The Scoop: Empire Strikes Back!
Photo by Shahar Azran for the New York Daily News
The Harlem Jazz Shrines Festival kicks off this week. Sponsored heavily by the Apollo, Jazzmobile, Columbia University and Harlem, stage this festival pays homage to incomparable jazz legacy of Harlem and features rising stars. Tickets to all events are just $10. Check out the calendar here.[NYDN]
Community Board 9 is set to review rezoning plans that among many other changes would pave the way for the commercial expansion of 145th street between Riverside and St Nicholas Avenues, facilitate the development of CREATE @Harlem Green and Taystee bakery on 126th Street, and provide investors with incentives to develop mixed-use properties near 125th street and Broadway.[ManhattanTimes]
Geoffrey Canada, the architect behind Harlem Children’s Zone, will be speaking at Kansas City’s ‘Saving Kansas City’s Sixth Child’ luncheon. The title of the luncheon reflects the statistic that 1 in 6 children U.S. children live in poverty. Canada fears the effects of ‘partisan posturing’ in reversing the plight of many inner city children.[TheRepublic]
Photographer Camilo Jose Vergara has photographed the ever- morphing landscape of Harlem since the 1970’s. The New York Historical Society is featuring his photographs in two installments; Harlem:The People and Harlem: The Place. See more info on the exhibit here. [NYDN]
The acclaimed Harlem Junior Tennis Program turns 40. In commemoration of it’s anniversary, the article features some inspiring stories from the ‘Lifers’, those who graduated from the program and returned to help. [Epoch Times]
Students from The East Harlem School will host their 13th annual Spring Poetry Slam featuring 32 of their most talented 9 to 14 year olds. Boasting some heavy weight guest judges, such as actress and American athlete Aimee Mullins, the the event will raise funds to provide a robust year-round education to children from under-served families in East Harlem. [AmsterdamNews]
The work of photographer Dawoud Bey, first featured in the Studio Museum of Harlem in 1979, is now a permanent collection at the Art Institute in Chicago. The exhibit recently featured a talk with the photographer and also with author Sharifa Rhods Pitt who wrote about the changing landscape of Harlem in her book ‘Harlem is Nowhere’. [ChicagoReader]
