The word is out: 2023 has been an amazing year at the renewed Bronx River Art Center! Between more classes, great exhibitions, performances of all kinds, and a blowout “Bronx River Sounds” Jazz Festival, the consensus is that BRAC is delivering non-stop programming and events to quench everyone’s thirst for cultural experiences right here in the heart of the Bronx. I can’t tell you how often we hear from program participants and visitors alike that they are constantly amazed at how much we offer across such a diverse and inclusive range of techniques, media, and content.
Ongoing Programs
With over fourteen classes a week in fine art and digital media for youth and adults; five 6-week-run exhibitions annually, featuring works of painting, printmaking, sculpture, digital and performance art, touching a wide range of culturally specific issues and concerns; great entertainment of theater, music, movement, and film throughout the year; and sunlight-filled professional studios for artists: all at affordable prices, or free, under one roof, in 18,000 Sq. Ft. of open studios, galleries and event spaces, including a garden and a Green Roof, BRAC is the place to get inspired, make art, and meet other creatives. If creativity feeds the soul, we have the food to keep you alive.
Special Project-Based Programs
Our FREE Teen Project Studio +2.0 program (for teenagers and young adults up to age 26) addresses sustainable design for urban spaces and preservation of our natural resources from a world perspective as well as for our own West Farms community. BRAC's week-long Art Camps for youth ages 6 to 18 during their winter and spring breaks from school are a big hit with children and guardians alike; the latter especially taking comfort in knowing there's a safe and stimulating place for their kids to be while they are busy at work.
This year, we added 3-hour long workshops on Friday evenings that can be singularly purchased instead of, or in addition to, our regular 10-week series. Enrolled students can add a class to their week, and non-enrollees who want to study the arts but can’t yet commit to 10 consecutive weeks can try a sampling of our more regular courses — including abstract painting, printmaking, manga/cartooning, and digital design/illustration, as well as more specialized workshops such as perspective drawing and paper-making. This program includes a monthly figure drawing workshop, where aspiring artists ages 18 and above can learn to draw from a live model.
In 2023, we served nearly 700 enrolled students annually in our education program across our three 10-week semesters during the school year, and a 5-week summer intensive. We also had more than 2,500 visitors to our gallery exhibitions that are open free to the public six days a week; and over 900 people of all ages attended both our free and affordable performance programs this year, including some sold-out shows during our June Jazz Festival of eight performances over four weeks.
BRAC is supported in part by the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs and its council members, the NYC Department of Youth and Community Development through the Hispanic Federation, and the City’s Material for the Arts (MFTA) program. Our programs are also supported by The New York State Council on the Arts, as well as from corporations and foundations including Con Edison, the New Yankee Stadium Community Benefit Fund, the Hispanic Foundation, the Lincoln Fund, and Bronx Care Health Systems.
BRAC’s hard-working and committed staff of mostly artists hold up the brunt of our productions, but we couldn’t do it all without our enthusiastic interns from various schools and colleges including the School of Visual Arts (SVA), Hunter College, Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT), Bronx High School of Visual Arts, LaGuardia High School of Visual and Performing Arts, Fordham University, the Exploring the Arts internship program, and the NYC Summer Youth Employment Program (SYEP), among others.
However, it’s really all about YOU, the individual donors. You are the life-blood of any non-profit organization. As we learned from the valuable seminars offered through our grant from the Hispanic Federation, more than 67% of giving to non-profits is from individual donors, and not all are million- or even thousand-dollar donations. In fact, small donations of under $100 make up over 80% of a non-profit’s individual donor pool. Giving Tuesday is the biggest opportunity of the year for individual donors to support their favorite organization, so for this year's Giving Tuesday on November 28th, please give what you can to BRAC to help us keep up the good work serving up exciting and inspiring arts for all of the people of the Bronx. If everyone on our email list gave just one dollar, we’d get $4,760. If they gave $5 each, we’d get $23,800. Think about what we could accomplish if all of you gave even a one-time donation of $25 to $50!!!
On behalf of our Board of Directors and Staff,
I sincerely thank you for supporting BRAC in 2023-24.
Gail Nathan, Executive Director
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