In the News

This past week, the Restoration Youth Arts Academy advanced dance students received a couple of special treats. Adé Chiké Torbert (of “So You Think You Can Dance” T.V. show, Season 7 and Restoration Youth Arts Academy’s alumni) stopped by to say hello and provided a master class to the students free of charge! This was truly exciting for the students to be engaged with a former student who is actually in the professional dance arena. The very next day, Ronald K.

Ronald K. Brown/Evidence, the resident company of the Restoration ChoreoQuest project, invited YAA students into their rehearsal. This was an additional highlight of the week. Restoration Dance Theatre Company and students observed a segment of a new work that was featured at his recent gala at the New York Plaza Hotel. The open rehearsal engaged the students in shoptalk conversations about the professional arena, African origins in contemporary dance, and how historic events have inspired...

Check out the online gallery featuring selected works from Agape: Mario Andres Robinson Exhibition in the Skylight Gallery. Paintings are available for sale. If you are interested in purchasing his work, please contact the Skylight Gallery at 718-636-6949. Come visit the Skylight Gallery and see full exhibition. On display until May 31, 2013. Skylight Gallery Hours Wed. - Fri., 11 AM - 6 PM; Sat., 1 PM - 6 PM 

The month of February concluded with a huge success for the Partnership for a Healthier Brooklyn at Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation. With the support of the Community Transformation Grant administered by the Partnership for a Healthier New York City, 30 coalition member organizations hosted borough wide screenings of an award winning documentary ‘Soul Food Junkies.’ The screening took place in 12 Brooklyn neighborhoods, from Bushwick to Flatbush, and Fort Greene to East...

The Bedford Stuyvesant Gateway Business Improvement District, (BID) announced the implementation of a new sanitation program to significantly improve the cleanliness of the sidewalks and streets in the Gateway area. The BID runs along Fulton Street from Troy Avenue to Classon Avenue and across Nostrand Avenue from Halsey Street to Atlantic Avenue. The program will operate seven days a week throughout the Fulton /Nostrand corridor, where sanitation improvement is unanimously regarded as...

In Brooklyn, the movement for healthier communities started with a few grassroots organizations, and here at Restoration it started with the Partnership for a Healthier Brooklyn. To continue building the mass movement for healthy living, during the month of February and specifically on February 22nd, Restoration, in collaboration with over 30 Brooklyn member organizations of the Partnership for a Healthier Brooklyn, will screen the award winning documentary, ‘Soul Food Junkies’ by...

On Sunday, February 17, Restoration Plaza’s Skylight Gallery debuted the masterful works of Mario Andres Robinson.The exhibit is entitled “Agape,” which in Christian theology means the love of God for humankind. This love for humanity is shown throughout Robinson’s work in his use of Realism in painting intimate and powerful portraits, close-ups of people in urban...click here to read more from Bed Stuy Patch!

Restoration partners with Bedford Stuyvesant Legal Services (BSLS) through our Single Stop program to provide on-one-one legal counseling and workshops, equipping individuals with legal advice and representation on legal matters. Starting this month, representatives from Bedford Stuyvesant Legal Services (BSLS) will host a series of legal workshops monthly at Restoration. Topics will include Landlord/Tenant; Immigration; Social Security; Parental Rights; Public Benefits; Tax Payer services;...

Today, I stepped away from my normal administrative meetings to sit down with cultural activist Jacqui Woods, artist Che Baraka, and curator Cheryl Williams. They introduced me to Mario Robinson, an amazing portrait artist whose drawings reminded me of the 19th and early 20th century works that I might see in the Metropolitan Museum, only with more black faces. Having lived in metropolitan cities, I loved the quick glimpses of the faces and places in his paintings which captured more rural...