UMEZ and LMCC Award 2019 UMAE Grantees
Photo courtesy of Harlem Swing Dance Society, 2019 UMEZ Arts Engagement Grantee
The Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone Development Corporation (UMEZ) and the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council (LMCC) are pleased to announce the second round of grants from the UMEZ Arts Engagement program. Designed as a two-year pilot initiative, LMCC regranted $400,000 in funds provided by UMEZ in the second round of support for cultural projects taking place Uptown. In total, 53 artists and smaller arts organizations are receiving grants of up to $10,000; representing a nearly 43% increase in funded projects.
Grantees represent a wide range of artistic disciplines and Upper Manhattan neighborhoods, from media in El Barrio to dance in West Harlem, and choral music in Inwood. Funded projects include an exhibit of textile works from Harlem Needle Arts, taking place in St. Nicholas and Jackie Robinson Parks; a series of concerts by the Washington Heights Chamber Orchestra at Fort Washington Collegiate Church; free public performances and workshops from Dances for a Variable Population; support for Film Works Alfresco, a popular program from Inwood Art Works; and a live music and comedy show from La Casa de la Herencia Puertorriqueña.
The list of 2019 UMEZ Arts Engagement grant awards are as follows:
Dance
Born Dancing, Inc., Spring 2019 Production
DanceBoissiere, The Empathy Project
Dances For a Variable Population, Revival 3: It’s About Time
General Mischief Dance Theatre , What If We
The Harlem Swing Dance Society, The Harlem Roots and Rhythm Urban Dance Festival
Kinesis Project, Inc., Breathing With Strangers
Matthew Westerby Dance Company, Inc., The Harlem Project
Ranardo-Domeico Grays/VISIONS Contemporary Ballet, Traces
Media
African Diaspora Film Festival, Inc., Black Identity in America & Abroad: Continuing the Dialogue
Puerto Rican Institute for the Development of the Arts (PRIDA), Inc., PRIDA Presents
Multidisciplinary & Literature
Ben Arthur, Song.Writer
Gudrun Buhler, Anina Art Events
Creating Higher Ground, Higher Ground Festival
International Communications Association, The Race Aid Project
Inwood Art Works, Film Works Alfresco
The Jazz Drama Program, Intergenerational Jazz Jam Sessions 2019
La Casa de la Herencia Cultural Puertorriqueña, Inc., La Casa’s Live Music and Comedy Show
NYC Kidsfest, The 14th Annual NYC Kidsfest
Pan American Musical Art Research, Inc., Latin American Cultural Week 2019
Word-Up Community Bookshop, Uptown Kid Lit
Music
ANDPLAY, Inc. andPlay (in) conversation
Ansonia Music Outreach, Phoenix Ensemble Concert Series
The Art Song Preservation Society of New York, Spring Into Art Song Festival of New York 2019
Candice Hoyes and Noah Jackson, On a Turquoise Cloud
Cornerstone Chorale, Inc., Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass
East Winds, Inc., Japanese Music Concert Series
Ekmeles, Inc., Ekmeles Spring in Upper Manhattan
Harlem Arts Alliance, The Evolution of the Blues
The Harlem Chamber Players, Inc., The Harlem Chamber Players 2019 Season
Harlem Presents, Inc., The Harlem Opera Festival
JACK Music Inc., JACK Quartet Concert
Los Pleneros de la 21, Cultural Legacy Initiative Project 2019
Musica de Camara, Inc., Musica de Camara’s 39th Anniversary Concert
New York Scandia Symphony, The Scandinavian Music Festival 2019
Paracademia Center, Inc., Make Music Harlem’s Fifth Anniversary
Christine Pulliam Melamed, The Three Billy Goats Gruff: A Children’s Opera
TAK Ensemble, Impossible Tasks
Tenth Intervention, Colectivo: Music from Cuba and New York
Washington Heights Chamber Orchestra, Winter-Spring Concerts 2019
Theater
American Slavery Project, The American Slavery Project’s Reading Series: “Africa, Bondage, Crow”
Blackberry Productions, MY HARLEM ‘TIS OF THEE
Vienna Carroll, Shallow Brown: Thessalonia and the Free Sailor
The El Barrio Theatre Group, Inc., The Mambo Cafe
UP Theater Company, St. Peter’s Foot
Visual Art
Andrea Arroyo, EmPOWER!
William Daniels, Harlem Textile Art Expo
Dyckman Farmhouse Museum Alliance, Revealing Hidden Histories Community Engagement Initiative
Felipe Galindo, Washington: Back in NYC
Carlos Gonzalez, Personae II
Harlem Needle Arts, Inc., We the People | Distrupting Silence
Kindred Arts, All Power to All People
Susan Stair, Roots on Fire
Suprina Troche, Infinity
For further information on these presentations, please check the LMCC website, where performance schedules are updated monthly.
2019 UMEZ Arts Engagement Jurors:
Joyce Adewumi, Founder, New York African Chorus Ensemble
Bob Braswell, Co-Founder and Managing Director, People’s Theatre Project
Anna Glass, Executive Director, Dance Theatre of Harlem
Abdel Salaam, Executive Artistic Director/Choreographer, Forces of Nature Dance Theatre
Karen Sander, Director of Public Programs, The Graduate Center, City University of New York
Jill Sternheimer, Producer, Public Programming, Lincoln Center
Susanna Temkin, Curator, El Museo del Barrio