Listed below are a number of the many Black Historical past Month-centric occasions occurring all through town this February.
Artwork
“Continuum: Over 100 Years of Black Artwork”
ACA Galleries—173 Tenth Avenue, Manhattan (Chelsea)
By way of March 7. Numerous instances.
The most recent exhibition from the influential artwork establishment options work, drawings and sculptures by African American artists from the nineteenth century to the current. Works by Romare Bearden, Elizabeth Catlett, Allan Crite, Robert Colescott, Robert Scott Duncanson, Clementine Hunter, Paul Keene, Jacob Lawrence, Norman Lewis, Richard Mayhew, Charles Ethan Porter, Religion Ringgold, Augusta Savage, Henry O. Tanner, Bob Thompson and Charles White, amongst others, might be on view. Work by Edward Mitchell Bannister — the primary African American artist to obtain a nationwide award (on the 1876 Philadelphia Centennial Exposition), might be a spotlight of the present.
The gallery, which solely represented Ringgold for many years, has been identified to showcase numerous artists throughout a wide range of disciplines.
“By that includes works that span practically a century, this presentation provides a glimpse into creative excellence, resilience, and innovation,” ACA Galleries representatives stated. “The present invitations viewers to think about the enduring affect of those artists inside the broader historical past of American artwork.”
Free.
Eats
“An Night Celebrating Black Culinary Heritage”
Platform by the James Beard Basis — Market 57, 25 eleventh Ave., Manhattan (Chelsea)
Mon. Feb. 23. 6:30-9:30 p.m.
Cooks Omar Tate and Cybille St.Aude-Tate, of Philadelphia’s Honeysuckle, will discover Black culinary heritage, storytelling and the cultural preservation of meals throughout a feast at Platform, the James Beard Basis’s present kitchen, occasion area, and academic hub.
The husband-and-wife group will draw on their roots with a menu highlighting fermentation, ancestral methods and substances sourced from Black farmers, regional producers and their very own farm in Pipersville, Pennsylvania.
Omar Tate, often known as an artist, was awarded a grant by The Pew Middle for Arts & Heritage in December. “My apply is an invite to recollect in a different way, viewing the meal as a starting—a web site of reflection, connection, and transformation—moderately than simply an finish product,” he stated.
Tickets begin at $185.
Theater
“Apollo Expertise Tour”
The Apollo Levels at The Victoria — 233 West one hundred and twenty fifth St., third Flooring, Manhattan (Harlem)
Ongoing. Numerous instances.
The historic leisure mecca is at present present process an enormous overhaul to be unveiled later this yr, however resident historian Billy Mitchell remains to be conducting his interactive tour showcasing the world well-known Harlem landmark.
After going via the historical past of the venue, together with its segregated previous and transformation to Black leisure incubator, the 75-year-old Bronx native, often known as “Mr. Apollo,” takes guests on a private journey from his impoverished childhood to an opportunity encounter to doing odd-end jobs as an errand boy for the “stars or tomorrow”: Motown Data superstars resembling Smokey Robinson, The Temptations, Stevie Surprise and Jackson 5 earlier than their meteoric successes.
“I’m very protecting of the Apollo Theater… We’re a Black group, unapologetically Black. We’re who we’re, and that’s the fantastic thing about it. It’s all concerning the tradition,” Mitchell shared just lately as he supplied his distinctive behind-the-scenes insights. “With a whole lot of us that work right here, we all know who we’re and that’s why I’ve been giving companies to the theater on and off for 60 years.”
Tickets are $17 per particular person.
Free
“Ailey Extension”
The Whitney Museum of American Artwork — 99 Gansevoort St., Manhattan (Meatpacking District)
Fridays. 5–10 p.m.
Acclaimed choreographer Matthew Johnson Harris, whose credit embody 2023’s Tony Award-winning revival of “Parade,” kicks off a month-long sequence of beginner-friendly pop-up dance lessons with Hip Hop Cardio on Feb. 6. All through the month, different Ailey Extension instructors will lead a bunch the place all ages and talent ranges are welcome. A dance get together will observe within the museum foyer.
Free.
Free
“Studio Sundays”
Studio Museum in Harlem—144 West one hundred and twenty fifth St., Manhattan (Harlem)
Sundays. 11 a.m. – 6 p.m.
After seven years of labor, the Harlem gem “the place Black artwork lives” reopened final November in a smooth, trendy constructing that boasts seven flooring together with a rooftop terrace and an inside “stoop.”
A spotlight among the many new displays is “From the Studio: Fifty-Eight Years of Artists in Residence.” The presentation options greater than 130 new works by greater than 100 alumni of the museum’s residency program.
“The phrase studio in our identify comes from the truth that it has been a part of our mission since our founding on this program, since our first yr of existence, to have area for artists to work in our constructing alongside our group in neighborhood and in dialogue with each other,” Chief Program Officer Natasha L. Logan stated. “So our studio program has change into a significant tenet of who we’re, and has actually been kind of a lightweight put up for artists of African descent working at this time. We usually provide the residencies to about three artists a yr.”
Though a rep famous the museum celebrates Black Historical past Month year-round, the “Studio Sundays” programming additionally features a 30-minute story time celebrating books by Black youngsters’s e book authors and illustrators, drop-in art-making workshops to create artwork impressed by exhibitions and 15-minute excursions led by museum educators.
Free.
Music
“Songs from the Harlem Renaissance”
Baruch Performing Arts Middle — 55 Lexington Ave., Manhattan (Flatiron)
Feb. 10. 7 p.m.
Classical music wunderkind Joseph Parrish returns with a live performance celebrating Harlem’s arts and tradition scene in the course of the Nineteen Twenties and Nineteen Thirties. Accompanied by pianist Amir Farid, the Juilliard-trained opera singer will breathe new life into works by Margaret Bonds, Harry T. Burleigh, Undine Smith Moore, Corridor Johnson, Moses Hogan and others, with texts by Langston Hughes, Paul Laurence Dunbar, James Weldon Johnson, Claude McKay, Georgia Douglas Johnson, Mari Evans and Countee Cullen, amongst others.
Tickets are $35.
