Join us in celebrating our 36th annual Making a Difference Through the Arts Awards,

to be presented at the CITYarts Spreading Light, Instilling Hope Gala.

Thursday, June 5th, 2025

6:00-9:00pm

Metropolitan Pavilion - 125 W 18th St. New York, NY 10011

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Honorees

We will be honoring three inspiring individuals with our Making a Difference Through the Arts Awards. These changemakers have made a significant impact on the arts, education, and in people's lives in our city and abroad. They spread light, instill hope, and make our world a better place!

Rabbi Yehuda Sarna

Rabbi Yehuda Sarna serves as the Executive Director of the Bronfman Center for Jewish Student Life at New York University and University Chaplain. He is the Hannah and Ed Low Professor for Community-Engaged Scholarship at the NYU Center for the Study of Antisemitism. He teaches on the faculty of NYU Abu Dhabi and of the Robert F. Wagner School of Public Service, co-directing the MA/MPA program in Jewish Communal Leadership.

He is the editor of The Koren Shabbat Evening Siddur (2011), the Orthodox Forum Series: Toward a Jewish Perspective on Culture (2013) and New Paradigms for North American Jewry (2019, 2020). Sarna is currently pursuing his doctorate in Education, Leadership and Innovation at NYU Steinhardt, writing on evidence-based strategies for reducing harassment on the basis of national origin at American universities.

Having served as the inaugural Chief Rabbi of the Moses Ben Maimon Synagogue of the Abrahamic Family House in Abu Dhabi, UAE, Sarna continues as its Senior Religious Advisor.

Loay Alshareef

Loay Alshareef is a linguist and educator based in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, with a profound passion for modern and ancient Semitic languages, particularly Arabic, Hebrew, and Syriac.

Born and raised in Saudi Arabia with a religious Muslim background, Alshareef was initially exposed to negative views about Jews and Israel, but his perspective began to shift during his studies in France, where he lived with a Jewish host family.

This experience challenged and ultimately transformed his views, inspiring him to actively counter antisemitic disinformation and support initiatives like the Abraham Accords.

Since 2012, Alshareef has been creating and producing educational content on YouTube, focusing on language, history, and cultural understanding. He aims to leverage his deep knowledge of Judeo-Arabic heritage to foster better relations between Arabs and Jews, contributing to a future of mutual respect and cooperation. Alshareef holds a Master’s degree in Software Engineering from Penn State.

Pioneering New York gallerist and philanthropist to be unveiled soon.

Master of Ceremonies

We are delighted to welcome ABC7NY Anchor David Novarro as Master of Ceremony for the CITYarts Spreading Light, Instilling Hope Gala!

Emmy Award-winning journalist David Novarro anchors Eyewitness News at Noon and Eyewitness News at 4:00 p.m. He returned to the Eyewitness News Team in December 2010.

A native of Manhattan's Lower East Side and Queens, Novarro started his career with Eyewitness News as a college intern and rose through the ranks to become a reporter. He was later named New Jersey Bureau correspondent and became anchor of Eyewitness News Sunday Morning.

For Eyewitness News, Novarro has covered such notable stories as the racial profiling case that led to the overhaul of the New Jersey State Police Department, terror cells operating in New York City and New Jersey and the first World Trade Center attack, landing a rare interview with blind Sheikh Omar Abdul-Rahman, convicted mastermind of the bombing.

He was awarded an Emmy for his reports on tenants held hostage in their Brooklyn apartment building by drug dealers who had turned their home into a crack house.

Novarro helped grow the Eyewitness News community affairs show "Tiempo," the first public affairs program dedicated to issues of interest to the Hispanic community to air in New York City. He is very proud of his Latino roots and works hard to better his community.

In 2000, David moved to Chicago to become anchor of WFLD-TV's morning newscast, and in 2007 he was tapped to anchor the station's new 10PM newscast. While in Chicago, he reported on Barack Obama's presidential campaign, with profiles on the then Senator and his family at their home. He anchored live coverage from Grant Park during Obama's historic election night victory. In 2010, Novarro was voted "Best Newscaster" in a Chicago radio poll. Shortly thereafter he returned to his journalistic roots in New York.

Novarro is a graduate of New York University. He is married and is the proud father of son Daniel.