All Stars Project INC.

ALL STARS PROJECT'S BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Gabrielle L. Kurlander has served as President and Chief Executive Officer of the All Stars Project, Inc. (ASP) since 1990. During Ms. Kurlander's tenure, the ASP's annual budget has grown from $200,000 to $7 million, entirely from private funding sources. Today, the ASP serves as a new national model for inner-city youth development, operating in New York City, Newark, Chicago and the San Francisco Bay Area and inspiring programs in several other US cities and throughout the world. A key to the ASP's success has been the fusion of creativity, community organizing, and business - a fusion embodied by Ms. Kurlander.

Creativity
Ms. Kurlander was born in Washington, DC and grew up in the college town of Ithaca, New York where she attended an alternative elementary school. She began performing on stage when she was 4 1/2, playing the violin. When she was 11 years old, she appeared in her first theatrical production playing a singing orphan in an original opera staged at Cornell University. Ms. Kurlander went on to perform as an actor and singer in community, regional and summer stock theatre before moving to New York City in the early 1980s to pursue her acting career.

Ms. Kurlander studied acting with the acclaimed teacher William Esper, as well as modern dance, ballet, voice and several other disciplines, and became a member of Actor's Equity when she was cast (from an open call) in the National Tour of the Broadway show, Biloxi Blues. Following a six- month tour of American towns (big and small), Ms. Kurlander returned to New York to dedicate herself to avant-garde theatre and community organizing.

Ms. Kurlander has been a member of the Castillo Theatre company, which is part of the ASP, since 1987. She has performed in over 35 productions, is on the directing staff. During Castillo's 2009-2010 season, Ms. Kurlander will star as Amelia Earhart in Safe at Third (or Josh Gibson Don't Bunt) and will direct Heiner Muller's The Task.

Community Organizing
In the mid to late 1980s, Ms. Kurlander spent several years volunteering as a community organizer for grassroots organizations, working in Harlem, in many of Brooklyn's poor communities, as well as in Chicago and Philadelphia. In 1988, Ms. Kurlander worked as an aide to Dr. Lenora B. Fulani during her history-making independent run for the presidency.

Business Development
When Ms. Kurlander took the helm at the ASP in 1990, she was its only staff member; the organization had a budget of $200,000 annually. Today, the ASP employs 45 people in four cities, reaches 10,000 youth, and has over 900 people volunteering annually. Since 1990, Ms. Kurlander has systematically led the creation of the ASP's unique partnership with the business community, growing the ASP's budget to $7 million, entirely through private sources.

In the late 1990s, Ms. Kurlander launched a fundraising campaign to establish a unique development center for poor and minority youth. As a result of the campaign's success, the All Stars Project, Inc. is headquartered in New York City at the 42nd Street Performing Arts and Development Center, a 31,000 square foot, $19 million facility with four theaters.

Members of the ASP's President's Committee hail from every firm on Wall Street, and include hundreds of managing directors and many CEO's. The hundreds of President's Committee members contribute between $1,000 and $50,000 annually and function as volunteers and fundraisers for the programs and as advisors to the All Stars Project's senior staff.

Ms. Kurlander is the creator and director of the new All Stars alumni summer program, The Art of Painting the World in Different Colors - an advanced course of study which , helps young people to develop a worldly persona and prepares them to be successful in our diverse and demanding world.  During an intensive month-long program the young people receive hands-on coaching from leading professionals in business and in the arts. In 2009, the faculty included hedge fund executive Paul Singer; businessman, philanthropist, and former CEO of AT&T C. Michael Armstrong; jazz pianist/composer Dr. Billy Taylor; President and Chief Executive Officer of the Apollo Theater Foundation Jonelle Procope; and economist and China expert Dan Rosen.

Click here to read Lilith Magazine's feature profile on Ms. Kurlander, which focuses on her success in building the All Stars Project and shares some of the formative experiences that helped Kurlander develop her commitment to community activism.

Other Business Projects
In the early 1990s, Ms. Kurlander raised investment capital to found a new company, Performance of a Lifetime, which provides performance-based training to corporate professionals. The company now serves dozens of corporate clients worldwide. In 2003, Ms. Kurlander served as executive producer for the independent film, Nothing Really Happens (Memories of Aging Strippers), which garnered four film festival awards.

Ms. Kurlander holds a BA in Theater and Business from SUNY Empire State. She is a cyclist, runner, tennis player; and has recently taken up golf and banjo. Ms. Kurlander has two cats: Wiggy, a.k.a. Wiggles, (who is named after Ludwig Wittgenstein) and Pickles (who is named after Wiggles). Ms. Kurlander resides in New York City's Greenwich Village.