A new digital campaign by Community Works and New Heritage Theatre Group, to celebrate local Harlem heroes in the time of the coronavirus, has had an extremely strong response, prompting a continuing expansion of honorees and the addition of digital public programming later this year.
Through posts on Facebook, Instagram and other electronic channels, the campaign is building on its efforts to spotlight local heroes, famous or not, who are making a difference through the pandemic.
The disease has prompted Harlem’s activist community and institutions from medicine, the arts, education, food service, religious life and environmentalism to undertake work to help keep our community healthy, particularly in exploring the data showing that the virus is disproportionately striking black and brown communities.
“We’re seeing a response like little else in our history,” said Barbara Horowitz, Founder and President of Community Works. “This effort is resonating with people all over who are seeking signs of hope in an awful situation.”
Already, the campaign is celebrating the First Graduates of the CUNY Medical School, immediately thrown into the fray, artist Andrea Arroyo, whose work celebrates a community response to disease, JJ Johnson, a chef who has helped serve emergency workers, Dr. Calvin Sun, an emergency room physician, the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture’s outreach to those at home, restaurateur Melba Wilson for her citywide efforts on behalf of restaurant owners to keep serving, the nimbleness of Dr. Steven Corwin, CEO and President of NY Presbyterian Hospital, the community commitment of the Rev. Al Sharpton, We Act, the environmental activists, 100 Tailors of Harlem for work on masks and gowns, and the work of young people at the Brotherhood/Sister Sol, Harlem Hospital nurse Sadie Treleven, efforts by the Greater Harlem Chamber of Commerce to back programs providing 1,000 meals a day, among other services, Harlem Congregations Community Improvement which is providing wellness visits and financial advice.
The list continues to grow. “What all of these efforts share is a desire to reach out even though we all are at home because of the pandemic. These are people who are putting out effort for the community,” said Voza Rivers, Executive Producer of New Heritage Theatre Group. “For us, this shows that Harlem is . . . represents a living, breathing history that involves the whole community.”
Visit these stories at https://www.instagram.com/harlemishealing/ and at https://www.facebook.com/CommunityWorksNYC/
These stories and those that follow will become part of exhibitions known collectively as Harlem is . . . Music, Theater, Dance and Community. A website will launch in coming weeks with a section devoted to Harlem is . . . Healing. Eventually, the exhibition will complete installation at Harlem Hospital at Malcolm X Boulevard at 136th Street, where coronavirus forced delays in anything but medical treatment.
Community Works and New Heritage Theatre Group are partnering with the hospital to present a free, permanent physical exhibit in the famed Mural Pavilion and on the hospital’s second floor with more than 100 multimedia exhibits drawing from portraits, photographs, films, and archives from previous installations around Harlem and the city over many years. The partners also have commissioned an interactive mural by noted artist Paul Deo which will be displayed on the website as well as outside the Mural Pavilion, home to WPA-era murals that were the first to depict people of color in professional roles, and a 30-foot timeline reflecting a century of Harlem cultural history.
Through all of these exhibits, Community Works and New Heritage Theatre Group have maintained a common mission to use the arts, performance and workshops to unite communities across differences and to share the legacy of local heroes in the blossoming of a unique neighborhood we see in Harlem.
For more info, visit https://m.facebook.com?CommunityWorksNYC/.
