Danny Simmons is the Vice-Chairman and Co-founder of Rush Philanthropic Arts Foundation, a New York based foundation dedicated to providing disadvantaged urban youth with significant exposure and access to the arts, as well as providing exhibition opportunities to under-represented artists and artists of color. Mr. Simmons is also the President of the Rush Arts Gallery, Executive Producer of Def Poetry Jam, the owner of the Corridor Gallery, and member of the executive boards of the Brooklyn Museum, the Brooklyn Public Library, and the Brooklyn Academy of Music. He is also an accomplished painter and curator whose work has been shown across the country. Mr. Simmons holds an M.A. in Public Finance from Long Island University and studied social work as undergraduate at New York University.