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= Bronx Museum of the Arts = The Bronx Museum of the Arts (BxMA), also called the Bronx Museum of Art or simply the Bronx Museum, is an American cultural institution located in Concourse, Bronx, New York City. The museum focuses on contemporary and 20th-century works created by American artists, but it has hosted exhibitions of art and design from Latin America, Africa, and Asia. Its permanent collection consists of more than 800 paintings, sculptures, photographs, and works on paper. The museum is part of the Grand Concourse Historic District.

History
The Bronx Museum of the Arts was originally opened to try to stir interest in the arts in the Bronx borough and to serve the diverse populations of the area. The museum opened on May 11, 1971, in a partnership between the Bronx Council on the Arts, which was founded in 1961, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The opening coincided with a borough-wide "Bronx Day" event. The first exhibit consisted of 28 paintings from the Met's collection. The museum was originally housed in the first floor rotunda (the Veteran's Memorial Hall) of the Bronx County Courthouse, converted using $77,000 in municipal funds. Additional galleries were located in the Bronx's Co-op City, Bedford Park, and Allerton neighborhoods, with the Allerton gallery located in the Beth Abraham Hospital. In its first 12 years of operation, the museum held over 350 exhibitions.

In 1982, the city purchased a vacant synagogue at 165th Street and the Grand Concourse as a new location for the museum.The new location opened to the public in May 1983, in conjunction with "Bronx Week," which succeeded "Bronx Day." The new space was inaugurated with an exhibition of twentieth century artwork. It consisted of paintings, photographs, and prints borrowed form the Met. An expansion and renovation was completed in 1988 at the cost of $5.8 million.

In February 2004, construction began on a $19 million expansion project that doubled the museum's size to 33,000 square feet (3,100 m2). The expansion opened in October 2006. In 2008, a 3,000-square-foot (280 m2) arts center was added to accommodate educational programs for local schoolchildren and their families. Beginning on March 29, 2012, the museum ceased charging admission for all days, whereas previously, admission was free on Fridays only.

Design
The museum is located at the northeast corner of 165th Street and the Grand Concourse in the Concourse neighborhood of the South Bronx, slightly northeast of Yankee Stadium. The building was originally the Young Israel Synagogue, or Young Israel of the Concourse, constructed from 1959 to 1961 and designed by Ukrainian-born Simon B. Zelnick. The building was converted into a museum space in the early 1980s using concrete, steel and glass, at the cost of $2 million.

The 1988 expansion was designed by Castro-Blanco, Piscioneri & Feder, who renovated the building exterior with black granite and metal, added large continuous "ribbon windows" on the facade, and built a three-story glass atrium at one of the corners, which serves as the museum lobby. The 1988 design has been described as "awkward" and "darksome" with "cramped balconies" and a cornerside entrance that give it a "suburban mall" feel. It has also been criticized due to its lack of exhibition space.

The 2006 expansion at 1046 Grand Concourse was designed by Miami-based architecture firm Arquitectonica, which added the three-story North Wing building adjacent to the original structure. It features a larger entrance with a two-story lobby, a new gallery and enhanced educational facilities. The outer design uses a "pleated aluminum facade" in contemporary Art Deco/Art Moderne style. It consists of seven irregularly-shaped vertical aluminum pieces connected by fritted glass, resembling an accordion or paper fan.The side of the structure features black and white concrete blocks organized in geometric patterns, similar to the brick facades of rowhouses and commercial buildings in the Bronx. These walls are temporary, designed to be removed in the event of future expansion, which would replace the original museum with a residential high-rise building. At the rear of the structure on the second floor is a sculpture garden. This new expansion has been described as "a white box with raw concrete floors" that, although "institutional," serves its purpose of being accessible to all visitors.

In 2016, the museum announced that it is starting a $25 million plan to renovate and expand and well as establish a $10 million endowment. The plan will be overseen by architect Monica Ponce de Leon and has received $7 million from the mayor Bill de Blasio's office. The rest of the funds are expected to be raised privately. The first part of the renovation is expected to be completed by 2020.

Exhibitions
In 1986, the museum began "A Decade of En Foco" with the exhibition, "En Foco Documentation Portfolio N1, The New York Puerto Rican Experience." In this series of exhibitions, the Bronx Museum of the Arts showcased works by artists in the En Foco organization, a group of photographers who work to promote the work of hispanic artists. The series of exhibitions ended in 1986.

In 1987, the museum gained attention for two high-profile exhibitions: a career retrospective of African American artist Romare Bearden and a presentation of the then-evolving school of computer-generated art. More recent exhibitions have included the 2006 presentation "Tropicalia: A Revolution in Brazilian Culture" and the 2008 overview of street-level photography by Jamel Shabazz, a Harlem-based artist.

