Updates
MoCADA’s final Soul of Brooklyn event of the year was in partnership with Bed Stuy Alive’s “Restoration Rocks! Music Festival” on October 12. The lively community event was headlined by DJ Questlove from The Roots, hip hop legend Big Daddy Kane and vocalist Chrisette Michele. Each performer throughout the event was born and raised in Brooklyn, which created enthusiasm and pride in the neighborhood. “Restoration Rocks” was a great success, bringing out hundreds of vendors and local business owners, arts organizations, Bed Stuy residents, and the wider Brooklyn community. The streets overflowed with beautiful people who came to share space with each another, see incredible performances, dance, shop, eat, and celebrate all things of the African Diaspora.

MoCADA’s fall Soul of Brooklyn programming also included a Soul of Brooklyn Block Party and Concert on Marcus Garvey Blvd in Bed Stuy. The performance featured Pegasus Warning and four other genre blending performers that aligned with the museum’s current exhibition “Pattern Recognition.” The event was a major success, engaging four different locally owned businesses on the block. The owners of each establishment noted that the Soul of Brooklyn Block Party directly resulted in a major increase in business for the day as well as an opportunity to market themselves to a new client base.

Recent Wins
-- Two of the new businesses in the Bed Stuy area (Marcus Vineyard and Bed Vyne), both of which have participated in Soul of Brooklyn programming, have experienced great increases in revenue and exposure. Not only did they gain visibility, but they also connected with artists and arts organizations. These new relationships have already resulted in partnerships that have gone beyond the day of the event.

-- After participating in Soul of Brooklyn Week, Bed Vyne, a local wine shop in Bed Stuy, has begun hosting jazz nights. By replicating the model of arts and business partnerships—the core of MoCADA's Soul of Brooklyn initiative—Bed Vyne has become one of the most popular establishments in the neighborhood in a matter of months.

-- MoCADA's most recent Soul of Brooklyn Block Party in September included a new level of diversity in terms of engaging with businesses from well established neighborhood cornerstones, to emerging ventures. The HARDWARE Store on Marcus Garvey Blvd, a staple in the community for over sixty years, was just as much a participant in the festivities as Marcus Vineyard, that just opened four months ago. Soul of Brooklyn Black Parties not only use creative arts to spur the local economy, but also to give businesses the tools to connect with and support each other.

Insight/Provocation
How do we further empower communities of color and low income communities to build and connect in light of rapid gentrification and limited resources? These neighborhoods are vibrant, rich with culture, and full of pride. How do cultural organizations continue to support this vibrancy, when institutional pressures create situations of displacement?