Broadway Housing Prepares to Open The Sugar Hill Children’s Museum in Harlem

Sketch via sugarhillmuseum.org

The much-anticipated Sugar Hill Children’s Museum of Art & Storytelling will officially open their doors on October 3rd. As part of the Broadway Housing Communities. The Museum is part of a complex that includes affordable housing, educational and cultural arts in a mixed-use development. The building, located at 898 St. Nicholas Avenue, will house the Museum, 124 affordable apartments and a third art gallery for Broadway Housing, Rio III Gallery.

Designed by British architect David Adjaye, who received the 2016 Eugene McDermott Award from MIT, the structure is located at the intersection of Harlem and Washington Heights. Since Broadway Housing’s first residential development in 1986, their mission has been to counter poverty and homelessness through affordable housing. This new addition to their portfolio continues to provide a space where children and their families can grow and learn about their culturally rich neighborhood, interacting with accomplished artists and storytellers.

The Museum will begin their programming in three of their galleries. The Legacy Gallery will hold an exhibit organized by The Studio Museum in Harlem entitled “People, Places, and Things: Selections from The Studio Museum in Harlem,” which will explore artworks created from the 1930s to the 1980s depicting everyday life. The Salon Gallery’s “Txt: art, language, media” is presented with El Museo del Barrio, and The Main Gallery of The Living Room will hold a large-scale installation created by artist Saya Woolfak.

Photo via Curator, Omo Misha. Artist, Luis Leonor

In anticipation of the opening of Sugar Hill Children’s Museum of Art & Storytelling on October 3rd, and in celebration of all the work done by Broadway Housing, City College Center for the Arts, Windows on Amsterdam Gallery has opened their doors to the exhibit “Who We Are: Selections from the Broadway Housing Collection“curated by Omo Misha. “Who We Are” is a reflection of the community it represents.

The exhibit consists of paintings, mixed-media and photographic work, with a view towards the community’s Latin American, Caribbean and Afro-Diasporan roots. The artwork is from the Broadway Housing Communities vast private collection and includes artists from Columbia, Chile, Cuba, Dominican Republic and St. Kitts, with art representative of the Puerto Rican, African and Yoruba tradition. In curating this project, Omo Misha  aspired to tell the stories of the communities of Harlem, in all their vibrancy, and at the same time, honor Broadway Housing Communities commitment.

“Who We Are” is located at the City College of New York, Windows on Amsterdam Gallery, Amsterdam Avenue at 136th Street/NAC Plaza, with a Reception on Friday, September 18th from 5:30 pm to 8 pm, free and open to the public.

Next, join us on a behind-the-scenes tour of Harlem’s development projects, including the Corn Exchange Building, La Marqueta and Hot Bread Kitchen.

You can contact the author at AFineLyne.