In 2013, the museum won a competition to represent the United States at the 2013 Venice Biennale; the museum commissioned “Triple Point”, an installation by artist Sarah Sze.

From November 4, 2015, to March 13, 2016, the museum held a retrospective of Martin Wong's career entitled Martin Wong: Human Instamatic.

''In 2016, the museum featured the exhibition "Mask" by photographer Frank Gimpaya who collaborated with the En Foco organization for the exhibition. The exhibition was inspired by "The Veil" by Georges Seurat and was an attempt to celebrate the work of Gimpaya and a new-era for the En Foco group. ''

''The museum annually hosts "The Artist in the Marketplace" program where a panel of art professionals select artists to participate in the program. The aim of the program is to allow emerging artists a networking opportunity. The program ends with an exhibition in the Bronx Museum of the Arts. ''

Management
The museum's founding is credited to Irma Fleck who created the museum to try to reverse the decline of the South Bronx. She was a member of the Bronx Council of the Arts.

In 2006, Holly Block became the museum's director. She was previously the executive director of Art in General, a nonprofit organization in New York City, and replaced Olivia Georgia. One of Block's most known decisions as director was to make admission at the museum free in 2012, following which the museum has quadrupled attendance.

In 2011, museum officials also put together a council of residents to serve as "cultural ambassadors" to the community and to advise them on public engagement.

In July 2018, Deborah Cullen began as the director of the museum. Previously, the position had been vacant due to the death of former director Holly Block in 2017. Cullen previously worked as the director and chief curator at the Wallach Art Gallery at Columbia University. In the future, she plans to focus on showcasing the works of emerging and minority artists.

The museum has a $2.8 million operating budget. Once supported almost entirely by government funding, it is now funded mainly by corporations, foundations and private donors. The museum is typically able to spend $10,000 to $50,000 a year for acquisitions, and it receives donations and bequests of work. In 2013, it completed a campaign to raise $1 million for a new acquisitions fund that will focus on buying the works of contemporary artists with strong connections to the Bronx.

= The Kitchen = The Kitchen is a non-profit, multi-disciplinary art and performance space located at 512 West 19th Street, between Tenth and Eleventh Avenues in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. It was founded in Greenwich Village in 1971 by Steina and Woody Vasulka, who were frustrated at the lack of an outlet for video art. The space takes its name from the original location, the kitchen of the Mercer Arts Center which was the only available place for the artists to screen their video pieces. Although first intended as a location for the exhibition of video art, The Kitchen soon expanded its mission to include other forms of art and performance. In 1974, The Kitchen relocated to a building at the corner of Wooster and Broome Streets in SoHo. In 1987 it moved to its current location.

The first music director of The Kitchen was composer Rhys Chatham. The venue became known as a place where many No Wave bands like Glenn Branca, Lydia Lunch and James Chance performed. Notable Kitchen alumni also include Philip Glass, Laurie Anderson, Rocco Di Pietro, John Moran, Jay Scheib, Young Jean Lee's Theater Company, Peter Greenaway, Michael Nyman, Steve Reich, Pauline Oliveros, Gordon Mumma, Frederic Rzewski, Ridge Theater, The Future Sound of London, Leisure Class, Elliott Sharp, Brian Eno, Arthur Russell, Meredith Monk, Arleen Schloss, Vito Acconci, Keshavan Maslak, Elaine Summers, Lucinda Childs, Bill T. Jones, David Byrne/Talking Heads, chameckilerner, John Jasperse, Bryce Dessner, Nico Muhly, ETHEL, Chris McIntyre, Sylvie Degiez, Wayne Lopes/CosmicLegends, and Cindy Sherman.

Today, The Kitchen focuses on presenting emerging artists, most of whom are local, and is committed to advancing work that is experimental in nature. Its facilities include a 155-seat black box performance space and a gallery space for audio and visual exhibitions. The Kitchen presents work in music, dance, performance, video, film, visual art, and literature.

Mercer Arts Center (1971–1973)
Looking for a way to present their work to a public audience, Steina and Woody Vasulka rented the kitchen of the Mercer Arts Center, in the former Broadway Central Hotel in Greenwich Village, Manhattan. The Vasulkas, with help from Andy Mannik, opened The Kitchen as a presentation space for video artists on June 15, 1971. Later that year, the Vasulkas added music to their programming and named Rhys Chatham the first music director. The Kitchen continued their eclectic programming at the Mercer Arts Center until the summer of 1973 when they began planning to move to 59 Wooster Street. On August 3, 1973, the building that housed the Mercer Arts Center collapsed, making this decision final.

