Arts & Culture

Don’t be fooled by the mainstream media: Arts & Culture is alive in our borough and The Bronx has been at the forefront of arts and culture for decades and isn’t something new to the borough. We’ve been creating and exporting the arts in all its disciplines as long as our borough has been around. From the founding of Hip-hop to fashion designers and major entertainment artists along with the visual and literary arts, we’ve been doing it.

Kick Off LGBTQ Pride Month At The Old Bronx Courthouse This Friday With a Huge Celebration!

This Friday from 8PM to 11:30PM, join BAAD (Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance) in collaboration with No Longer Empty’s exhibition to kick off Pride month in what is being touted as the largest, “queer pride art and performance carnival The Bronx has yet seen”…along with Queer marriage vows being officiated for the first (and last) time at The Old Bronx Courthouse.

The Bronx has limited venues for the LGBTQ community to come together and this Friday may very well be the largest indoor gathering and event since The Warehouse off the Grand Concourse was open back in the 90’s.

The Old Bronx Courthouse is PACKED With Events For No Longer Empty This Weekend!

No Longer Empty’s exhibition, ‘When You Cut Into The Present The Future Leaks Out’ isn’t just about the great artwork on display but it is also about the community engagement via the many programs surrounding the exhibition and this weekend will not disappoint with FIVE events!

Holland Textiles Celebrates 1 Year Anniversary With Major Sale—And Food!

Tomorrow, Saturday May 23rd, the African textile museum-like store, Holland Textiles, is celebrating the 1 year opening of their first and ONLY store in the country (and fourth in the world after their London, France, and The Netherlands) by showing some major customer appreciation!

From 8AM – 10PM they will be open and offering up to 75% off on select fabrics and as many of you may know (who read our review several months ago) the African prints are of the utmost highest quality and there really is no other fabric store quite like it in The Bronx so this is sure to be a major deal for both new and loyal customers alike.

New Children’s Book Based On African Folktales Teaches An Important Lesson

Home to one of the largest African populations in New York City, The Bronx is replete with many residents hailing from many of the continent’s countries.

One particular individual—of Gambian descent and works in The Bronx—has written a children’s book with a strong lesson to be learned by both children and adults alike.

Meet Victoria Blain author and illustrator of ‘The ExtraOrdinary Chameleon’, a new African folktale inspired by the ones she grew up with.

Frida Kahlo Has Arrived In The Bronx at The New York Botanical Garden & You’re Going to Love It

Frida Kahlo has finally arrived in The Bronx.

Yesterday, we were treated to a special media preview for The New York Botanical Garden’s ‘Frida Kahlo: Art-Garden-Life’ exhibition—after 11 months of its announcement—and all that anticipation and build up was well worth the wait.

Wild Noise: The Most Extensive Visual Arts Exchange Between Cuba and The United States in Over 50 Years Coming To The Bronx Museum

Holly Block, Executive Director of The Bronx Museum, sent out a revised message this morning regarding The MAJOR art exchange between Cuba and The United States which will happen right here in The Bronx. It is the MOST extensive artistic experience of its kind between to the two countries in over 50 years and we couldn’t be happier that it’s happening right here in our own backyard.

Check out the full announcement:

This Thursday 5/14: “Cut Into the Past: Reclaiming Our Narratives” at the Old Bronx Borough Courthouse

As part of programming surrounding No Longer Empty’s exhibition at the Old Bronx Borough Courthouse, ‘When You Cut Into The Present The Future Leaks Out’, The New York Public Library’s ‘Community Oral History Program’, local community residents are invited to collect the oral histories of our neighborhoods of Melrose and Morrisania.

Once local residents are trained in interviewing our fellow friends, family members, neighbors and local residents and the interviews are completed, the results will be archived at the Melrose Public Library on Morris Avenue and 162nd Street as well as online for future generations to come.

National Endowment For The Arts Allocates $130k for The Arts; The Bronx Documentary Center & Pregones Among Recipients

When you split $130,000 among 6 cultural institutions, it may not sound like much, but every bit helps as funding, grants, and charitable donations become tougher to come by each year.

Thanks to Congressman José E Serrano, six local Bronx institutions will be able to either continue or provide additional programming.

Bronx Fashion Week To Benefit Children in Need

Hosted by La Bruja, this Saturday, May 9th, the event will include poetry readings and live entertainment. A percentage of the proceeds raised during the event will go to “Gift to Empower” a 501(c)(3)  (pending) organization which has helped over 4,000 Bronx children in need in the past 10 years, particularly those living in shelters, where they receive a backpack filled with school supplies for the new school year.

In the Bronx, Art Fills an Abandoned Neighborhood Landmark – Camera Obscura – Curbed NY

For a community that has only in recent years emerged from the fires, blight, and civic neglect that once scarred the South Bronx landscape, the courthouse’s reopening felt a bit like a homecoming. “It’s like they are seeing an old family member, long lost,” observed Regine Basha, who curated the exhibit for No Longer Empty. “This isn’t our building—it belongs to the community. We just set up the structures through which we could listen to the stories.”