In 2001, late singer and painter Tony Bennett and his wife, Susan Benedetto, helped open a public high school in New York for students who wanted to pursue the arts alongside their academic studies. It began in temporary quarters with space for 250 students. Twenty-five years later, the Frank Sinatra School of the Arts in Astoria, Queens, has specialist studios, theatres, a film lab and a concert hall where students can perform and screen their work. The school was named after Frank Sinatra, Bennett’s friend and fellow singer. According to the school’s official website , the idea began in 1999, when Bennett and Benedetto, a former public school teacher, set out to create a public high school that combined serious arts training with a strong academic curriculum.
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