Move to SoHo (1973–1986)
The 1973-1974 season started in The Kitchen’s new location at the corner of Wooster and Broome streets in the former LoGiudice Gallery Building. During its time on 59 Wooster Street, The Kitchen emerged as New York’s premiere avant-garde and experimental arts center. In addition to a performance space, a gallery and video viewing room were established at this location. At new location, The Kitchen began a program of video distribution, when video was still considered an experimental form.

Today (1986–present)
The Kitchen moved uptown to 512 West 19th Street to begin the spring 1986 season and subsequently purchased the space in 1987. The inaugural event series in The Kitchen’s new home was entitled New Ice Nights. In 1991, The Kitchen held its twentieth anniversary celebration: The Kitchen Turns Twenty with a retrospective mini-music festival entitled Five Generations of Composers, as well as a re-creation of Jean Dupuy’s Soup and Tart, entitled: Burp: Soup and Tart Revisited. The Kitchen remains a space for interdisciplinary and experimental work by focusing its programming on emerging artists.

In fall of 2011, after seven years as the Executive Director and Chief Curator of The Kitchen, Debra Singer handed over the reins to former ArtForum Editor-in-Chief Tim Griffin.

In 2012, Hurricane Sandy flooded The Kitchen with four feet of water from the Hudson River, causing damage of about $450,000. With insurance only cover less than half the loss from the storm, the Kitchen received grants from Time Warner and the Art Dealers Association of America, as well as from nonprofit organizations and foundations (like the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts).

Notable series and performances

 * In 1971 Hermann Nitsch staged 'Aktions' with bodies of slaughtered animals. Charlie Morrow staged Spirit Voices, chanting as shaman with Gordon Mumma saw, Carol Weber, flutes, a tuba ensemble and high intensity soundscapes.
 * In May 1975, Steve Reich and Musicians gave a performance of Work in Progress for 21 musicians and singers. Completed and premiered in 1976, the piece became Music for 18 Musicians, now regarded as one of the composer's landmark works.
 * Robert Mapplethorpe presented one of his first photography exhibitions entitled Erotic Photos at The Kitchen in 1977.
 * The Kitchen began its dance programming in 1978 by establishing its Dancing In The Kitchen series curated by Cynthia Hedstrom. The goal of this series was to "stretch the established boundaries of choreographic expression and [explore] new movement vocabularies" by presenting works of dance and movement by both choreographers and non-choreographer.
 * In 1979, The Kitchen began its Contemporary Music Series with goal of highlighting "connections between different musical genres and styles of composition." Noteworthy composers presented during this series include Anthony Braxton, Philip Glass, and Anthony Davis among many others. The series was curated by experimental composer and performer Arto Lindsay.
 * The Kitchen hosted the New Music/New York festival and conference in 1979. It included performances by Laurie Anderson, Robert Ashley, Don Cherry, Tony Conrad, Petr Kotik, Alvin Lucier, Charlemagne Palestine, Steve Reich Ensemble, among others. The festival was renamed New Music America in 1980 and was held in a different city each year until its final iteration in 1990.
 * In June 1981, The Kitchen hosted a 10th Anniversary celebration called Aluminum Nights. The two-day celebration featured film and video screenings by Steina and Woody Vasulka, Vito Acconci, Robert Ashley, Nam June Paik, The Kipper Kids, John Cage, and Robert Wilson; musical performances by Laurie Anderson, Booji Boy, Glenn Branca, Philip Glass Ensemble, Brian Eno, Fab Five Freddy, Love of Life Orchestra, Meredith Monk, Steve Reich and Musicians, Z'EV, Talking Heads, and George Lewis; and dance performances by Laura Dean, Bebe Miller, and Arnie Zane.
 * Beastie Boys gave one of their early performances at The Kitchen on December 12, 1983.
 * In 1991, a program called Working in The Kitchen brought together a group of choreographers who worked collaboratively over a four-month period to create performances at The Kitchen. In the spirit of this program, a series was established in 1995 called Dance and Process, in which a group of emerging choreographers are given a residency to develop their work in a collaborative "workshop" environment with the guidance of an established choreographer as the curator. Past curators have included Sarah Michelson, Dean Moss, Yasuko Yokoshi, and Miguel Gutierrez. Dance and Process is The Kitchen's longest running series.
 * In 1995, 10 November, David Hykes' Earth to the Unknown Power was performed here by The Harmonic Choir. The concert was sent live via ISDN to Le Thoronet Abbey in Southern France, where the exquisite acoustics was recorded and then broadcast back to the audience in New York.
 * From 2000 to 2005, The Kitchen produced a music series called Kitchen House Blend in which composers were commissioned to write for its "house band," a 10-piece experimental chamber ensemble whose instrumentation included drums, percussion, keyboard, trumpet, trombone, two multi-instrumentalist wind players, violin, cello, and bass. Conceived by Music Curator John King, the goal for Kitchen House Blend was to combine musicians and composers from various communities to create new works that crossed boundaries of style and performance practice. During the series, The Kitchen commissioned music by a total of 30 composers including Matthew Shipp, Susie Ibarra, Roy Nathanson, Elliott Sharp, Roy Campbell, Jr., Zeena Parkins, Evan Ziporyn, Kitty Brazelton, Vijay Iyer, Anthony Coleman, Lee Hyla, David Krakauer, Ikue Mori, Lois V Vierk, and Derek Bermel. The group also performed and toured choreographer Molissa Fenley and composer and pianist Anthony Davis' early 1980s collaborative work Hemispheres.
 * In 2011, The Kitchen marked its 40th Anniversary with a number of events throughout the year, beginning with the Spring Benefit Gala, which honored Philip Glass on May 4. Next, were two music events celebrating the anniversary. The first event, Aluminum Music April 15–16 – which itself was a thirty-year commemoration of a 1981 Kitchen event Aluminum Nights  – featured Z'EV and No-Wavers Bush Tetras on April 15, followed by former Music Director (and Aluminum Nights co-curator) George Lewis with Peter Gordon’s Love of Life Orchestra on the bill April 16. The second music event was September 9–10, curated by the first Kitchen Music Director Rhys Chatham, Pioneers of the Downtown Sound with Pauline Oliveros, Joan La Barbara, and Chatham playing on September 9 and Tony Conrad, Laurie Spiegel, and Chatham featured on September 10.The anniversary culminated with the summer-long exhibition The View from a Volcano: The Kitchen’s Soho Years, 1971-85which highlighted the rich history of the early years with video documentation and ephemera from works by such artists as Vito Acconci, Laurie Anderson, Karole Armitage, Robert Ashley, Charles Atlas, Beastie Boys, Eric Bogosian, John Cage, Jean Dupuy, Molissa Fenley, Joan Jonas, Bill T. Jones, Christian Marclay, Meredith Monk, Nam June Paik, Steve Reich, Rock Steady Crew, Arthur Russell, Elizabeth Streb, Talking Heads, Steina and Woody Vasulka, Bill Viola, and more.

