Harlem One Stop

HARLEM RENAISSANCE CENTENNIAL SPRING HIGHLIGHTS ANNOUNCED

Harlem One Stop, originator of Harlem Renaissance 100, applauds diversity of events and programming along with scope of community collaboration 

Founder Yuien Chin sees renewed interest in Harlem’s heritage,

pioneering creativity, and role in defining New York City’s culture

 

HARLEM, NEW YORK (April 9, 2019) — Harlem One Stop, a leading uptown destination marketing organization and tour operator and originator of the Harlem Renaissance 100 celebration, today announced the latest additions to the two-year festival’s calendar of events. The centennial, co-presented with Harlem Cultural Collaborative Partners, launched in late 2018 and runs through 2020.

It benefits from the support and participation of more than two dozen of this historic neighborhood’s finest centers of arts and culture along with academic institutions, houses of worship, and restaurants. The result is a catalog of performances, exhibitions, film screenings, and public forums that offer an unprecedented look at the indelible impression Harlem’s intellectual and cultural leaders left on the city and on civilization in the 20th and 21st centuries.

“It’s thrilling to see how our initial concept of commemorating the Harlem Renaissance has come to life,” says Yuien Chin, executive director of Harlem One Stop. “In the Harlem Renaissance, we find the roots of our greatest writers, artists, musicians, and civil and social rights leaders. We launched the Harlem Renaissance 100 celebration because this heritage is precious. We must preserve it with the same care and love that we dedicate to the preservation of the landmarked buildings on our streets.”

Highlights of the dozens of upcoming events include:

  • The Value of Sanctuary: Building a House Without Walls, at The Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine, through June 30.
  • April 16: James Allen, Photographer of Harlem Renaissance, with Dr. Camara Holloway, at Harlem School of the Arts.
  • April 29: Jazzmobile: Keep the Music Playing: A Tribute to Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong, at First Corinthian Baptist Church.
  • May 5: A tribute to jazz composer and pianist Mary Lou Williams, known for her work with such luminaries as Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman, Thelonius Monk, Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, and Dizzy Gillespie.
  • May 26: Frankie Manning Tribute Dance—A Harlem Lindy Hop Day Celebration, at the Alhambra Ballroom
  • June 13: The Harlem Renaissance Experience. The Alhambra Ballroom will recreate a 1920s Harlem nightclub experience, with entertainment produced by Tony and Drama Desk Award winning choreographer George Faison.
  • June 23: West Harlem Arts Festival, a street fair in collaboration with Weekend Walks.
  • July 28: An outdoor celebration of Johnny Hartman, master of the romantic ballad, best remembered for his recordings and performances with John Coltrane

For a full list of events and the most up-to-date information, visit http://harlemrenaissance.org/.

In addition to acquainting a new generation of fans with the works of these and other legendary artists, the program celebrates such venues as the National Jazz Museum of Harlem, National Black Theatre, Apollo Theater, and Harlem School of the Arts.

Born in the aftermath of World War I, the Harlem Renaissance evolved along with the Great Migration of African Americans from the rural south to urban centers. These new communities came to life with the pulse of a jazz, blues, and R&B soundtrack that reinvented popular culture in the U.S. and beyond. And as those rhythms made us hear the world in a new way, the emergence of African American writers transformed the vocabulary of American literature.

“This was an extraordinary time in Harlem,” Chin says. “The volume of creative output was breathtaking. Imagine living in a neighborhood where within just a few square blocks, you could find Langston Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston, Duke Ellington and Josephine Baker, James Van Der Zee and Augusta Savage, and so many more great talents creating works that became the foundation of a century’s worth of artistic innovation. By celebrating these artists and institutions, the centennial festivities reinforce our sense of connection to the past and our appreciation of how much our current culture reflects the imprint of these icons.” 

 

 

Harlem One Stop, a Harlem institution in its own right, is known for its guided walks through West, Central, and East Harlem as well as specialty tours with themes such as Gospel, jazz, and the Harlem Renaissance. Its programs offer visitors and New Yorkers alike an insider’s perspective on Harlem’s culture, heritage, architecture, and history and an inspiring introduction to Manhattan’s uptown neighborhoods.

The Harlem Cultural Collaborative Partners include, to date, the Apollo Theater, Cathedral of St. John the Divine, City College Center for the Arts, Columbia University Gov. & Community Affairs, Columbia University Wallach Art Gallery, Councilmember Mark Levine’s Office, Echoes of Our Ancestors, Harlem One Stop, Harlem Opera Theater, Harlem Pride, Harlem Shakespeare Festival, Harlem Stage, Hostelling International, Jazz Mobile, Manhattan Borough President’s Office, Morris-Jumel Mansion, New York Historical Society, Romare Bearden Foundation, Studio Museum of Harlem, Dance Theatre of Harlem, Dyckman Farmhouse, Harlem Chamber Players, Harlem Needle Arts, Harlem School of the Arts, i, Too Arts Collective/Langston Hughes House, National Jazz Museum in Harlem, New York African Chorus Ensemble, NYC Parks & Recreation, Summerstage, Revolution Books, Sugar Hill Children’s Museum for the Arts & Storytelling, Taste Harlem Tours, The BeBop Channel, Three on 3 Presents, and Wallach Arts Center/Columbia University.

The Harlem Renaissance Centennial Community Celebration is made possible with funding from The West Harlem Development Corporation, Harlem Community Development Corporation, City Council, and the Office of the Manhattan Borough President.

For more information, please contact: Yuien Chin yuien@harlemonestop.org

 

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