Celebration & Pathway Awards

DreamYard — Celebration & Pathway Awards

Join us on May 19, 2026 for our Annual Celebration at the Edison Ballroom!

6:30 | COCKTAIL RECEPTION 7:30 | DINNER PROGRAM

THE EDISON BALLROOM | 240 W 47TH ST, NEW YORK, NY

In keeping with our core value of “create”, we’re calling this year’s event Create! At the Edison. We’ll come together and create community, create art, and most importantly, empower our young people to create change in the world.

We are thrilled to be honoring the incredible Kristen Anderson-Lopez, Bronx Pro Group, and The Bronx Defenders for their dedication to the Bronx and to DreamYard. It’s also going to be an especially emotional and joyful evening as we raise a glass to our co-founders, Jason Duchin and Tim Lord. Join us in celebrating their legacy as they prepare to hand the reins over to the next generation of leadership!

To pay by check or wire transfer (preferred), or to learn more about how you can support DreamYard, contact Reynaldi Lindner Lolong, Director of Development.

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HONOREES

KRISTEN ANDERSON-LOPEZ is an Oscar, Grammy, and Emmy award-winning musical storyteller. A co-creator of Disney’s animated features Frozen, Frozen 2 and Pixar’s Coco, Kristen and her husband took home Academy Awards for “Let It Go” and “Remember Me” with a nomination for “Into The Unknown.” Television projects include Marvel’s WandaVision and Agatha All Along, Hulu’s original musical series Up Here, The Comedians, The Wonder Pets and We The People produced by Barack and Michele Obama for Netflix. Broadway credits include a Broadway adaptation of Frozen and In Transit, the first-ever all a cappella musical on Broadway. Anderson-Lopez co-wrote Finding Nemo the Musical, running 5-7 times a day at Disney World since 2006, as well as songs for Disney’s 2011 Winnie the Pooh. Anderson-Lopez’s current projects include the Broadway-bound musical adaptation of The Princess Bride and Frozen 3. A recipient of the BMI Harrington Award and the 2014 Lily Award, Anderson-Lopez serves on the Council for the Dramatists Guild and on the Advisory Board for the Brooklyn Children’s Theatre. She is a graduate of Williams College and former DreamYard teaching artist, and now resides in Brooklyn with her family.

Bronx Pro Group is a women owned, neighborhood-based firm dedicated to community development through affordable housing investments. Bronx Pro’s mission is to develop high quality affordable housing that is sustainable and builds thriving communities. Since 1998, Bronx Pro has completed the development of over 3,600 affordable housing units along with commercial and community spaces, including the DreamYard Art Center and the DreamYard Design Center. The Bronx Pro portfolio is primarily owned by the Magistro family who is proud to build beautiful homes as well as create permanent employment opportunities through their participation in New York City affordable housing programs.

The Bronx Defenders was founded on a simple premise – that our job is to reimagine what a public defender office can, and should do, for the people we represent. As public defenders, we know that the systems we fight are deeply rooted in racism, surveillance, and control. That’s why our work extends beyond the courtroom. We engage in community organizing, legislative advocacy, and proactive litigation, working with the people we represent to fight for structural change. Since opening our doors in 1997, we have grown into an office serving nearly 20,000 Bronx residents each year. Every day, we confront and challenge the oppressive legal systems that criminalize poverty, separate families, and systematically target Black, Latine, immigrant, and low-income New Yorkers.

JUVAL O. SCOTT is the executive director of The Bronx Defenders, a public defender nonprofit in the Bronx representing nearly 20,000 people each year in criminal, civil, family, and immigration courts. Prior to The Bronx Defenders, she was the Director of the National Sentencing Resource Counsel, was appointed by the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals as the Federal Public Defender for the Western District of Virginia, and served as an assistant federal public defender in Wisconsin and Indiana. She is a highly sought after presenter who has trained criminal defense attorneys throughout the country and has published articles on the nexus of race and the criminal legal system.

Juval received her law degree from the Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law, and she obtained her Bachelor of Science in Biology with a minor in Chemistry from Xavier University of Louisiana. She regularly teaches at local CJA panel trainings and programs sponsored by the Defender Services Office Training Division, as well as The National Criminal Defense College, National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and their state affiliates, and other organizations dedicated to criminal legal and reform issues.

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PATHWAY SPONSOR
Andy Berndt

ARTISTIC SPONSOR
Judy and Jamie Dimon, Richard Ramsden, Jin Roy Ryu

COMMUNITY SPONSOR
Jody Arnhold, Stephan Kiratsous, Samantha Magtistro, Michael Meyers, Lori Oscher, Elizabeth Shah-Hosseini, Landon Slane, Peter Thoren

PROGRAM SPONSOR
Michael Blake, Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg & Ed Schlossberg, Neil Falcone, Alison Lord, Patricia Perez, Michael Springer

SALON SPONSOR
Denyse Clancy, Jennifer DuBrul, Dana DiPrima, Zauderer Trust, Chris Howe, Bob Hughes, Bill Miller, Julie North, Hearst, Jeffrey Seller, Abbot (Abby) Stranahan, Zauderer Trust

CELEBRATION SUPPORTERS
Avante Contracting, Paul Bennett, Nick Brustin, Ken Bunt, Matthew Carpenter, Jessica Cherepski, Curtis and Ginsberg Architects LLP, Neil Falcone, Leslie Gimbel, Ben Goodkind, Michael Gordon, Monek Harris, Andrea Kretchmer and Xenolith Partners, Jeffery Levine, Kristen Lopez, Charlie Lord, Deirdre Lord and Alex Wright, Winston Lord, Tom MacDougall, Jim Manly, Sarah Meister, Yael Melamede, Alexa Melendez, Edward Militti, Andrea Misserian, Chris Mundy, Esther Newburgh, Marina and Thomas Purcell, Bonnie Roberts, Carly Roney, Jane Silverman, Glyn Vincent, Renee Watson, WME