A Lot of Cool Inside/Outside Creative Happenings in the Bronx ...
So much of it is FREE! Check it out ...
Longwood Art Gallery Exhibit
The photo above is from a moving, engaging exhibit that opened at Longwood Art Gallery (run by Bronx Council on the Arts) called Black Shedding(s). It is “a group exhibition where each artist's work comes together to tell a collective story. …. Through visual art, sound production, literary reflections, and educational resources, the viewer is invited into their own contemplation and conversation about diverse quests for liberatory transformation.” I was able to go to the opening tonight but I don’t have time to share more. I’ll do that next week! The exhibit goes on through July 10. More info here.
Great Outdoors
There continues to be a load of cool creative happenings going on outdoors this month and throughout the summer. Here are a bunch of happenings in the next couple of weeks.
MUSIC
The New York Philharmonic performs Tuesday, June 11 in Van Cortlandt Park from 8 to 10 PM. FREE.
Next Friday, June 7, at 6:30 PM, The Van Cortlandt House Museum in Van Cortlandt Park features a FREE live concert connecting music and poetry. Cornelius Eady has “set his poetry to song” with the Cornelius Eady Group. A National Book Award winner and Pulitzer prize nominated poet, Eady's songs tell the story of passing time, the Black American experience and the blues in the style of Folk & Americana music.
New York Botanical Garden’s new art/nature show is “Wonderland: Curious Nature,” (ends Oct. 27) with “sights, settings, and scents of the classic story of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.”
Thanks to Bronx Arts Ensemble Lots, there are several outdoor events at Pelham Bay Park music-wise this summer, beginning Friday, June 14 from 7 to 8 PM, with The Jenn Jade 5. All the info here.
Next Friday, June 7, at 6:30 PM, The Van Cortlandt House Museum in Van Cortlandt Park features a FREE live concert connecting music and poetry. Cornelius Eady has “set his poetry to song” with the Cornelius Eady Group. A National Book Award winner and Pulitzer prize nominated poet, Eady's songs tell the story of passing time, the Black American experience and the blues in the style of Folk & Americana music.
BOOK FESTIVAL
Andrew Boryga, with his first book, “Victim,” at The Lit. Bar in Mott Haven a few months ago, right before he did a reading there. (Photo by Andrew Boryga) The Bronx nonprofit book organization, “The Bronx is Reading,” is having its 7th annual Bronx Book Festival this weekend June 7 through June 9 featuring all kinds of events. There’s a lot going on so start out here re: Saturday, the main day, in Fordham Plaza, where authors, including renowned author Colson Whitehood will be in conversation with Cree Myles. Andrew Boryga (in photo above), who grew up in Bedford Park, and whose first novel, “Victim,” came out a few months ago, will also be there. I just finished reading that book. It is excellent and I highly recommend it (as do friends who have read it). And the New York Times gave it a phenomenal review! So, go here to learn more about Saturday’s happenings, and here and here for Thursday and Friday.
A VERY ARTSY PARADE
Every year, The Point puts on the Hunts Point Fish Parade & Arts Festival. This year’s is this Saturday, June 8, from 12 to 4 PM. It is “an annual procession through Hunts Point connecting the community to the Bronx River. Like shoaling fish, the community marches together in a family-friendly, vibrant celebration. The parade’s vibe combines activism, joy, and community building. Participants often use banners, costumes, and puppets representing marine life.” You can also sign up to take part in the actual parade here at bottom of their web page.
Dance
The Bronx Council on the Arts hosts its final show for its spring performance series, BX Expressions, with Wabafu Garifuna Dance Theatre at Pelham Bay Park on Saturday, June 8 from 1 to 3 PM. The Indigenous Afro-Caribbean drum and dance group “is dedicated to preserving and sharing the rich Garifuna culture nationwide through music, song, and dance. More details here. FREE.
If you’re up for dancing this coming Friday, June 7 while being in the midst of a big art show, go to Bronx Museum which features DJ Ultra Violet and the band Uptown Vinyl Supreme. It’s from 6 to 9 PM and it’s FREE. More info here.
BAAD! (Bronx Acaademy for Arts & Dance) in Westchester Square this Saturday, June 8 at 8 PM, presents “Out Like That! Dance Compilation,” featuring “NYC choreographers push[ing] the boundaries of artistic expression with a series of original dance performances.” Tickets here.
