May 2025 Grantee Events
Experience a wide range of art activities by supporting our Creative Engagement, Creative Learning, and UMEZ Arts Engagement grantees and their events this month.
Leadlights Ensemble
Rising in the Heights
May 02, 2025 at 05:00 PM
Recirculation - a project of Word Up Community Bookshop, 876 Riverside Dr., New York, New York, 10032
Bronx Children’s Museum Executive Director and author Denise Adusei Rosario joins Leadlights Ensemble to present a program of music and stories, featuring “Cesaria Feels the Beat,” a lyrical and heartfelt story about deafness, community, and Carnival. Rising in the Heights is a festival of free outdoor public arts performances curated by Leadlights Ensemble in partnership with Word Up Community Bookshop. The festival celebrates the rich artistic contributions of Latinx and Black cultures and promotes children’s literacy through music and bilingual storytelling. Free copies of the featured book will be available.
Find more information at https://leadlightsensemble.weebly.com/
Grant program(s) Creative Engagement, UMEZ Arts Engagement
VGM Jam Sessions NYC
VGM Jam sessions NYC
May 02, 2025 at 7:00 PM
OS Nyc , 50 bowery, New York, New York, 10013
VGM Jam Sessions NYC is a grassroots community that seeks to partner with NYC venues to provide an environment where people from all walks of life can express their love for music, videogames and the intersection of two by performing, arranging, and listening to classic and contemporary Video Game Music (VGM) together. Our monthly event at OS NYC features an all-VGM performance of top-call nyc musicians followed by an open Jam Session. Everyone from students and public school educators to top call, Grammy-winning musicians regularly participate in our monthly jam session.
Find more information at https://linktr.ee/vgmjamsessionsnyc
Grant program(s) Creative Engagement
Schedule of events:
First Friday of every month 7-8pm performance 8:30-10:30 PM jam.
2025: 5/2 6/6 7/4 8/1 9/12 10/3 11/7 12/5
Ash Marinaccio
Docbloc's Intergenerational Theatre Lab
May 03, 2025 at 3:00 PM & 7:00 PM
The Tank, 312 West 36th Street, New York, New York, 10018
Docbloc’s Intergenerational Theatre Lab presents "Now and Then (and Now)" a lively, interactive cabaret where voices, stories, and songs across generations collide! Join us as we explore the bonds and divides between generations, diving into social justice and political issues that shape our world, all through this unique, collectively devised performance.
Now and Then (and Now) Produced by Docbloc Created through generous support by The Tank, ART NY, LMCC, and SPCUNY Directed by Ash Marinaccio Dramaturgy and Assistant Directed by Aaron Moore Ellis Devised and Performed by Kari Morris, Nora Almeida, Opalanietet, Liz June, Winnie Hurd, Kat Tobits, Zach Rothman-Hicks, Karina Ordóñez, Kate Konigisor, Joanie HF Zosike, and David Palmer Brown 5/3/2
Find more information at https://www.docbloc.org/intergenerational-theatre-lab
Grant program(s) Creative Engagement
Decibel
Piano Jazz Series: Lynne Arriale
May 06, 2025 at 07:00 PM
Klavierhaus, 790 11th Avenue, New York, New York, 10019
Don’t miss an enchanting evening of jazz piano as Lynne Arriale brings her trio to Klavierhaus on Tuesday, May 6, 2025. She’ll be supported by Alon Near on bass and Alon Benjamini on drums.
Find more information at https://decibelpresents.com/event/piano-jazz-series-lynne-arriale-2/
Grant program(s) Creative Engagement
Sophia Gutchinov
Those Who Remained
May 08, 2025 – May 18, 2025
La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club, The Club, 74A E 4th St, New York, New York, 10003
In this transformative multimedia solo show, Sophia Gutchinov explores the profound depths of love through a deeply personal lens of Indigenous ceremony and modern dating. Drawing from her unique Italian-Mongolian heritage, she weaves a narrative that bridges cultural divides, reflecting her background of a Buddhist father and Catholic mother. The performance incorporates projections, comedy, and spoken word, creating an immersive experience that confronts personal roots and identity. Collaborating with artists from diverse backgrounds – including AAPI, Latin, Black, LGBTQ+, she examines her family’s complex history with escaping WWII to NJ, all viewed through an acting & neuroscience lens.
