Harlem Youth Nonprofit To Connect Kids With Famed Artists

HARLEM, NY — A nonprofit organization that organizes educational and development programs for Harlem kids is partnering with two noted artists to expand their arts programs, the group announced this month.

Brotherhood/Sister Sol named choreographer Bill T. Jones and photographer Carrie Mae Weems — both famed in their fields — as the organization's "artists in residence" for the upcoming year. Through the artists in residence program, Jones and Weems will speak with Brotherhood/Sister Sol youth members about the importance of art and how the arts connect with issues such as activism and social change.

Arts have always been a part of Brotherhood/Sister Sol, but the organization founded its "artists in residence" program this year to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the program, executive director and co-found Khary Lazarre-White said in a statement.

"Since our inception, the arts have been an inextricable part of Bro/Sis" Lazarre-White said. "We've worked to make art accessible to our young people, both to experience the power and possibility of art and also to learn to use art as a tool for advancing social justice."

Jones and Weems will also involve the group's youth members in their work. Two Brotherhood/Sister Sol members will be selected for the cast of the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company’s April production. Alumni of the Brotherhood/Siser Sol youth program will also work with Weems and writer Zora Howard — an alumna of the program — to create an artwork exploring the theme of democracy in 2020.

"Working with Bro/Sis holds out the promise of being an essential and exciting experience at this point in my career," Jones said in a statement. "One of our first collaborations, the inclusion of two young movers in the cast of ‘Deep Blue Sea’ not only breathes the honest and brave experience of a young person today into the piece, it also give us hope that there is a power in ‘we’ during these fractious times a hope that I am sure will deepen through my yearlong role as Inaugural Artist in Residence."

The artists in residence will leave a permanent mark on Brotherhood/Sister Sol when the organization opens new educational space later this year. Weems and Jones will serve as advisers for new art installations that will be created at the six-story, 20,000-square-foot space.