Photography
Derfner Judaica Museum in Riverdale has an excellent photo exhibit through July 31: “Leonard Nones: Essential Workers,” features Nones’s portraits of staff on RiverSpring Living’s Riverdale campus (also known as The Hebrew Home). “The series of 18 archival inkjet prints are tributes to the strength, resilience, and compassion of all the people who work with the Hebrew Home’s residents.” Here is one of the photos from the exhibit and you can see several more here by Nones, who is a resident of RiverSpring Living.
At the Bronx Documentary Center in Melrose, photographer Juanita Escobar’s exhibit, “Orinoco - Frontera de agua - (Water Border)" is a visual and literary essay featuring various stories and voices from those who have forged a life in this stateless area near the Orinoco River border between Colombia and Venezuela.” The exhibit ends on June 9. More info here.
Also at BDC, on Tuesday, June 11 at 6:30 PM is an Artist Talk with documentary photographer and film maker Michael O. Snyder about "The Queens of Queen City,” which is his “project exploring the courage, risks, and repercussions of openly expressing LGBTQ identities in rural, conservative America.”
Art Exhibits
En Foco has its opening for Translucent Tethers: 2024 Fellowship Exhibition on Thursday, June 13 from 5 to 8 PM, featuring “the work of 10 early-career photographers of color selected for the prestigious En Foco Photography Fellowship, now in its ninth year.” More info and RSVP here.
New York Botanical Garden’s new art/nature show is “Wonderland: Curious Nature,” (ends Oct. 27) with “sights, settings, and scents of the classic story of “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.”
The Bronx Museum’s Part II of its biennial is on through June 16. It’s always FREE.
Gallery 505 in Riverdale is currently showing “Color of an Independence,” by Jose-Luis Tejeda. Exhibit is on until June 28.
Bronx River Art Center has a FREE group exhibit, “NEVER WAIT!/¡NUNCA ESPERES!” through June 8.
A Bit Beyond the Bronx
Lots of FREE films in Inwood Hill Park — just across the Bronx Border — this summer. All the info right here.
On Friday, June 14, 7 to 9 PM, Blue Door Art Center in downtown Yonkers there is a preview and celebration of “Trio,” works made at the David E. Rockefeller Creative Arts Center by Blue Door Art Center Artists-in-Residence: Susan MacMurdy, Amanda Lynne, and Pradeep Gupta.” More info here.
At the Riverfront Art Gallery, a beautiful space to see art at the Yonkers Public Library, in downtown Yonkers, will be “Radical Joy,” an exhibition that “features queer-identified artists whose work is centered around the radical act of expressing queer joy.” It’s FREE opening will be on Saturday, June 15, from 2 to 5 PM with refreshments. More info here.
Theatre
Riverdale Children’s Theatre (RCT), puts on excellent shows and has won all kinds of awards. You can check out details for “Rent,” this weekend at the College of Mount Saint Vincent in Riverdale through June 9.
Classes/Programs/Events for Kids & Adults
Every Saturday from 2 to 4 PM, BronxArtSpace, on 700 Manida St., provides FREE art classes for all ages, which include drawing, painting, collage and flip-book animation.
Also open to all ages, is “Sing With Us!,” weekly Monday night singing classes through June 17 for adults and school-age kids from 5:30 to 6:30 PM, (except Memorial Day) at Bronx Music Heritage Center. For more info go to @bxmusic on Facebook and Instagram or email lmolde@whedco.org.
Great interactive exhibits and programs at the relatively new Bronx Children’s Museum.
Bronx River Art Center, on East Tremont Avenue, provides children’s and teen art classes.
Blue Door Arts Center in downtown Yonkers has a FREE workshop that features many FREE kids’ and teens’ art workshops.
Through its Youth Photo League, Bronx Documentary Center in Melrose offers a “FREE after-school and summer documentary photography programs [that] teach[es] middle and high school Bronx students to use photography, writing, and research to explore social justice issues and prepare them for college and future careers.”
Every summer and fall/spring season, Mind-Builders Creative Arts Center in Wakefield (northeast Bronx near 2/5 trains) offers a number of FREE art programs for kids and teens in addition to public performances, workshops and presentations.
Blue Door Arts Center in downtown Yonkers has a FREE workshop that features many FREE kids’ and teens’ art workshops.
Through its Youth Photo League, Bronx Documentary Center in Melrose offers a “FREE after-school and summer documentary photography programs [that] teach[es] middle and high school Bronx students to use photography, writing, and research to explore social justice issues and prepare them for college and future careers.”
OK, everyone, have a great weekend!