Inspiring U | Dec 23, 2025
What's New With U? December 2025
Dear Friends,
This year brought many gifts to Usdan, including our American Camp Association Accreditation — a seal of approval acknowledging our commitment to the highest standards of student health and safety. In addition, we are grateful to continue to receive funding from New York State Council for the Arts (NYSCA), this time supporting one of our Artists in Residence and Found Sound teacher Lisa Schonberg. The recent announcement that we have been selected as a Semi-Finalist in the Long Island Imagine Awards — with finalists to be announced in mid-February of 2026 — has us filled with excitement as we look towards the new year.
Perhaps the most important gifts, and the most lasting, are the friendships, the creativity, and the joy we witnessed blossom over the summer. On social media, we took a little look back at some of our favorite moments from the year, including original works by our Songwriting students, the Hip-Hop Pool Party, and quality time with members of our 45,000+ Alumni community. I hope these videos bring wonderful memories flooding back.
As we look forward to 2026, may student creativity and the intergenerational community of Usdan buoy us through the winter and until we meet again.
Wishing you a very happy and healthy holiday season!
Lauren Brandt Schloss
Executive Director
Please note, Usdan's office will be closed between December 24, 2025 and January 1, 2026. We will resume normal business hours on Friday, January 2, 2026. Staff will monitor our phone lines and emails during our holiday break, but response time may be slowed.
GIVE BACK TO USDAN THIS SEASON
If you or a child in your life have experienced the impact of a summer at Usdan, now is the time to pay it forward. A gift made by December 31, 2025 directly supports Usdan's year round work and ensures all young artists can access this life-changing artistic haven. Make a tax-deductible donation today and help carry Usdan's impact into 2026!
In Memoriam: A. Bradford DeMilo (1940-2025)
An appreciation by Dale Lewis, Former Usdan Executive Director
As we remember Brad DeMilo, I feel privileged to recall a dedicated music educator, performer, and community arts leader, as well as a beloved husband, father, and grandfather. For several decades, A. Bradford DeMilo provided contributions of time and talent to a generation of Usdan Music students, including those who studied French Horn in his studio, and others who played in Usdan Brass Ensembles and Junior Bands. Brad brought the experience and understanding of a concert artist to his teaching, always eager to share his love of the horn and his skill as a conductor. His own studies with Arthur Berv effectively provided our students with a continuum of performing and teaching of historic significance, as the “Berv Brothers” (Arthur, Jack, and Harry) formed the celebrated horn section of Toscanini’s NBC Symphony and, like Brad, later became teachers, Arthur at Manhattan School of Music, Harry at Juilliard, and Jack at Yale.
Brad was also an iconic band director in the Farmingdale Schools and was dedicated to his Farmingdale Pops whose concerts we attended many times. He continued performing in recent years with Long Island Brass Guild and many community orchestras and bands. We remember an elegant colleague and send condolences to Ingrid, Kyle, and Erika, each of whom made their own contributions to Usdan students through the years.
— Dale Lewis, Former Usdan Executive Director (1984-2015)
MUSIC MERIT IS ON ITS WAY
Stay tuned for more info
Calling all young musicians! Our Music Merit Scholarship opens in January 2026. This audition-based scholarship awards talented instrumentalists, vocalists, and composers in grades 2-12* partial scholarships to Usdan's Music Program.
*Program eligibility varies by grade.
ALUM SPOTLIGHT: SUSAN HELLMAN
‘We don’t want any forms of the arts to have to disappear'
For former Usdan Dance Major Susan Hellman, her ever-evolving career in communications has always been driven by a love for the arts. This year, as an established publicity consultant and lifelong lover of ballet, Susan has spent the holiday season helping to spread the word about the Ohman School of Ballet’s production of George Balanchine’s “The Nutcracker,” which took place at Hofstra University on Saturday, December 20, and Sunday, December 21.
“I find time in my schedule to help because I want things like this to exist. We don’t want any form of the arts to have to disappear on Long Island,” Susan shared.
A 2025 report “Sustaining Long Island’s Creative Spark” from the Center for an Urban Future documents that while 14.7 percent of New York State’s population lives on Long Island, only 2.8 percent of NY State’s arts council (NYSCA) grants are awarded to the Long Island area — suggesting an ongoing underinvestment in local arts establishments. (Of note, Usdan has been the recipient of NYSCA funding for four years in a row.)
"You don’t have to go to Lincoln Center to see a classic like ["The Nutcracker"]. And we have guest artists from New York City Ballet who, when they’re not in our weekend show, they are doing a show there!”
Susan Hellman with her daughter and Usdan student Marilyn in New York Dance Theater Nutcracker party scene in December 2018.
With her commitment to offering her services to sustain local nonprofit arts institutions, Susan takes a hyper-local approach to publicizing the Ohman School show. She points to the erosion of local newspapers as one factor affecting the visibility of community-based arts organizations.
Susan recalls how, as a young ballerina, local newspapers (such as her neighborhood publication the “Bellmore Life,” a weekly print paper from 1964 to 2013) regularly announced local shows with pictures and names of local artists and students involved. Through these publications, “your neighbors, your teachers, your family, friends — everybody would see the announcement” and attend the show.
