Chairman, President and CEO of Netflix, Sumner Redstone, Executive Chairman, Viacom, Inc. and CBS Corporation and Steve Wynn, Chairman and CEO of Wynn Resorts. Ticketing and event coordination for Susan and Tony Bennett's Exploring the Arts gala is being handled by Inez Weinstein Special Events at 212-254-6677.

Charity Buzz is coordinating the on-line and live auction for the organization. The on-line auction will begin on September 16 and can be viewed at www.charitybuzz.com . It features a host of celebrity-donated items from Andre Agassi, Christina Aguilera, Stephen Colbert, Katie Holmes, Elton John, George Michael, Bette Midler, John Travolta among others as well as entertainment and travel related offerings, including a luxury villa vacation in Tuscany and tickets to Saturday Night Live, the Today Show and many Broadway shows.

Susan and Tony Bennett founded Exploring the Arts (ETA), a non-profit organization to strengthen the role of arts education in the public schools. They have raised millions of dollars to date and have fostered a unique partnership between the public and private sectors. Susan and Tony founded the Frank Sinatra School of the Arts (FSSA), a public NYC arts high school in Queens, which is supported by ETA. FSSA opened in 2001 in temporary quarters and since its inception has consistently been a exemplary NYC high schools with one of the highest graduation rates in the city. A permanent site for the school, designed by Susan T. Rodriguez, design partner in award winning Polshek Partnership Architects, is set to open to students in February 2009, adjacent to the Kaufman Astoria Studios complex in Astoria, Queens (Tony Bennett's hometown). For more information on ETA and FSSA please visit www.exploringthearts.org .

Tony Bennett is a 15-time Grammy winner and has two Emmy Awards to his credit. His forthcoming CD, "A Swingin' Christmas featuring the Count Basie Big Band," will be released for this holiday season. Bennett's guest appearance on the hit series ENTOURAGE, will air this Sunday, September 14.

www.tonybennett.net

www.benedettoarts.com

Source: RPM Productions

CONTACT: Sylvia Weiner of RPM Productions, +1-908-301-1779,
sweiner@rpm-productions.com

Web site: http://www.columbiarecords.com/
http://www.tonybennett.net/
http://www.benedettoarts.com/
http://www.exploringthearts.org/
http://www.charitybuzz.com/

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