UNCF (United Negro College Fund) and BET Networks announced today that the actor and comedian Anthony Anderson, a star of the new NBC sit-com Guys With Kids, will emcee the 34thedition of UNCF An Evening of Stars® Educating our Future Presented by Target.
UNCF will be partnering with BET to produce and air the televised variety shows that aims to focus public attention on America’s need for more African American college graduates and UNCF’s work getting students to and through college. UNCF An Evening of Stars® Educating our Future Presented by Target will be taped before a live audience on December 1, 2012 at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium and will air nationally in syndication and on the BET Network, Saturday, January 26 and Sunday, January 27, 2013 respectively.
The event will include several high profile stars that include Chaka Khan, Yolanda Adams, Charlie Wilson, Keyshia Cole, Trey Songz, Tyrese Gibson, Melanie Fiona, Eric Benet, Tracee Ellis Ross, Keenan Ivory Wayans and many more.
UNCF president and CEO Michael L. Lomax, Ph.D., said,
“UNCF is delighted that Anthony Anderson has agreed to make our cause his cause, introducing the stars who will grace the UNCF An Evening of Stars® stage, the music industry stars who will entertain the studio and TV audiences, and the ‘student stars’—the high achieving students who, thanks to UNCF, are getting the education they need to compete in the 21st century economy. The country is facing a crisis in African American education, and UNCF and BET are determined to do something about it.”
UNCF sits as the country’s largest and most effective minority education organization. It has supported the education of more than 60,000 students each year. UNCF’s largest scholarship program, the Gates Millennium Scholars Program, has a 90 percent graduation rate among its 13,000 low-income minority students, a significantly higher rate than the national college graduation rate.
Stephen Hill, President of Music and Specials Programming, BET Networks, commented,
“We are excited to again partner with UNCF on their annual show and we couldn’t ask for a more talented or better suited host than Anthony Anderson for UNCF An Evening Stars. Education has always been important to BET and we love that we get to put our time and talent where our heart is to produce this show.”
The upcoming event is the second time that UNCF and BET have partnered together. The program will have some of the biggest and most inspirational names in entertainment, education, politics and sports will help deliver the important message: Educating our future is our responsibility. Students will take their own “star turns,” sharing their moving and inspiring stories about how the education support they have received from UNCF has changed their lives. Together, stars and students will remind viewers that it is only with the assistance of UNCF and charitable donations that today’s students can become tomorrow’s leaders.
Tickets for the live taping of UNCF An Evening of Stars® Educating our Future Presented by Target will go on sale November 26 through Ticketmaster or online at ticketmaster.com.
This year’s show is made possible by Target, Presenting Sponsor of UNCF An Evening of Stars® ; National Sponsor McDonald’s, Official and Major Sponsors American Airlines, Wells Fargo, Buick, AT&T, the U.S Army and Anheuser-Busch; and weekend sponsor Caesars Entertainment.
