West Harlem Arts Alliance Opens Its New Home With ‘IN RESIDENCE’

From The Harlem Times Culture Desk.

After four years of working for artists across the neighborhood, the West Harlem Arts Alliance (WHAA) finally has a place of its own. The group opened the West Harlem Arts Space at 3581 Broadway, at 147th Street, with a ribbon cutting and a public opening on Friday, October 30.

The inaugural exhibition, IN RESIDENCE, is curated by Ruthy Valdez, with space activation by Barbara Anderson. According to WHAA, the show celebrates four years of its work for local artists. Featured artists include Gloria Adams, Milagros Batista, Julia Justo, Tom Sanford and Valdez herself, among others.

The alliance says the Broadway space is its first home, and a temporary one. Its permanent space is to come as part of Phase 2 of Columbia University’s Manhattanville development, under the project’s Community Benefits Agreement. “Until then, we are ‘in residence’ – here, rooted, and at work,” the exhibition statement reads. In a thank-you note to guests, WHAA Executive Director Michael Palma Mir wrote that the new space “belongs to all of us.”

Also on view through WHAA, in collaboration with CUNY Libraries: Jana Leo’s MOM IS DEAD, BUT YOU ARE GOING TO CURE HER, at the Cohen Library Archives Gallery. According to WHAA, it draws on Leo’s archive of more than 130 women killed by male partners in Madrid between 1999 and 2020. WHAA notes its themes may be difficult for some visitors; the National Domestic Violence Hotline is 1-800-799-SAFE.

Featured photo: The former RKO Hamilton Theatre on Broadway at 146th Street, a block from the new West Harlem Arts Space. Photo: Jim.henderson, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.