651 Arts

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651 Arts will receive $100,000 over two years to plan for a move to a new home. When its current lease at the BAM Harvey Theater expires in 2014, the organization will pursue its first autonomous home since its inception in 1989. An early resident of the now popular Fort Greene neighborhood in Brooklyn, 651 Arts has helped to create a pathway for an infusion of cultural organizations to cluster in the area, which has further helped to stimulate other local development. As it continues to pursue its mission of nurturing and promoting contemporary performing arts and culture of the African Diaspora, the organization recognizes the need to expand its physical capacity to respond to the needs of artists and audiences of color, who face displacement as the neighborhood gentrifies. Once it has its own dedicated performance space, 651 Arts will have greater flexibility in its programming options. Larger quarters will further allow the organization to be more nimble in responding to the dynamic needs of artists creating new work, including the need for rehearsal studios and meeting spaces. Further, its community-centered programming can continue to grow, including an expansion of 651 Arts' arts-in-education program, Moving Words, which combines literacy with the performing arts.