REIMAGINING: Fall Get-Together

VCPA’s Fall Get-Together is our final REIMAGINING event of the season. We look forward to an afternoon of interactive music and art.  Create a meaningful homage to honor your own ancestors and craft a personal message to leave behind to commemorate the burial ground and those who are buried there. The event will feature live music highlighting traditional Afro-Caribbean rhythms and dances including bomba, plena, guaracha, and changüí. Attendees will have the opportunity to play instruments and learn some dance moves.

This unique gathering blends art, music, and community in a powerful act of reimagining, bringing people together in a shared experience of creativity and remembrance.

As our community reimagines what can be at the Burial Ground, we encourage you to take the survey to let us know more about what you would like to see in this sacred space. 

REIMAGINING: Fall Get-Together  is part of Van Cortlandt Park Alliance’s initiative. In partnership with the Design Trust for Public Space and Immanuel Oni, Liminal Sp, VCPA invites the community to reimagine the park’s Enslaved African Burial Ground site as a memorial space that fosters long-term healing and restoration. This project is supported by the Mellon Foundation.

Featured Artists:
Juan Usera is a fourth-generation Bomba practitioner and culture-bearer from Santurce, Puerto Rico, a community educator, researcher, college professor, musician, and performer. He specializes in Puerto Rican and Caribbean music and culture and has over 20 years of experience developing highly engaging cultural activities and arts programs throughout the New York tri-state area. Juan is the founder and director of La Tribu del Juey Sambuco (La Tribu), an Afro-Caribbean music and dance ensemble and arts in education company. La Tribu has been featured at Lincoln Center and El Museo del Barrio among many others. He is the recipient of a NYSCA Folk and Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Grant, City Parks Foundation grant, and NYFA City Artists Corps grant among others.

Ghanaian-born artist Tijay Mohammed currently resides in Bronx, NY. As an artist he has a strong passion for exploring issues that affect community and humanity at large. His work explores the concept of ‘excess’ in the production and consumption of products, and offers a solution through the integration of materials reuse and up-cycling. Tijay has spearheaded workshops and community-oriented projects for esteemed organizations, including the Studio Museum Harlem, Brooklyn Museum, Sugar Hill Children’s Museum of Art & Storytelling, Children’s Museum of Manhattan, Wallach Art Gallery, Lehman College, University of Ghana, and Pinto Community Centre in Trinidad and Tobago.

Immanuel Oni is a first-generation Nigerian-American artist and spatial designer living in New York City originally from Houston, TX. He believes art is not about what he is making, but who he is making it for. His work explores loss and its deep connection with space. He utilizes spatial justice design and visual storytelling to unearth narratives related to trauma, healing, and ritual. His canvas consists of repurposing existing public space infrastructure such as light posts, fencing, underutilized green areas or mobile spaces to prompt community dialogue and connection. He has led and participated in international art and urbanism workshops in Venice, Hong Kong, and Lagos. He has been a Fellow for the Design Trust for Public Space, Culture Push, New York for Culture and Arts, More Art Engaging Artist Commission NY, and received awards from Naturally Occurring Cultural Districts NY, Youth Design Center, Architectural League of New York, and the New York State Council of the Arts. He is a former Director of Community Design at the New York City’s Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice and Adjunct Professor at Parsons the New School for Design. He is the co-founder and Creative Director of Liminal, a non-profit that works at the intersection of art, unity, and space.

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Enslaved African & Kingsbridge Burial Ground, John Kieran Nature Trail, The Bronx, United States