Find more information at https://www.lamama.org/those-who-remained/
Grant program(s) Creative Engagement
Schedule of events:
5/8/25- 7:30 PM La MaMa Experimental Theatre, The Club
5/9/25- 7:30 PM La MaMa Experimental Theatre, The Club
5/10/25- 7:30 PM La MaMa Experimental Theatre, The Club
5/11/25- 3:00 PM La MaMa Experimental Theatre, The Club
5/15/25- 7:30 PM La MaMa Experimental Theatre, The Club
5/16/25- 7:30 PM La MaMa Experimental Theatre, The Club
5/17/25 -7:30 PM La MaMa Experimental Theatre, The Club
5/18/25 -3:00 PM La MaMa Experimental Theatre, The Club
Manhattan Theatre Source/EstroGenius 2025
EstroGenius Festival 2025: ALL IN
May 08, 2025 – May 24, 2025
Judson Church, 243 Thompson St, New York, New York, 10012
Manhattan Theatre Source presents the 2025 EstroGenius Festival: ALL IN, a performance festival celebrating dynamo women, trans and gender non-conforming artists, May 8-24, 2025. Performances span Judson Church, The Cell Theatre, UNDER St. Marks, The Rat NYC and Downtown Art Theater. EstroGenius presents its 25th year of commitment to breaking the mold of a womxn’s festival. Estrogenius 2025: ALL IN is that commitment at full throttle offering three weeks of experimental performance, dance, theater, music, engaging workshops and poetry - across New York City. Tickets ($5-$20) are available for purchase through www.estrogenius.nyc.
Find more information at www.estrogenius.nyc
Grant program(s) Creative Engagement
Kehila Kedosha Janina Synagogue and Museum
Greek Jewish Festival
May 11, 2025 at 12:00 PM
Kehila Kedosha Janina Synagogue and Museum, 280 Broome Street, New York, New York, 10002
Join the Greek Jewish Festival as we celebrate the unique Romaniote and Sephardic heritage of the Jews of Greece. Experience a feast for the senses including authentic kosher Greek foods and homemade Greek pastries, traditional dance performances with live Greek and Sephardic music, an outdoor marketplace full of vendors, arts and educational activities for kids, and much more!
Find more information at www.GreekJewishFestival.com
Grant program(s) Creative Engagement
GatherNYC, Inc.
GatherNYC
May 11, 2025 – June 8, 2025
Museum of Arts and Design, 2 Columbus Circle, New York, New York, 10019
GatherNYC is a unique, hourlong concert experience held on Sunday mornings at the Museum of Arts and Design in Manhattan that evokes the community and spiritual nourishment of a religious service, but the only religion is music, and all are welcome. Guests are served exquisite live classical music by New York’s most celebrated artists, a taste of the spoken word, a collective celebration of silence, and a pre-concert reception with artisanal coffee and pastries.
Find more information at www.gathernyc.org
Grant program(s) Creative Engagement
Schedule of events:
5/11/25 - 11:00 AM (Solomiya Ivakhiv + Friends: Music from Ukraine)
5/25/25 - 11:00 AM (Rupert Boyd, guitar)
6/8/25 - 11:00 AM (Orpheus + Boyd Meets Girl)
Fall schedule, starting October, to be announced
Bulgarian Concert Evenings in New York
Bulgarian Concert Evenings, Musical Treasures from Bulgaria
May 14, 2025 at 7:30 PM
Consulate General of Bulgaria, Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, 121 East 62 Street, New York, New York, 10065
Spring Concerts of Bulgarian Concert Evenings and Musical Treasures from Bulgaria
Find more information at www.bceny.org
Grant program(s) Creative Engagement
Schedule of events:
May 14 -- Prelude, Theme, and Variations for Solo Violin with Alexandrina Boyanova at the Consulate General of the Republic of Bulgaria
May 21 -- Musical Treasures from Bulgaria at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall
June 4 -- Trio Salix at the Consulate General of Bulgaria
SoHarmoniums Women's Choir
Reflections
May 16, 2025 at 07:00 PM
Symphony Space, 2537 Broadway, New York, New York, 10025
An evening of song, stories, and photography, reflecting on the importance of community and friendship.
