Noel Pointer News

The New York Philharmonic will be joined by Gustavo Dudamel in a weeklong celebration of music education, part of the Orchestra’s 2023–24 activities marking the centennial of the beloved Young People’s Concerts.

WQXR has announced its 2023 roster of Artist Propulsion Lab (APL) participants. The APL is the station's innovative program designed to support classical music artists in the creation of original work and in connecting with new audiences. 

New York City Mayor Eric Adams and New York City Department of Cultural Affairs has announced over $58 million in Cultural Development Fund grants to 1,070 cultural organizations across the five boroughs.

NYC Department of Cultural Affairs (DCLA) Commissioner Laurie Cumbo announced today $4.5 million in capital funding for the Green-Wood Cemetery's new Welcome and Education Center, a 20,000 square foot facility that will serve as a home for educational and cultural programming, visitor orientation, and more.

On Friday, July 1, 2022, the String Orchestra of Brooklyn (SOB) will release its new album, enfolding, on New Focus Recordings. The album features the world premiere recordings of Scott Wollschleger's Outside Only Sound and Anne Leilehua Lanzilotti's with eyes the color of time, a finalist for the 2022 Pulitzer Prize in Music.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams today announced the appointment of Laurie Cumbo as commissioner of the Department of Cultural Affairs. In that role, she will direct cultural policy for the city and oversee city funding for hundreds of nonprofit arts and cultural organizations across the five boroughs that deliver quality arts programming for New Yorkers. 

A diverse cross section of teachers, students, arts administrators and advocates are rallying to save arts education with a new campaign, Arts are Essential, that focuses on preserving the jobs of New York City's arts teachers and honoring contracts with arts education organizations, which have already been badly hurt by the coronavirus pandemic.

Gail Boyd, Founding President of Gail Boyd Artist Management, has been elected as President of North American Performance Arts Managers and Agents (NAPAMA). Boyd's appointment is particularly momentous as she is the first African American woman to step into this prominent role. She is also the first NAPAMA President to come from the jazz music industry.

The NYC Department of Cultural Affairs (DCLA), members of the City Council, and Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams have announced that The Noel Pointer Foundation (NPF) has received $6.5 million in City capital funding to restore the historic firehouse located at 299 Degraw Street in Cobble Hill. NPF will be the non-profit cultural operator of the site pending completion of the renovation project. Formerly home to Fire Department Engine Company 204, the two-story, 18th century firehouse building was decommissioned in 2003. NPF plans to transform the long-vacant facility into a new center for music education and enrichment for New York City youth.

RestorationART presents Afro Pas De Deux, a two-day festival, featuring award-winning 2018 ChoreoQuest choreographers-in-residence as they innovate within the algorithm of a pas de deux on Friday and Saturday, June 22 - 23, 2018. The Afro Pas De Deux Festival is a collective of seven choreographers, exploring the complex and artificial binaries of gender, sexuality, nationality and more. The festival will also feature a conversation with renowned guest choreographers, a master class, and post-performance reception.

To commemorate the 1918 holocaust lynchings of eleven African Americans, including Mary Turner and her unborn baby in Brooks County, Georgia, The Billie Holiday Theatre and RestorationART present the New York Premiere of A Small Oak Tree Runs Red by Brooklyn's own LeKethia Dalcoe, directed by renowned actor and director, Harry Lennix. Performances will begin February 2, 2018 with the Opening on February 8 and running through March 4 at The Billie Holiday Theatre, 1368 Fulton Street, Brooklyn, NY 11216.

Cumbe: Center for African and Diaspora Dance (Cumbe), a thrilling and diverse dance studio championing African Diaspora dance and music, is ready to open the doors to its new home in Bedford Stuyvesant, Brooklyn at RestorationART.

Cumbe: Center for African and Diaspora Dance (Cumbe), a thrilling and diverse dance studio championing African Diaspora dance and music, postpones its scheduled September 23 opening-day community celebration. The in-studio community celebration will still take place at a later date, to be confirmed. The start of classes is also postponed and will not commence on Monday September 25. While the renovation is close to completion, important details are still being addressed, resulting in an unexpected delay.

Cumbe: Center for African and Diaspora Dance (Cumbe), a thrilling and diverse dance studio championing African Diaspora dance and music returns to Brooklyn, resuming its well-loved classes on September 25. After being pushed out of its prior location in Downtown Brooklyn two years ago, Cumbe found a new home via its partnership with RestorationART at Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation's dynamic new 21st Century Complex. A community day opening on Saturday, September 23, will offer $5 classes.

Feinstein's/54 Below, Broadway's Supper Club, presents Porter Carroll, Jr. in The Evolution of Cabaret.

Feinstein's/54 Below, Broadway's Supper Club, presents Porter Carroll, Jr. in The Evolution of Cabaret.

RestorationArt, the 21st century creative complex in Central Brooklyn, reopens the AUDELCO and Obie Award-winning Billie Holiday Theatre that was founded in 1972 by Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation, after completing its first major renovation in 45 years.

Forged in the kiln of the civil rights movement and birthed in the midst of urban decay, Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation (Restoration), founded in 1967, celebrates its 50th anniversary in Central Brooklyn, home to the largest Black community in the United States. With a deepened and renewed commitment to supporting revolutionary art makers and protecting sustainable art spaces, Restoration launches the dynamic 21st century creative complex: RestorationArt.  

With her sublime new album, 'Akua's Dance,' cellist Akua Dixon brings her sumptuous sound to the foreground on an array of material encompassing exquisite balladry, the music's deepest roots in African and African-American culture, and instrumental pieces gleaned from Dixon's opera-in-progress. Her label Akua's Music will release the new CD on February 10.

With her sublime new album, 'Akua's Dance,' cellist Akua Dixon brings her sumptuous sound to the foreground on an array of material encompassing exquisite balladry, the music's deepest roots in African and African-American culture, and instrumental pieces gleaned from Dixon's opera-in-progress. Her label Akua's Music will release the new CD on February 10.