The Art Effect’s PKX: Wonderland-themed Festival is a building block for the Youth Arts Empowerment Zone and will be held in and around the Trolley Barn Gallery in downtown Poughkeepsie. The 3-day festival features activities for all ages, live performances, local food vendors, the unveiling of public art, and an international juried exhibition that transports the audience to an otherworldly empire of wonder, illusion, and surprise. Led by Poughkeepsie youth’s aspirations and visions for the future, we ask, and wonder, how can your art help us reimagine our reality and create positive change in our community?

Voices of Lefferts, alongside other neighborhood organizations, will participate in an afternoon program at and around Parkside Plaza in Prospect Lefferts Gardens by launching its little free library. The event, supported by Assembly Member Brian Cunningham, will kick off the school year with a day of activities celebrating food, sustainability, the environment, and community. The free library will be affixed to a participating food cart at the Plaza and both books and writing and art submissions in a mail slot will be rotated regularly.

October 2nd join us in Albany’s Washington Park at the Lake House Amphitheater for the Mohawk Hudson Folklife Festival. The festival will feature the artists, tradition bearers and musicians identified by our Community Fieldworkers. Artists will display and demonstrate their work throughout the day for visitors to engage and participate. Demonstrations will include; African Hair Braiding, Iconography, Wood Carving and foodways demonstrations. Adults and children will have the chance to try their hand at crafts inspired by these traditions in workshops and activities.

Soulful Christmas is a cultural holiday experience that allows our attendees to explore Buffalo's rich African American history, think critically about social justice issues, and hear untold stories about the Corridor. During Soulful Christmas, attendees can step back in time with engaging reenactments of holiday's long past as they meet some of the founding members of the Michigan Street Corridor. Emmaline Coy, one of the original members of the Michigan Street Baptist Church, will be sharing holiday traditions that date back to the 1840s. The Historic Colored Musician's Club will be performing jazz as they did in the roaring 20s. […]