The Ezra Jack Keats Foundation
The Ezra Jack Keats Foundation is a not-for-profit corporation that was established in 1964. When Keats died in 1983, his will directed that the royalties from his books be given to the Foundation to be used for the support of programs judged to be helpful to humanity. Martin Pope, Professor Emeritus of Chemistry at New York University, a world-renowned scientist, and a lifelong friend of Keats has served as an officer on the Foundation's Board since its inception. Dr. Pope has been president of the Board since 1983.
Under the leadership of Dr. Martin Pope and his wife, Dr. Lillie Pope, and with the assistance of a preeminent Board and Dr. Deborah Pope as Executive Director, the Foundation has been dedicated to maintaining the goals and values of Keats, as expressed in his multicultural work, by focusing on bettering the lives of children through programs to increase literacy, to inspire creativity and love of learning, and to enhance appreciation of the arts in children, their families and communities: a total arts-in-education approach.
Some of the programs supported by the Foundation are listed below; more details can be found on the separate page for each program:
- The NY Public Library's Ezra Jack Keats New Writer's and New Illustrator's Award for Children's Books
- The Ezra Jack Keats / NYC Department of Education Bookmaking Program
- Storytelling at the Bronze Statue of Peter in the Imagination Playground of Brooklyn's Prospect Park
- The Annual Ezra Jack Keats Lectureship and the Children's Book Festival, University of Southern Mississippi
- The Keats Fellowship for Scholarly Study at the deGrummond Collection
- Minigrants to public libraries and public school libraries
- Art Scholarships for Children
- Storytelling and author workshops at the NY Public Library
- The Ezra Jack Keats Bedtime Storytelling Series, Grand Army Plaza Branch, Brooklyn Public Library
- The Ezra Jack Keats Award for Scholarship in Children's book Research, Kerlan Collection, U. of Minnesota
- The UNICEF Ezra Jack Keats International Award for Children's Book Illustration (1984-1994)
- The Annual International Children's Book Week Program, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. (1985-1995)
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