STATETEN ISLAND Arlene Sorkin, the president and CEO of IlluminArt Productions in New York, has made it her personal goal to use art to change people’s lives.
Sorkin, who was born in Philadelphia, moved from state to state for a large portion of her adult life. In order to be nearer to her family, Arlene moved to Temple University with David after meeting her future husband at Penn State University. Sorkin worked a part-time job and started a family while attending Temple University, where he majored in business administration with an accounting concentration.
After graduating from Temple, Sorkin spent the next ten years working at several financial organizations before realizing that finance wasn’t her passion and switching to social work. Sorkin started studying Bryn Mawr College’s Graduate School of Social Work and Social Research in 1989, where she earned a master’s degree in social services. When Sorkin was assigned to the Medical Center of Delaware’s maternal-child unit, where she treated high-risk OB/GYN, maternity, labor and delivery, and neonatal critical care patients, her passion for social work grew even more.
According to Sorkin, working in the maternal child unit was both demanding and devastating. I always carried a beeper with me, and I had no idea what the day would bring; I had to deal with mothers who had tested positive for drugs, parents of 24-week-old newborns, and young girls living with HIV. Although I truly like my job there, I seized the chance to join a supervisor’s clinical private practice. She worked there with women who had suffered from eating disorders, domestic abuse, and miscarriages.
Sorkin and her family moved to Detroit a year after she started working at the practice. David Sorkin had recently received an offer to become executive director of the Jewish Community Center of Metro Detroit, one of the biggest JCCs in the country. Before relocating to work for a community organization, Sorkin briefly carried on practicing psychotherapy in Michigan.
A lifelong arts enthusiast, Sorkin started serving as a program director for the Michigan Jewish AIDS Coalition, where she produced multiple Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS fundraiser productions and promoted the LGBTQ community, successfully fusing her love of theater with her commitment to social change. Sorkin met Patty Ceresnie, an actress, singer, dancer, and director, while he was a member of the Festival Dancers at the JCC of Metro Detroit. The two then worked together on the Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS benefit shows.
Sorkin and Ceresnie founded IlluminArt Productions, a nonprofit organization that uses theater as a tool to illuminate important social issues and spark conversations for positive social change, after being inspired by the Illusion Theater in Minneapolis, the largest theater for social change in the Midwest. In 2002, IlluminArt made its formal debut in Michigan.
“Patty and I discussed the possibility of combining social work and theater in some way,” Sorkin continues. We used the Teaching and Reaching Using Students and Theater framework, which was provided by Illusion Theater, to accomplish that. We also licensed two plays that were performed by high school students for elementary and middle school students throughout the district. The goal of our first two plays, Peace Up and What Goes Around, was to assist kids with recognizing their feelings and coming up with solutions for their problems.
David Sorkin was recruited to lead the Joan and Alan Bernikow JCC after the Sorkins moved to Staten Island in 2005. As Sorkin settled into New York, Ceresnie continued to head IlluminArt in Michigan. She immersed herself in the arts by taking on the role of director of the JCC Maccabi ArtsFest, a week-long summer arts program for Jewish teenagers organized by the JCC Association of North America. Sorkin saw the need for IlluminArt on Staten Island after four years as the ArtsFest’s director, and in 2009 she formally started IlluminArt Productions on Staten Island.
As more and more Staten Island schools started using IlluminArt to create Peace Up and What Goes Around, the organization expanded quickly in its first few years. Due to the success and popularity of the works, IlluminArt established its own professional touring company, which now presents shows from its repertory in elementary, middle, and high schools as well as senior centers and other locations. IlluminArt has written and performed a number of other plays since the founding of the touring group, all of which address distinct traumatic experiences such as intimate partner violence, sorrow and loss, and bullying.
IlluminArt presents more than 150 arts residencies in schools, community organizations, and senior facilities throughout New York City each year, in addition to its more than 80 touring company performances. A variety of performing and visual arts activities, such as playwriting, mural creation, comedy/improv, drawing and painting, and even a Senior Boomers Ensemble, are included in the programs, which range in duration from 12 to 20 weeks. Using a trauma-informed approach, IlluminArt also leads Arts Empowerment, a substance use prevention program that uses art to help students cope.
Theatre for Young Audiences, public performances for kids aged Pre-K through 12, has been presented by IlluminArt in recent years. Pinkalicious, this year’s performance, will take place from March 22 to April 6, 2025. By encouraging imagination, creativity, and a lifetime love of the arts, Theatre for Young Audiences genuinely reflects IlluminArt’s objective of empowering people via the arts. IlluminArt also has a summer touring company that plays positive, relatable, and kid-friendly shows at camps in Westchester County and the five boroughs, including Catapult Learning campsites.
According to Sorkin, the main goal is that the students gain knowledge from any experience we offer, whether it be through our Touring Company, one of our creative residencies, or any of our programs. Even if they aren’t aware of it, we want every participant to be able to grow and learn.
In recognition of her achievements, Arlene Sorkin will be given a Louis R. Miller Business Leadership Award in the category of Not-for-Profit Businessperson. The Staten Island Chamber of Commerce and the Staten Island Advance offer the prizes in remembrance of Louis R. Miller, a West Brighton citizen and businessman who was also a community leader.
Arlene Sorkin is quite involved in the Staten Island community in addition to her work with IlluminArt. Among Sorkin’s many accolades are the Borough Based Council Annual Woman of Distinction Award, the JCC’s L Dor V Dor First Generation Leadership Award, the Borough President’s Staten Island Community Health Hero Award, and the Community Service Award from the National Alliance on Mental Health-Staten Island. Sorkin has served on the Nonprofit Staten Island board of directors for twelve years this year. In addition, Sorkin is on the TYSA Steering Committee of the Staten Island Partnership for Community Wellness and a member of the Staten Island Chamber of Commerce.
Note: Every piece of content is rigorously reviewed by our team of experienced writers and editors to ensure its accuracy. Our writers use credible sources and adhere to strict fact-checking protocols to verify all claims and data before publication. If an error is identified, we promptly correct it and strive for transparency in all updates, feel free to reach out to us via email. We appreciate your trust and support!
+ There are no comments
Add yours