Find more information at https://www.symphonyspace.org/events/vp-reflections
Grant program(s) Creative Engagement
The International Brazilian Opera Company
Kimera Festival
May 17, 2025 at 01:00 PM
West 111th street @ Amsterdam, 1030 Amsterdam Ave, New York, New York, 10025
The Kimera Festival is a celebration of music and storytelling that celebrates the Upper Manhattan neighborhood and world music. A collaboration between the International Brazilian Opera Company and the West 111th street block association it is free and open to the public.
Find more information at kimerafestival.com
Grant program(s) UMEZ Arts Engagement
Chinese Musical Arts, Inc. /Haiyun Chorus
Haiyun Spring Concert
May 17, 2025 at 01:30 PM – May 17, 2025 at 03:00 PM
131 Middle School, 100 Hester Street, New York, New York, 10002
Haiyun Spring Concert-Mother's Day Concert is held on May 17, 2025. We are going to bring some new songs which we just learn and dance to the audience. There are chorus, male and female chorus, also a Poetry Reading. Haiyun Chorus celebrate Mother's Day every year. In this special day, we sing to the mothers and ourselves, too. We praise all the mothers' hard working, raise and teach their children. The concert is free admission. We welcome people come and enjoy the concert with us.
Find more information at haiyunchorus.com
Grant program(s) Creative Engagement
Washington Heights Chamber Orchestra
Heritage: Telling our Stories
May 17, 2025 at 02:30 PM – May 17, 2025 at 04:30 PM
Fort Washington Collegiate Church, 729 West 181st Street, New York, New York, 10033
"Landscapes" Even those born and raised in Washington Heights tend to look back to their heritage in a distant homeland. Talking about “where we are from” is one of the most common unifying conversations in our community. We conclude our 10th anniversary season exploring heritage with Landscapes, featuring the string players of the WHCO in two large format works. Fela Sowande is considered the father of modern Nigerian music, and his piece African Suite for Strings seamlessly blends both original and traditional themes from countries like Nigeria and Ghana. We conclude the program with Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's Serenade for Strings which he described as "a piece from the heart."
Find more information at www.whco.nyc
Grant program(s) Creative Engagement, UMEZ Arts Engagement
Los Pleneros de la 21
LP21’s Cultural Legacy Initiative 2025 - La Fiesta de Cruz
May 17, 2025 at 07:00 PM – May 17, 2025 at 09:30 PM
Julia de Burgos Cultural Center, 1680 Lexington Ave, 2nd floor Theater, New York, New York, 10029
Join Los Pleneros de la 21 on May 17, 2025, for a Fiesta de Cruz like no other! Rooted in a 200+ years old Puerto Rican tradition, this celebration beautifully weaves communal choral music with the soul-stirring rhythms of Afro-Caribbean music—a testament to faith, resilience, and cultural pride. A special annual event, La Fiesta de Cruz is a long-standing testament to key cultural expressions of Puerto Rico, and is still practiced by the Puerto Rican community in East Harlem, strengthening family and community ties - ¡QUE VIVAN LAS FIESTAS DE CRUZ! Cost: Free to attend, donations appreciated
Find more information at https://www.losplenerosdela21.org/las-fiestas-de-cruz?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTAAAR0OkFTTXf6B8gdIZDeS4Mgz1epCj-s4zcNUlUP8k8qKAsD1tk3AUFNASHE_aem_sdeAjNC4_iPsaS7ZxPCbkA
Grant program(s) UMEZ Arts Engagement
Music Before 1800, INC
Our 50th Anniversary Season: Music Telling Story
May 18, 2025 at 4:00 PM
Corpus Christi Church and Virtual, 529 West 121st Street, New York, New York, 10029
The second half of our largest season ever includes the song library of the Venetian Gondoliers, a medieval reconstruction of a forgotten sung epic, a world premiere staging of a lost Bach masterpiece, rare South American baroque repertoire, and a celebration of historical Palestinian music. Our anniversary season, called Music Telling Story, emphasises all the ways music can remind us of our shared history.
