UMEZ Awards Hi-ARTS Three-Year Capacity Building Grant

What is Here is Open: Selections from the Treasures in the Trash Collection; Photographer - Stan Narten/Hunter East Harlem Gallery

NEW YORK, NEW YORK – In August 2019, Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone (UMEZ) awarded a three-year grant to Hi-ARTS (formerly known as the Hip-Hop Theater Festival) in the amount of $250,000 to support capacity building. Hi-ARTS is a multi-arts hub that provides forums for artists and audiences to come together in exploration of culture, sexuality, class, race, politics, and identity to create art of various mediums. Hi-ARTS began as the annual Hip-Hop Theater Festival in 2000 and broadened its mission in 2011 to become Hi-ARTS. Under the guidance of Executive Director Raymond Codrington, and with a permanent home at El Barrio’s Artspace PS 109 in East Harlem, Hi-ARTS offers a wide range of events, including live theater, visual art, and educational programs, to critical acclaim and enthusiastic audiences.  

“We are excited to support the sustainability of arts and cultural organizations such as Hi-ARTS. This grant will help them build capacity and create jobs in East Harlem,” said Blair M. Duncan, president and CEO of UMEZ. “Cultural grantmaking is an important part of our broader mission to support economic revitalization of Upper Manhattan.”

The UMEZ grant will be used to execute strategies that build and diversify Hi-ARTS’ contributed income base, attract new audiences, and cultivate new individual donors and board members. UMEZ funding will enable Hi-ARTS to hire new staff members and upgrade development and marketing materials, including Hi-ARTS’ website. In helping fund their capacity building needs, UMEZ is proud to support Hi-ARTS as they deepen their engagement with the East Harlem community and beyond.

“The Capacity Grant will help us fill critical positions in development and marketing. The addition of these staff members creates new opportunities for organizational growth as well as the expansion of our artistic and community practice. We are excited about the future and thank UMEZ for the support.”

- Raymond Codrington, executive director of Hi-ARTS

To learn more about Hi-ARTS’ mission and various programs, click here.

UMEZ’s mission is to sustain the economic revitalization of all communities in Upper Manhattan through job creation, corporate alliances, strategic investments, and small business assistance. UMEZ facilitates economic development in the neighborhoods of Central, West, and East Harlem; Washington Heights; and Inwood.