By Della Hasselle
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
NOHO — "The Social Network" star Jesse Eisenberg will support a network of artists gathered in Astor Center when he gives a reading at a charity auction Wednesday night.
The native New Yorker will be joining actress Lili Taylor at a Now Showing, an auction for the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers. The alliance is an organization that helps New Yorkers and other young artists gain financial support and recognition within their fields.
"For us this is really crucial, especially with so much funding being cut to art programs right now," Kerri Schlottman, the director of external relations for the alliance, said. "We need to mantain a cultural education as much as we can."
The auction is being held to give almost $250,000 in scholarships for next year's Scholastic Art & Writing Award winners, and will feature works by writers and visual artists who have been recepients in past years.
For the auction, Jesse Eisenberg will be reading an excerpt from Ned Vizzini's "It's Kind of a Funny Story" and Lili Taylor will be reading from Myla Goldberg's "The Bee Season." Both of the authors are past award recepients.
The organization has a long history of supporting artists who later became renowned in their fields, such as Andy Warhol, Robert Redford, Sue Miller, Joyce Carol Oates and Sylvia Plath.
The top percentage of award recepients will receive cash prizes, but all winners also have a chance to receive some of the $3.9 million in scholarships offered from top art schools in the country, including New York-based School of Visual Arts, Parsons and the Pratt Institute.
Wednesday's benefit would be especially exciting, Schlottman said, because many of the artists featured could be producing the city's next big hit.
"This is the time to start paying attention to them," Schlottman said. "There's a good chance that their work will become valuable someday."
Now Showing will be at the Astor Center on 399 Lafayette Street Wednesday night from 8:30 to 11pm.
