On behalf of myself and my father I'd like to thank everyone for the outpouring of love and affection we have experienced since mom's passing on March 8th. There's never been any doubt in my mind about the depth of love, affection and respect that her former students, associates, colleagues, personal friends and family have for her, but seeing the cards, letters and emails that we have received in the past weeks certainly brings it all into a very clear and precise picture of the place that she holds in the hearts of so many.

If you missed the Celebration that was held at the University of Tampa's Falk Theatre on Mother's Day please know that the historical retrospective videos presented as well as video of the various speakers are all posted on the web site here for you to review.

As you probably know we are establishing a scholarship / grant fund in her name, "The Anzia Fund”. Her dedication and encouragement of young aspiring pre professional performing artists was well known. It is hoped that this fund will be an appropriate continuation of her work.

If you have already contributed, let me take a moment here to thank you now. I can personally assure you that the funds will be utilized to assist truly talented and deserving young artists. As a contributor we will keep you posted on fund raising efforts and on the grant process. If you have not as of yet made a contribution, I ask that you please review the informational document and contributor form available here, and consider making a gift to the fund. We are not set up for online contributions so for now you will have to write a check and put it in the mail.

I can't think of a more fitting memorial to her than to have a well funded, on going scholarship program assisting the sort of young artists that she spent her life mentoring. We really don't want this to be a "one and done" project. To that end we would like to establish annual events that specifically raise monies for this fund. Fund guidelines call for the funds to be managed conservatively, never granting in one annual period more than 60% of the available funds. I hope that you will be able to help us achieve these goals.

If you have any questions, or would like additional information please feel free to contact me directly. If you would like to discuss hosting a fundraising event of any kind please contact me or one of the following; Susan Taylor Lennon, staylor.lennon@ut.edu; Richard Ploch, rap.acanthus@verizon.net, Val Hingson Knight, vhingson@verizon.net or Robin Pollara , robindugan@hotmail.com.

Once again, please accept my love and thanks to all of you for the outpouring of sympathy but more importantly the expressions of love for a truly remarkable woman.

Very best regards, Keith L Arsenault

To view The Anzia Fund eligibility and deadlines, or to make a contribution, click here.