Arts For Kids, Inc. is planning an afternoon of music, dance, visual art, and barbecue to celebrate Arts For Kids and to honor executive director Vincent Ector for fifteen years of service and dedication to providing meaningful arts opportunities to underserved communities in the NY tri-state area.

The event will take place on Sunday, July 12, 2015 from 2 pm to 6 pm at Suzy Que’s BBQ & Bar at 34 S. Valley Road in West Orange, New Jersey 07052. Tickets are $60 and include a BBQ buffet dinner, entertainment, and cash bar.

Entertainment will be provided by Grammy award–winning producer, composer, and pianist Nat Adderley, Jr. and his jazz trio, featuring Vince Ector on drums. A special Arts For Kids student/artist showcase will also be featured. Advertisement

Silent auction items will be available during the event and all proceeds will benefit Arts For Kids ongoing arts programing activities and are fully tax deductible.

Arts For Kids, Inc. is a not-for-profit arts organization that provides arts-in-education activities such as artist residency programs, performance assemblies, and parent and teacher training workshops that integrate the arts into the classroom curriculum while creating alternative approaches to teaching and learning. Activities are presented in schools, community centers, libraries, museums, as well as public areas.

Vincent Ector is one of the leading drummer/composers on the jazz scene today. He has performed in concert and on recordings with jazz masters Randy Weston, Freddy Hubbard, Hank Jones, James Moody, Slide Hampton, Jimmy Heath, Lou Donaldson, Ron Carter, as well as Gloria Lynne, Bobby Watson, Grover Washington Jr., Dr. Lonnie Smith, Joey DeFrancesco, Pat Martino, Claudio Roditi, the Dizzy Gillespie Alumni All Stars, and Shirley Scott. He performs regularly in NYC with ensembles such as the Grammy award-winning Charles Mingus Orchestra and Big Band, the Captain Black Big Band, and his own band in such venues as the Iridium, Dizzy’s Club Coca Cola, Smalls, Smoke, and the Jazz Standard. Ector has also performed at many of the world’s leading jazz festivals such as Pori Jazz, Marciac Jazz Festival, The Hague Festival, Jazz Middleheim, Vannes Jazz Festival, Graz Somer Jazz, and is highly active in the music education field as a teaching artist and clinician.

Ector is the executive director of Arts For Kids, Inc. an arts-in-education organization servicing the NY tri-state area since 2001 and is a Lecturer of Jazz Percussion at Princeton University. His many awards include numerous ASCAP awards, NY City Council citation, NJ State Council on the Arts permanent status, and a Puffin Foundation artist grant award. He is also a Mapex Drums, Humes & Berg, and Vic Firth endorsed artist. Advertisement

Visit www.artsforkidsinc.org for more information.