As we prepare to come together for our annual GATHER celebration, we want to share a few reflections on our choice of venue, the Crown Hill Theatre.
We know this site carries a layered history and continues to hold deep meaning within our community. For years, it was home to The Black Lady Theatre, a space that celebrated Afrocentrism and served as a cultural anchor for Black arts and culture in Brooklyn. Today, it is also a place of possibility, as new efforts are being made to sustain it as a community venue––a home to music performances, youth education programs, and other activities that nurture creativity and connection. We hold both of these truths with care and respect.
We also know that honoring place sometimes means holding tension. In choosing Crown Hill Theatre, we weighed these complexities alongside our responsibility to keep this program local to Central Brooklyn and to find a venue that could physically accommodate a live musical performance and artist presentation of this scale. Within our neighborhood, those spaces have become rare and are greatly needed. Our choice was not about overlooking history, but about staying rooted here, in relationship with our community, even within imperfection.
As an organization rooted in the belief that art and community go hand in hand, we take seriously the places in which we gather. That care includes acknowledging the layered histories of space in Bed-Stuy & Central Brooklyn. Our work is grounded here, shaped by these histories, and committed to amplifying the creativity and resilience of its people. Entering Crown Hill, we do so with awareness of that complexity, and with the spirit of community and creativity that we carry into all of our work.
We don’t take lightly the dynamics surrounding this site. We acknowledge them while choosing to focus on what brings us together: celebrating art, building connection, and affirming the vitality of Black cultural spaces in Central Brooklyn at a time when so many are rapidly disappearing.
We also know that the history of this site continues to raise important questions and emotions in our community. While our focus in this moment is on gathering for art and connection, we remain committed to being part of the broader conversations about the layered histories of place and what it means to nurture Black cultural spaces in Bed-Stuy and beyond.
In Community,
Ayesha Williams