Recipients of HNY grants put funds to good use year-round and across the state, with performances, workshops, exhibitions, and other types of events that are frequently free and open to the public.
In May, catch a film at one of three venues throughout New York City as part of the New York African Film Festival. Located near Irvington? Check out the Rivertowns Playhouse’s monthly acting workshop. Read on for more grantee goings-on.
Through May 30
New York African Film Festival
NYC (various locations)
Free
The 31st edition of the New York African Film Festival (NYAFF) launches tomorrow and will showcase over 90 films from more than 30 countries, with complimentary screenings at three collaborating venues: Film at Lincoln Center (May 8-14); Maysles Cinema in Harlem (May 17-19); Brooklyn Academy of Music (May 24-May 30).
Launched in 1993, the NYAFF is one of the first film festivals in the United States to reflect on the myriad ways African and diaspora filmmakers have used the moving image to tell their own complex and nuanced stories.
Saturday, May 11
5:00 pm
Acting Workshop
Rivertowns Playhouse
Irvington
Free with registration
Small-scale, professional theater company Rivertowns Playhouse will host an accessible adult acting workshop as part of an ongoing monthly series. For seasoned actors as well as beginners, the workshop is an opportunity to learn and practice one’s craft in a supportive environment.
Sunday, May 19
2:00 pm
NYC Housing Justice, Past and Present
Screening + Q&A
DCTV
Chinatown (NYC)
Suggested donation $5-15
With Chinatown Art Brigade and Third World Newsreel, DCTV presents a selection of films highlighting past and present anti-gentrification efforts led by residents of color in Manhattan and Brooklyn, accompanied by a Q&A moderated by artist Betty Yu with housing advocate Sam Stein, housing activists Esperanza Martell and Antoinette Martinez, and filmmaker Teresa Basilio.
Friday, May 24
5–8:00 pm
1,849 Millas: Al otro lado del charco, A Diaspora Journey
Exhibition opening reception
Buffalo Arts Studio
Free
1,849 Millas—an innovative cultural initiative encompassing an exhibition, performances, workshops, discussions, and forums—opens the evening of May 24 and will be on view through June 28, 2024. At the heart of the project lies the intersection of art, activism, and identity. Through the lens of traditional vejigante masks and bomba music, rooted in the African heritage of Puerto Rico, 1,849 Millas aims to amplify voices often marginalized within the broader narrative of Hispanic/Latinx and American identity.
Friday, May 31
6–8:00 pm
Welcome Home
Exhibition opening reception
apexart
Tribeca (NYC)
Free
Revolving doors between mass-incarceration and homelessness are plaguing American cities. More than half of New York’s adult black men are currently under correctional control in prison or jail, on probation or parole. Welcome Home—which runs through July 27, 2024—mobilizes art as a radically transformative tool for healing trauma and rehumanizing the 21st century’s urban “outcast”. Combining photography, poetry, painting, storytelling and performance, directly impacted artists (including the Reentry Theater of Harlem) interrogate the intersection of punitive oppression and emancipatory struggles for justice.
