Community Calendar

Friday, November 15th 

Black Public Media Open Call Deadline Attention filmmakers! This year’s Open Call is for feature-length documentaries, shorts (nonfiction or scripted) or limited podcast series for public media distribution. Selected projects will receive production funds to advance their work. There are no limits on the subject area. However, BPM encourages work that will promote discourse and engage audiences around a critical social issue. Welcome also are proposals that target specific viewers such as children and teen audiences. Projects will be funded in amounts ranging from $50,000 – $150,000, depending on the type of project, scope and phase of development/production.  For info, visit submissions.blackpublicmedia.org.

Saturday, November 16th

10th Anniversary UFT Brooklyn Parent Conference P140K David Ruggles Campus 141 Macon St. 8:3-am-3pm First-come, first-served seating FREE. Join parents/guardians, grandparents, and educators for a free, fun-filled day of informative workshops, networking, exhibitors and giveaways. For further info contact Betty Zohar at 718-722-6937.

Saturday, November 16th

Art Show Opening – The Color of Power: Heroes, Sheroes & Their Creators Caribbean Cultural Center, 120 East 125th St., Manhattan, 12-6pm, FREE. The exhibition is guest-curated and features art from the critically acclaimed graphic novelist, activist and philanthropist Edgardo Mirnada-Rodriguez of Somos Arte. Also on display will be the work of Sanford Greene, Alitha Martinez, Nilah Magruder, Afua Richardson, Ronald Wimberly and Billy Graham. These comic book artists have achieved great commercial success and critical acclaim, creating stories that celebrate the beauty and rich heritage of the African Diaspora. Enjoy programming for the family, a wine reception and more.

Sunday, November 17th

MINGUS Kumble Theater for the Performing Arts, 1 University Plaza (Flatbush bet. DeKalb & Willoughby), 6pm, $20 or *FREE. (see note at end) InterSchool Orchestras of New York and the Mingus Dynasty are collaborating on this concert featuring the world premiere of Earl McIntyre’s full orchestra arrangements of Mingus’ “Nobody Knows the Bradley I Know,” as well as Duke Ellington’s “Sound of Love” and “Don’t Let It Happen Here.” Also featured will be jazz vocalist Renee Manning. [Ticket info at Eventbrite] InterSchool Orchestras has offered to Kumble Theater guests a limited number of complimentary tickets, first-come, first-served. [RSVP to info@kumbletheater.org]

Tuesday, November 19th

Medgar Evers Annual State of the College Address President’s Conference Center, Main Building, 1650 Bedford Ave., Rm. 1008, 6-8pm. Dr. Rudolph F. Crew, president of Medgar Evers College (CUNY), will address college students, faculty and staff, members of the community, elected and appointed officials, business leaders, community organizers and interested stakeholders are encouraged to attend. Refreshments will be served at 6:00. [RSVP at meccommunitycouncil@yahoo.com]

Wednesday, November 20th

Words @ Weeksville: Celebrating William Melvin Kelley Weeksville Heritage Center, 158 Buffalo Ave., 6-9pm, FREE. Published at just 24, William Melvin Kelley’s 1962 debut novel, A Different Drummer, saw him compared to James Baldwin, among others. Enjoy a reading from his work and a conversation about his impact on American literature with Dr. Farah Jasmine Griffin, Chair of the African-American & African Diaspora Studies at Columbia University; Kinohi Nishiikawa, Assistant Professor of African-American Studies at Princeton University; cultural commentator Jay Smooth, who voiced the audiobook version of A Different Drummer; and Jesi Kelley, the author’s daughter and executor of her father’s estate. [Register at Eventbrite]

Wednesday, November 20th

Gordon Parks’ The Learning Tree: Fifty Years Later The Kimmel center at NYU 60 Washington Square South E&L Auditorium 4th fl Manhattan 6:30-9pm FREE. Gordon Parks wrote, directed, and scored the first major Hollywood film to be directed by a Black American, The Learning Tree in 1969. Clips from the film will be shown as 2019 Gordon Parks Foundation Fellow and conceptual artist Hank Willis Thomas and Abbe Schriber (Art History & Archaeology, Columbia University) discuss the ongoing relevance of the film 50 years after its release. Presented in conjunction with the exhibition Exodusters: Hank Willis Thomas at The Gordon Parks Foundation in Pleasantville, New York.

Saturday, November 23rd 

Showtime Saturdays with Alexander Sugar Hill Children’s Museum of Art & Storytelling 898 Saint Nicholas Avenue 1-2pm Ages 0-8 are FREE, ages 9-17 are $4. Animated, passionate and imaginative, these wholehearted stories make children dance, sing, learn a new routine, and explore the world through big themes sensibly curated for little visitors.

Saturday, November 23rd

From Past to Present: Dancing in Togetherness Crown Heights Library, 560 New York Ave., 11am-12noon, FREE.  Urban Stages presents this event for children which asks, “How do we travel from the past to the present and move in togetherness?” During the one-hour workshop, children will learn the story of Frederick Douglass and embark on a journey of movement. In a circle and with rhythms from Africa, they will create and perform a common dynamic dance.

MARK YOUR CALENDARS

Monday, November 25th 

Building A Better PA/PTA Leadership Training Brooklyn Borough Hall, Community Room, 209 Joralemon St., 6-8pm, FREE. The Office of the Brooklyn Borough President and PTAlink invites all to attend this training at which the topics will include understanding the Chancellor’s Regulation A-660 and learning about the PA/PTA’s basic rights and obligations under the regulation. Attendees will hear how experienced parent leaders have put the regulation to use. Those with knowledge to share are welcome. [RSVP to jlowell@brooklynbp.nyc.org]

Sunday, December 1st

The David Prize Deadline Nominate New York’s Future! Five people will receive $200,000 each as a prize. Open to any individual living and working in the five boroughs, The David Prize welcomes those with grit and vision to change our communities, our culture and our future for good. Ideal candidates will have serious plans to contribute and a unique vision for how to make NYC a place where people yearn to live and concrete ideas about how to achieve it. They are contributors with demonstrated capacity and a track record of extraordinary work. Help the visionaries you know to continue their work. Deadline for nominations is 12/1. [Visit thedavidprize.org]