The Bronx Has a Lot of Good Stuff Goin' On!
Live concerts, photo and art exhibits, dance, theatre and more ...
Hey Everyone!
I can’t, and won’t, take up more than like 30 seconds of your time before I get to the fun stuff. I’m leading this issue with a brief request: To keep Art All Around Us going — and GROWING — I need your support in whatever way you are able. First, you can spread the word about it to anyone you know — family, friends, co-workers, etc. Just send them this link: artallaroundus.substack.com or just click this button:
And if you can afford it, please consider becoming a paid subscriber. (And thanks a TON to those of you who already do!) This work takes up more than half of my time, and to make it possible for me to stay at it, I need those of you who enjoy Art All Around Us, and can afford it, to consider financially supporting my effort to share all the wonderful, creative and growing arts happenings with Bronxites (and those beyond). This one-stop arts resource does not exist anywhere else!
Thanks to everyone for whatever you are able to do! OK, let’s get to the fun stuff …
Photo Exhibits
The exhibit of long-time Bronx photographer and filmmaker Edwin Pagán, “Los Inocentes (The Innocents),” appears on a fence in Van Cortlandt Park (on Broadway) and the outdoor reception for it is this Saturday, June 15 at 4 PM. Van Cortlandt Park is huge (the city’s third largest!) but you can find your way to the event site by just plugging 5920 Broadway, Bronx into your phone.
Pagán’s Los Inocentes (The Innocents) “is a documentary photo essay 35-years in-the-making that focuses on the resiliency of children who live in urban communities in less-than-ideal circumstances, but who prevail and thrive beyond their environments in the South Bronx, Spanish Harlem (El Barrio), and the Lower East Side (Loisaida).”
The exhibit is presented by Photoville and The Bronx Historical Society. More info at: bronxdna.nyc.
Design Trust for Public Space and the Bronx Council on the Arts (BCA) present the exhibition NYCHA’s Flowers by Bronx photographer and Design Trust’s Photo Urbanism Fellow Latricia Morgan. The opening reception is this coming Tuesday, June 18, from 6 to 8 PM at BCA Headquarters (2700 East Tremont Ave, Bronx).
There are several artist and book talks at the Bronx Documentary Center in the coming days and weeks.
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.” You can see several of the photos here by Nones, who is a resident of RiverSpring Living.
Art Exhibits/Happenings
Next weekend, on Saturday, June 22 from 3 to 7 PM, the Bronx River Art Center’s Artist Studio Program will have an open studios gathering for all who’d like to visit. Participating artists are Maya Ciarrocchi, Michele Brody, David Cavaliero, Lili Chin, Aurelio del Muro, and Mieyoshi Ragernoir. Light refreshments, conversation and art for all!
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 photo below, of Nikesha Breezes work, is from a moving, engaging group 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 and it was excellent. I really recommend checking it out. The exhibit goes on through July 10. More info here. Photo of some of Nikesha Breeze’s work below.
En Foco has its opening for Translucent Tethers: 2024 Fellowship Exhibition tonight, 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.” The exhibit is on through July 24. More info here.
Click here for art exhibits at Wave Hill in Riverdale through August.
The Bronx Museum’s Part II of its biennial ends this Sunday June 16. FREE. (Photo of part of the exhibit below.) For more details, click here.
Speaking of the Bronx Museum, there are several art workshops and conversations happening this month there. Check ‘em out.
Theatre & Dance
BAAD! (Bronx Academy of Arts & Dance) has several upcoming performances. This Thursday, June 13 they present the “The Bathroom Play,” at 8 PM. It’s $10. And on Saturday, June 15 for FREE, you can go to the the “BAAD! Mini Ball 2024” at 5 PM. Click here for what’s coming up after these.
From June 20 to June 29, Pregones Theatre in the South Bronx (on Walton Ave. just south of East 150th Street) presents a limited workshop production of a drag origins story, “Parrots of the Pagoda,” inspired by the life and works of Johnny Rodríguez, standout musician, pioneering drag artist and empresario, owner of legendary El Cotorrito club in Puerto Rico, and brother to Tito “El Inolvidable” Rodríguez. The play is written and directed by Jorge B. Merced. Tickets are $25 and $10 for seniors.
Music/Concerts
This Sunday, June 16, from 4 to 6 P.M Hostos Center for the Arts & Culture presents Juneteenth Celebration featuring dance, music, spoken word and celebration! FREE!
Bronx River Art Center presents the 21st Annual Bronx River Sounds Performing Arts Festival with live weekend concerts now through June 29. It’s “an incredible array of Latin, African American, and multicultural musical acts will be taking the stage on Friday and Saturday nights.”
Gary Axelbank’s most recent monthly Bronx Music Podcast at The Artist on City Island featured Johnny Seven and Mike Golden (who often play at An Beal Bocht in Riverdale). You can watch/listen to it here.
Thanks to the Bronx Arts Ensemble, 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.
There’s always great live music and performances at An Beal Bocht in Riverdale. The listing on their website is out-of-date at the moment, but they are on Facebook too. Every Monday night they have open mics at 8:30 PM, hosted by Eric Sullivan. And Writers/Poetry Night with Melinda Wilson & Erin Lynn is the second nd Wednesday of every month.
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, at 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.
Classes/Programs/Events for All Ages!
The brand new, and stunning, Bronx Music Hall on East 162nd Street (a few blocks east of the Grand Concourse) just launched a new website and it highlights its offerings of low-cost music classes and workshop to all ages.
Adults and kids can gather at Wave Hill in Riverdale this Saturday, June 16, from 10 Am to 1 PM to make a family tree for Father’s Day.
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 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.
My Contact Info, Etc.
My personal IG with my photos and artwork is: @jordanmossbx. Same address with Threads.
Speaking of which, I’ll soon be creating a separate email address for Art All Around Us. In the meantime, you can email me info/questions at jordanmossbx@gmail.com.
Have a great weekend everyone!