Archive
In 2014, the Getty Research Institute announced its acquisition of The Kitchen’s archives, including 5,410 videotapes and more than 600 audiotapes, as well as photographs and ephemera documenting performances, exhibitions and events staged from 1971 to 1999. Also included in the archive are 246 posters designed by artists like Robert Longo and Christian Marclay.

Notable directors and curators

 * Steina and Woody Vasulka - Directors and video curators (1971–1972)
 * Dimitri Devyatkin - Video director with the founders (1971-1973)
 * Rhys Chatham - Music director (1972–1973 and 1977–1980)
 * Arthur Russell - Music director (1974–1975)
 * Garrett List - Music director (1975–1977)
 * Robert Longo - Video curator (1977–1981)
 * Roselee Goldberg - Gallery and performance curator (1978–1980)
 * Eric Bogosian - Dance curator (1978–1981)
 * Mary MacArthur (Griffin) - Director (1978 -1984)
 * George Lewis - Music director (1980–1982)
 * Ann DeMarinis - Music director (1982–1985)
 * Amy Taubin - Video curator (1983–1988)
 * Robert Wisdom - Music director (1985-1986)
 * Arto Lindsay - Music director (1986–1987)
 * Cynthia Hedstrom - Dance curator (1986–1990)
 * Lauren Dyer Amazeen - Executive Director (1991-1997)
 * John Maxwell Hobbs - Producing Director/Director of New Technology (1991-1997)
 * Kathryn Greene - Hybrid and performance Art curator (1994-1997)
 * Ira Silverberg - Literature curator (1989–1995)
 * Ben Neill - Music director (1992–1998)
 * John King - Music director (1999–2003)
 * Bernadette Speach - Director (1996–1998)
 * Neil Greenberg - Dance curator (1995–1999)
 * Frederic Tuten - Literature curator (1995–2000)
 * Dean Moss - Dance curator (1999–2005)
 * Debra Singer - Executive Director and Chief Curator (2004–2011)
 * Tim Griffin - Executive Director and Chief Curator (2011–present)
 * Lumi Tan, one of the museum's curators, was named one of the 25 women curators to watch by ArtNet in 2015.