What's New At BCA

“Doctor’s Hours” on Cultural Services Saturdays
begins January 9th

The Bronx Council on the Arts provides “Doctor’s Hours” from 10:00am to 4:00pm at the Longwood Art Gallery @ Hostos on Cultural Services Saturdays where you can have your questions answered about various BCA programs such as BRIO, the Art Handler Training Program, the Artisans Initiative, The Big Read, and more.

BCA is launching this new endeavor as a service to Bronx artists and the general public who want to know more about the Bronx Council on the Arts and the programs and services it provides.

Cultural Services Saturdays begins on January 9th when you can have all of your questions answered about BCA’s 2010 BRIO Award (Bronx Recognizes Its Own) and the Art Handler Training Program.

Are you not sure if you have that application right?
Do you have technical questions about your application?

On January 9th, 16th, and 23rd, you will be able to talk to the coordinator of BRIO for help with all those last-minute questions and details of which you are still in doubt, as well as information about the Art Handler Training Program. Click here for details, application, and guidelines about the 2010 BRIO Award. This year’s BRIO application deadline is Friday, January 29, 2010.

Directions: The Longwood Art Gallery is located on the campus of Hostos Community College at 450 Grand Concourse at 149th Street. It is easily accessible by the #2, #4, and #5 IRT Trains. Click here for directions. The Longwood Art Gallery @ Hostos is wheelchair accessible.

Visit BCA’s website for information about future Cultural Services Saturdays.

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Lehman College art Gallery presents Bronx Architecture
Lehman College Art Gallery presents Bronx Architecture: An Online Guide to the Architecture of the Bronx. "Bronx Architecture" is an online guide to the architecture of the borough developed by Lehman College Art Gallery/CUNY. Designed as a companion to "Public Art in the Bronx," the website features over 75 buildings, background on architects, neighborhood walking tours, maps, lesson-plans for high school teachers, neighborhood histories, a resource section, and glossary. Like the Web site devoted to public art, we hope that this guide will provide a useful resource for the general public as well as teachers and encourage exploration of the art and architecture of the Bronx.

An exhibition of paintings, drawings, photography, sculpture by over 40 artists telling their story through a self portrait. Above portrait of Ron Terner, founder of Focal Point Gallery.

Focal Point Gallery is located at 321 City Island Avenue in the City Island section of the Bronx. For information, call 718-885-1403.

ReBuilders Source is one of the unique creative resources listed in BCA’s new Creative Bronx! Black Book. A worker-owned cooperative in the South Bronx, Rebuilders Source rescues used and surplus building supplies and other materials from contractors, businesses, and property owners, as a green alternative to landfill disposal, and offers these often brand-new materials as retail to the public at substantial savings. A special discount card made especially for BCA artists can be downloaded by clicking here.

“You can get creative and really use this stuff for anything,” says Omar Freilla, founder of Green Worker Cooperatives, the non-profit incubator of Rebuilders Source. For folks interested in starting their own cooperatives, an eight-week training program, Coop Academy, starts in March; to find out more email mo@greenworker.coop.

On our recent visit we found all different colors of paint for $5 a gallon, scrap wood, sinks and toilets, moldings, large glass panels, assorted new cabinet doors for $5 and $10 each, and free items that artists might use - paint swatches, small interesting pieces of hardwood and linoleum, and more. A large shipment of marble is coming in soon. ReBuilders Source, 461 Timpson Place, Bronx, NY 10455. 718-742-1111

Support BCA While Searching & Shopping Online! What if the Bronx Council on the Arts earned a penny every time you searched the Internet? Or how about if a percentage of every purchase you made online went to support BCA's cause? Well, now it can! GoodSearch.com is a new Yahoo-powered search engine that donates half its advertising revenue, about a penny per search, to the charities its users designate. Use it just as you would any search engine, get quality search results from Yahoo, and watch the donations add up! GoodShop.com is a new online shopping mall which donates up to 37 percent of each purchase to your favorite cause! Hundreds of great stores including Amazon, Target, Gap, Best Buy, eBay, Macy's and Barnes & Noble have teamed up with GoodShop and every time you place an order, you’ll be supporting your favorite cause. Just go to GoodSearch.com and be sure to enter Bronx Council on the Arts as the charity you want to support. And, be sure to spread the word! For help, please contact Luis Pagan.

The Bronx Council on the Arts would like to find Bronx writers with published books and recording artists with CDs in distribution. Please e-mail link to your web site (if you have one) to Lydia Clark or send a copy of the book or CD to: Lydia Clark, Bronx Council on the Arts, 1738 Hone Avenue, Bronx, NY 10461.

With expected opportunities in the field of Creative Aging, BCA is seeking performing, visual or literary artists who have experience working with older adults; teaching artists who are interested in learning about working with older adults. We are especially interested in artists experienced in sequential instruction.

Please send resume and letter of interest to Ed Friedman.

Bronx Artist and 2007 BRIO winner Blanka Amezkua was frustrated at what she said is a lack of exhibition space in the Bronx — where she lives and teaches art — compared with other areas of the city, so she decided to set up the bedroom of her Mott Haven apartment as a gallery and open it to the public. The Bronx Blue Bedroom Project, the name of her new gallery space, is now a monthly stop on BCA's First Wednesdays Bronx Culture Trolley. Above Blanka puts the last touches on the art installation in her bedroom in her Alexander Avenue apartment in Mott Haven.

• Click here to read the story.
• Click here to hear Blanka talk about having an art gallery in her bedroom.

2009 Marks the Bronx Culture Trolley's sixth year of dropping people off at cultural stops along the Bronx Cultural Corridor. Over the years, the Bronx Culture Trolley has grown in popularity and gained increased public awareness, not only in the five boroughs, but nationally and internationally as well. Click here to read about the trolley’s first five successful years.