Jazz and Afro-Latin music deserve their hard-earned places among this country’s great art forms. Yet all music and art holds special power and promise to bind communities, support spiritual uplift and advance social and political aims. Elitism of any form can dilute these functions. As composer, pianist and bandleader, and through his Afro Latin Jazz Alliance, Arturo O’Farrill has long sought to, as he says, “build a pueblo” around culture. Along with special guests including tap dancer Ayodele Casel, O’Farrill…

Combining music, theatre and imaginative foley i.e. beat boxer, The Renaissance EP takes you on an anthropological excavation through time and space to explore the power and legacy of a neighborhood that has been described as the epicenter of Black Culture and the Radical Black Imagination. Think A Prairie Home Companion flipped upside down into a juke joint with Nella Larsen and Langston Hughes in a cypher with a numbers runner, hip hop MC, Earl ‘Fatha’ Hines and Amos and…

Ballet Hispánico, America’s leading Latino dance organization, has been bringing individuals and communities together to celebrate and explore Latino cultures through dance for nearly 50 years. Whether dancing on stage, in school, or in the street, Ballet Hispánico creates a space where few institutions are breaking ground. The organization’s founder, National Medal of Arts recipient Tina Ramirez, sought to give voice to the Hispanic experience and break through stereotypes. Today, Ballet Hispánico is led by Eduardo Vilaro, an acclaimed choreographer…

Harlem Repertory Theatre’s production of the Tony Award Winning Musical, Pippin. The story of a young prince on his search for meaning and significance. The ensemble cast tells the story of Pippin, a young prince who longs to find passion and adventure in his life. To prove his loyalty to his distracted father, King Charles, Pippin goes to war. But when the Leading Player convinces the prince to fight tyranny, Pippin kills Charles and takes over the throne (oops! spoilers).

Ballet Hispánico, America’s leading Latino dance organization, has been bringing individuals and communities together to celebrate and explore Latino cultures through dance for nearly 50 years. Whether dancing on stage, in school, or in the street, Ballet Hispánico creates a space where few institutions are breaking ground. The organization’s founder, National Medal of Arts recipient Tina Ramirez, sought to give voice to the Hispanic experience and break through stereotypes. Today, Ballet Hispánico is led by Eduardo Vilaro, an acclaimed choreographer…

Uptown Soul Lounge is the revival of Harlem’s old jazz/soul ethos, and the birth of a new musical frontier. Launched in February of 2016, the series has made its name for bridging the gap between generations and forging Harlem’s most vital hotbed for the world’s best emerging talent in soul music.

Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am offers an artful and intimate meditation on the life and works of the legendary storyteller and Nobel prize-winner. From her childhood in the steel town of Lorain, Ohio to ‘70s-era book tours with Muhammad Ali, from the front lines with Angela Davis to her own riverfront writing room, Toni Morrison leads an assembly of her peers, critics and colleagues on an exploration of race, America, history and the human condition as seen through the…

Join for a conversation about the convening power of the barber shop and beauty salons in Harlem and Black communities throughout the country and around the world. Presented in partnership with BAM’s presentation of Barber Shop Chronicles by Nigerian-British playwright Inua Ellams, who weaves a rich tapestry of unfiltered stories about father-son relationships and black masculinity, set to an Afrobeat score.

Set in present-day Harlem, this holiday treasure is dramatized with CTH’s signature style of infusing classic works with an uptown flair. A Christmas Carol in Harlem places Ebenezer Scrooge as a real estate mogul who has made his fortune at the expense of others. Scrooge foregoes using his wealth to affect positive change within his Harlem community and instead lives a life of miserly solitude. That is, until three unexpected visitors arrive on Christmas Eve to show him that the…