After more than two decades of successful partnership, the Bronx Council on the Arts (BCA)’s Longwood Arts Project and its visual arts space, the Longwood Art Gallery, will no longer be housed at the Eugenio Maria de Hostos Community College starting September 2024. The College has expressed their desire to move in a new direction regarding the use of the space.
During its residency at Hostos Community College, the Longwood Art Gallery, an anchor of the Bronx Community, has welcomed thousands of art audiences over the years and showcased hundreds of local artists’ works, as well as provided free programming for youth and numerous public programs at no cost to participants. Historically, this beloved beacon of hope has encouraged arts participation and engagement with students and the surrounding community by leveraging its brand as a well-known force in the community for artistic activism and expression.
For over 40 years, the Longwood Art Gallery has functioned as a home for contemporary art and cultural enlightenment in The Bronx by lifting the voices of emerging artists from underrepresented groups and tirelessly amplifying and championing art in the city’s most underfunded borough. A partnership between BCA and Hostos Community College in 2003 maximized the use of the Hostos Center for the Arts and Culture gallery space located at 450 Grand Concourse that became known as the Longwood Art Gallery @ Hostos.
The Bronx has historically faced social injustices and underfunding affecting mostly underrepresented people of color, women, LGBTQIA+, immigrants, and low-income earners. The Longwood Art Gallery has strived to serve these communities through innovative and inclusive programming. While the move presents a significant financial strain for BCA during a time when arts organizations are struggling to continue to offer cultural programming to benefit these communities, the move also opens new roads to creative undertakings and explorations for the historic flagship program. “Of course, this turn of events will change the way we conduct our visual arts programs, but I believe the change will also open a road for renovation and creativity. I know that with the support of partners, artists, and the larger community we will continue to offer amazing visual arts offerings for all,” said Viviana Bianchi, ED, BCA.
BCA plans to conduct its 2025 Longwood Art Gallery Season of exhibitions in the gallery of its newly renovated and fully accessible HQ, a 7,300 square foot light-filled facility in Westchester Square.
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Longwood Art Gallery History
Initiated by the Bronx Council on the Arts in 1981, the Longwood Arts Project, BCA’s flagship program, was founded in the former Public School 39 at 986 Longwood Avenue in The Bronx. The school was closed due to attrition of school-age children in the district when the area was devastated physically and economically. Community leaders turned the unfortunate closure into an opportunity to help stabilize the neighborhood by developing it into a multi-service building for city agencies and nonprofit organizations as its tenants.
The Longwood Arts Project / Longwood Art Gallery is one of the first alternative gallery spaces in The Bronx. It has a pioneering focus on artists whose traditions and cultural practices have been historically underrepresented by mainstream venues. The Project, which derived its name from its original public school location on Longwood Avenue, was relocated to the campus of Hostos Community College in 2003.
BCA has provided three art exhibits per year, either as solo and group exhibitions of works of art produced in various media, through interdisciplinary practices that connect emerging artists, communities, and ideas within and beyond The Bronx. A steward of the entire experience, BCA was responsible for curating, operations, staffing, coordination, and marketing of the exhibits. BCA’s role as a stalwart advocate for local arts and culture is now more vital than ever, now when the arts and culture sector is sorely underfunded.
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Featured image credit: DepositPhotos.com
