City Parks Foundation (CPF) is pleased to announce the 2024 Dinner & Concert benefit fundraiser will take place Thursday, September 26, 2024 at their flagship SummerStage venue in Central Park.
This year’s event will honor Hall of Fame tennis legend, NYC Icon, and philanthropist John McEnroe, and tennis commentator/star and philanthropist Patrick McEnroe jointly with the City Parks Foundation Icon Award, and Nadir Settles, Global Head of Real Estate Impact at Nuveen Real Estate, with the People & Parks Award.
Guests will also enjoy special intimate performances by 2024 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee and legendary artist Peter Frampton and GRAMMY and Academy Award nominated singer/songwriter Patty Smyth. Smythwill be joined by an all-star house band led by special guest GRAMMY and Emmy winner Steve Jordan.
City Parks Foundation (CPF), through its Capital One City Parks Foundation SummerStage Festival, is one of the largest presenters of free arts and cultural programs in New York City parks, and serves more than 275,000 New Yorkers each year through arts, education, sports and community building initiatives.
City Parks Foundation is dedicated to offering diverse programming to encourage New Yorkers to use and care for their local parks and green spaces, to bring these public spaces to life and to make them accessible for all.
City Parks Foundation is proud to present the 2024 City Parks Foundation Icon Award to John McEnroe and Patrick McEnroe, both native New Yorkers who have made indelible impacts not only in the world of tennis, but with local communities through their philanthropic efforts in NYC.
John McEnroe is a globally-renowned tennis icon. Ranked No. 1 in the world from 1981 through 1984, he won seven Grand Slam singles titles, ten Grand Slam doubles titles,and is an International Tennis Hall of Fame inductee. As one of the most dominant players of his generation, John is No. 1 on the all-time ATP Tour tournament win list with 155 combined singles and doubles titles and helped lead the United States to five Davis Cup championships.
Following his legendary career as a player, John has become a top broadcaster for ESPN, NBC, and the BBC earning his first Sports Emmy nomination in 1998. John is also an actor, voice-over artist, musician, art collector and author of The New York Times best-selling autobiography, You Cannot Be Serious.
Patrick McEnroe reached a career-high ranking of world No. 28 in singles and world No. 3 in doubles winning the French Open doubles title with Jim Grabb. He is the lead broadcaster for many of ESPN’s tennis events, often paired with his brother, John. Patrick was appointed the 38th U.S. Davis Cup captain, winning the Davis Cup in 2007, and became the longest-serving captain in its history. He was named the General Manager for USTA Elite Player Development and the coach of the 2004 U.S. Olympic men’s tennis team. Patrick currently serves as the President of the International Tennis Hall of Fame as well as the Executive Director of the John McEnroe Tennis Academy.
“The project introduces tennis to thousands … particularly those living in East Harlem …”
John and Patrick bring their joint dedication and passion for providing kids in NYC the opportunity to play tennis and learn lifelong health, fitness and social skills through the Johnny Mac Tennis Project, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization with John as Founder and Director and Patrick as President of the Board and Co-Director. The project introduces tennis to thousands of under-resourced New York City area children, particularly those living in East Harlem and the South Bronx. Young tennis players face tremendous economic barriers to success and the project offers an accessible, funded pathway for student-athletes.
City Parks Foundation is thrilled to present the 2024 People & Parks Award to Nadir Settles, Global Head of Real Estate Impact and Nuveen Real Estate. CPF is honored to recognize Nuveen’s significant work serving and supporting local communities through investment in both affordable housing and environmental sustainability. With a focus on creating welcoming, safe and active communities, CPF is pleased to recognize Nuveen’s affordable housing strategy as one that focuses on the community’s health and wellness. Nuveen’s recent investment in NYC will meaningfully preserve and expand accessibility to high-quality affordable housing to support the well-being of rent-burdened residents in our city. Accepting the award on behalf of Nuveen, Nadir Settles oversees all transactional and asset management activity for the affordable housing portfolio.
“We are excited to announce John McEnroe, Patrick McEnroe and Nadir Settles/Nuveen as this year’s honorees for the annual City Parks Foundation benefit,” said Heather Lubov, Executive Director of City Parks Foundation. “All three honorees are longtime champions of supporting the diverse communities that comprise New York City and are dedicated to providing the tools and services needed to help expand opportunities for those living in urban areas. We are thrilled to be able to recognize and highlight their distinguished accomplishments.”
Following dinner and the evening’s award ceremony, guests will be treated to a concert featuring special performances by Peter Frampton and Patty Smyth. Smyth will be joined by an all-star house band led by special guest GRAMMY and Emmy winner Steve Jordan (The Rolling Stones, Keith Richards & The X-Pensive Winos, John Mayer Trio, The Verbs, artistic director of Jazz Foundation of America). The concert is produced by RWE Partners.
Peter Frampton is one of the most celebrated artists and guitarists in rock history. In 2007 Frampton won a Grammy for Best Pop Instrumental Album for Fingerprints and in 2014 was inducted into the Musicians Hall of Fame. He received the prestigious Les Paul Innovation Award at NAMM’s TEC Awards in 2019 and most recently received the 2024 Les Paul Spirit Award at the Gibson Garage Nashville earlier this month. In 2020 Frampton was inducted into the GRAMMY Hall of Fame, his autobiography Do You Feel Like I Do?: A Memoir debuted on The New York Times Bestsellers list and he appeared on Dolly Parton’s latest album, Rockstar, as the only artist featured on two tracks.
Last year Frampton released Frampton@50 on Intervention Records, a numbered limited-edition vinyl box set featuring Frampton’s essential 1972-1975 studio releases Wind of Change, Frampton’s Camel and Frampton. He also received The Myositis Association’s Heroes in the Fight 2023 Patient Ambassador Award in September and unveiled his historic performance at London’s Royal Albert Hall as a live album via UME—listen here. After 48 years, Frampton Comes Alive! remains one of the top-selling live records of all time, selling over 17 million worldwide. He is set to be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland this fall.
GRAMMY-winning singer/songwriter Patty Smyth first came into national attention with the rock band Scandal and went on to a successful career recording and performing as a solo artist. Her distinctive voice and new wave image first gained broad exposure through music video channels such as MTV. Her debut solo album Never Enough generated a pair of Top 100 hits and in the early 1990s she reached the top 10 with the GRAMMY-nominated hit single she wrote, “Sometimes Love Just Ain’t Enough,” a duet with Don Henley of Eagles. She also performed and co-wrote with James Ingram the GRAMMY and Oscar-nominated song “Look What Love Has Done” for the 1994 motion picture Junior.
City Parks Foundation’s 2024 Gala is chaired by Angela Barkan, Joe Killian, Roland Merchant, and Greg Williamson.
Taking place on Thursday, September 26, 2024, 6:00 – 8:30 pm: Cocktail Reception & Dinner, and 8:30pm: Awards Ceremony & Concert.
The event will take place at SummerStage in Central Park, Rumsey Playfield, enter at E. 72nd Street and Fifth Ave (Rain or Shine – Tented Venue).
Tickets
Tables and tickets for the evening, including the dinner and concert, are now available for purchase.
For more information, visit https://cityparksfoundation.org/city-parks-foundation-gala/
City Parks Foundation
At City Parks Foundation, we are dedicated to invigorating and transforming parks into dynamic, vibrant centers of urban life through sports, arts, community building and education programs for all New Yorkers. Our programs — located in more than 320 parks, recreation centers and public schools across New York City — reach over 278,000 people each year. Our ethos is simple: thriving parks mean thriving communities.
Photo credit: Source.
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