Susan remembers the clippings her mom would save announcing the shows she was a part of and now uses these same strategies to make the case for supporting local arts productions amid our new landscape of online news and social media.
Susan Hellman went to Usdan from 1980 to 1985, majoring in Ballet and exploring other art forms such as Chorus (now known as Vocal Ensemble), and Painting & Drawing through her minor.
“There’s always going to be someone who’s Clara, who gets all the attention. But all the kids in the production work hard, and you want to encourage them. It’s true — there are no small parts. When I send press releases, I say, ‘Look at ALL of these amazing kids in our town,’” Susan shared.
“People don’t realize how much hard work these kids put in. I feel like it should be recognized so that it doesn't discourage kids from pursuing the arts.”
Given the freedom to pursue any artform, Susan’s two daughters choose to follow in their mother's footsteps; they found ballet stood out from the rest. This year, her daughter Aviva — who is also a Usdan alum — was in Ohman’s production of “The Nutcracker” along with her youngest daughter and current Usdan student Marilyn. In previous years when her daughters “performed, Susan returned to the stage as one of the “party scene” parents.
Dance Major Susan Hellman and friends in a Usdan Tap performance in 1985 on the old amphitheater stage, now known as The Shed.
As a Usdan student and parent, Susan sees how Usdan provides high quality arts education outside of New York City. As a student, Susan spent six summers at Usdan, majoring in Ballet and treating her minor studies as opportunities to explore Chorus (now Vocal Ensemble), Painting & Drawing, and other Dance forms.
“I really felt that people at Usdan cared. Whether it was learning to breathe correctly from the diaphragm or being given the independence to walk around campus, these things really stay with you and help in non-art situations too.”
After graduating college and some time working in the fashion industry, Susan found new avenues for her creative expression through working in public television. She saw television as a platform to connect her love of the arts and education. Susan began behind the scenes in the communication department, but quickly assumed on-air performance roles, such as the in-house auctioneer for a public broadcasting fundraiser.
Susan Hellman hosting PBS pledge breaks for Idina Menzel, special credit Joe Sinnott
Susan describes having to improvise on air, because there’s “no budget in public television, we really have to speak from the heart.”
Her background in performance was crucial to her ability to adapt to her on-air role, and more importantly, to be effective.
In 2008, Susan left her position as the Director of Station Relations and Communications at WLIW New York to become an independent consultant. Seventeen years later her consultancy business continues to thrive; her work remains rooted in her values around the relationship between arts, education, and local communities.
“I think the arts you do as a child stay with you,” Susan reflected. "Having the poise and confidence will serve you well at some point, in some capacity of your life, even if it’s not what you do professionally.”
Interested in majoring in Dance at Usdan? Visit usdan.org/dance to learn more about the program.
Usdanites Out & About
(L-R): Former Usdan videographer Lou Gruber, former Usdan Art Chair Amy Beecher, former Education Director Jillian Greenberg, former Dance Chair Juliana May with Executive Director Lauren Brandt Schloss at Juliana's latest performance of Optimistic Voices at BAM on November 8, 2025.
Former Usdan Composition Major George Socolow reunites with former Usdan Artist in Residence Colin Jacobsen of the Knights at a house concert in NY. At the concert, Colin performed George's Violin Concerto No.1.
Remember Usdan alum-besties Nick Rizzo and Sam Gold's #rowdywicked singalong last year? Well they returned on Sunday, December 7, delivering a riveting theater experience set to "Wicked: For Good."
(L-R): Alum Nick Rizzo as Elphaba with Executive Director Lauren Brandt Schloss dressed as the Wizard (obviously).
CELEBRATING U
From small accomplishments to national feats, here are some recent achievements from our students, parents, and teachers.
Usdan Musical Theater Major Samantha (Sammi) S. sung the National Anthem for the New York Islanders on Sunday, November 30. Sammi played Maureen in "Rent Jr." at Usdan this summer. She also acted in "Terrifer 3" (2024) as the "Little Mall Girl" and is a part of the Metropolitan Youth Orchestra's Nassau chapter.
At December's New York State School Music Association (NYSSMA) conference, Dr. Joseph Owens (second from left), a longtime Usdan parent and Director of Fine and Performing Arts for Manhasset School District, and his team received NYSSMA's Presidential Citation Award. This prestigious award recognizes Manhasset's Music Program as a model program for music education throughout the state.
Usdan faculty member Tatiana Birenbaum's choreography for the original play "Echo" — which premiered at the New York Theater Festival this past June and won the Award for Best Production of the Spring/Summer Festival — is currently nominated for a Best of Choreography award. Vote for Tatiana.
Calendar
Sunday, January 11
Campus Tours
11:00 a.m., 12:15 p.m., 1:30 p.m. (Sold out)
Can't make a scheduled tour? Email enrollment@usdan.org to visit campus on a different day.
January Tuition Assistance Deadline
Apply By: January 20, 2026
Receive Letter By: January 26, 2026
Sunday, February 1
Campus Tours
11:00 a.m., 12:15 p.m., 1:30 p.m.
Can't make a scheduled tour? Email enrollment@usdan.org to visit campus on a different day.
February Tuition Assistance Deadline
Apply By: February 23, 2026
Receive Letter By: March 2, 2026