Arts Reach Group

Dale Lewis launched Arts Reach Group and its charitable program, Arts Reach Fund, following thirty-two years as Executive Director of Usdan Center for the Creative and Performing Arts. Here he was responsible for Usdan’s educational and artistic programs and for its community and financial footprint. During Dale's tenure, the Center’s curriculum grew from 30 programs of study to 47. He created a vibrant presence for Usdan in Long Island’s business, government and donor communities, and he conceived and completed capital campaigns to add iconic buildings to Usdan's 100-acre campus. These include the Block Media Arts Center, Hexter Chess Center, and the 1,000-seat McKinley Amphitheater.

 

In addition to his work at Arts Reach, Dale is Vice Chair of Long Island Arts Alliance and serves on the boards of charitable foundations. He is an advisor to high school and college music departments and is a founding member of the Arts Education Council of Long Island. Dale is a past President of The Goldman Memorial Band, a longtime fixture of New York's summer musical life. He conceived and co-produces The Knights/Tilles Center String Orchestra Convocation, an event partnering Long Island's All-State string players with The Knights, the innovative collective of leading New York-based orchestral artists. In 2021 Arts Reach Fund presented two recording projects with The Knights. The first is Keeping On, a web-based music video that portrays a defiant vision of the Covid-19 Pandemic. The second, for which Dale is Executive Producer, is The Knights Before Christmas, an album of original arrangements and performances of holiday music. The album is available on Spotify, Apple Music and as a CD.

 

Dale began his career as a cellist, with a Carnegie Recital Hall debut at the age of twelve as winner of the New York String Teachers Guild competition. He is a graduate of the Oberlin College Conservatory of Music and was the cellist of The Alberg Trio, performing with this ensemble throughout the United States and Europe. Prior to his career at Usdan Dale was Executive Director of The Center for Chamber Music in Connecticut. He also served on the music faculties of Westlake High School and College of New Rochelle and he was the Music Director and Conductor of The Westchester Junior Orchestra. During an 18-year tenure with the Orchestra Dale conducted performances at Carnegie Hall and Alice Tully Hall.

 

Numerous awards have been presented to Dale for his service to arts education, including those from John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Association of Fundraising Professionals, and New York's Art Supervisors Association. In 2015, Usdan's Board of Trustees honored him with the naming of the stage in the Center's McKinley Amphitheater.