Find more information at mb1800.org
Grant program(s) UMEZ Arts Engagement
Bulgarian Concert Evenings in New York
Bulgarian Concert Evenings, Musical Treasures from Bulgaria
May 21, 2025 at 7:30 PM
Consulate General of Bulgaria, Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, 121 East 62 Street, New York, New York, 10065
Spring Concerts of Bulgarian Concert Evenings and Musical Treasures from Bulgaria
Find more information at www.bceny.org
Grant program(s) Creative Engagement
Schedule of events:
May 14 -- Prelude, Theme, and Variations for Solo Violin with Alexandrina Boyanova at the Consulate General of the Republic of Bulgaria
May 21 -- Musical Treasures from Bulgaria at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall
June 4 -- Trio Salix at the Consulate General of Bulgaria
Salon Séance
Shape of Becoming
May 22, 2025 – May 23, 2025
Prime Produce, 424 W 54th St, New York, NY 10019, New York, New York, 10019
Shape of Becoming is a multi-disciplinary experience that explores how the people in our lives shape our identity and guide us toward our unique voices. Inspired by Japanese Noh theater and the Zen meditation practice of sutra tracing, the experience invites reflection on personal growth through a performance of Benjamin Britten’s String Quartet No. 2 and spoken-word storytelling, culminating in a collective ritual—mirroring Britten’s own journey of transformation.
Find more information at https://www.salonseance.com/tickets/shape-of-becoming-prime-produce-05222025
Grant program(s) Creative Engagement
Schedule of events:
5/22/25 - 7:00 PM at Prime Produce
5/23/25 - 7:00 PM at Prime Produce
Ekmeles
Ekmeles in NYC 2025
May 25, 2025 at 04:30 PM
DiMenna Center, 450 W 37th St, New York, New York, 10018
Sunday, May 25 2025, at 4:30PM at the DiMenna Center's Cary Hall, Ekmeles performs a program of premieres exploring novel approaches to tuning and pitch in unaccompanied singing. The world premiere of Catherine Lamb's moveable frames anchors the program. The new work, commissioned by Ekmeles with the support of the Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation, continues the composer's long-standing exploration of the mathematics of harmony through voices. Her work, parallel to that of Ekmeles, has to do with finding the creative tension between the idealized rationality of tuning, and its real-world expression in breath and voice.
Find more information at ekmeles.simpletix.com
Grant program(s) Creative Engagement
Nancy Ma
Sweatshop Melody Snapshot!
May 31, 2025 at 01:00PM
The Seward Park Library, 192 East Broadway New York, NY 10002, New York, New York, 10002
"Sweatshop Melody" is a musical that follows a group of immigrant women that work at a garment factory in Chinatown. This work-in-progress showing presents snapshot scenes and songs from the musical. The music production was made possible by a LMCC grant, and thank you to Asian American Arts Alliance for sponsoring this event The writer, Nancy Ma, grew up attending Seward Park Library, and is thrilled to present this to her community where she grew up. The performance will be followed with a Q & A with the artist.
Find more information at https://www.nypl.org/events/programs/2025/05/31/nancy-ma-presentes-sweatshop-melody
Grant program(s) Creative Engagement
Coopdanza, Inc
Indigenous Festival SIE II 2025
May 31, 2025 – June 27, 2025
Live Virtual and in person events , 710 East Ninth Street, Lower East Side, New York, New York, 10009
"Fire Circle" An Open MIC event for the Protection of Territory. Featuring DEF-I Christopher Bidetah (Diné Navajo Nation) $250 award for contest winner.
Find more information at https://www.coopdanzainc.org/sienyc2025
Grant program(s) Creative Engagement
Schedule of events:
6/3/2025. KJCC. "Espacio de Culturas" Featuring Def-i from the Diné Navajo Nation and Bobby Sanchez Kechwa rapper from the Bronx.
6/6/7/2025 La Nacional featuring William Ruiz (Taino) Jay Rodrigues and Ayazama a Kechwa traditional dance group from Ecuador. Jachamallku Pakwar a Kechwa musician from New York.