Project Backboard in St. Nicholas Park

Almost every New York City park has at least one basketball court. They are ubiquitous in this city, a beloved space to enjoy time outdoors with friends and family. The courts in my neighborhood are in St. Nicholas Park, a stretch of parkland that runs from 127th Street to 141st Street, forming a green haven for residents of West Harlem. At almost any time of day, the basketball courts in St. Nicholas Park are full of kids practicing their skills, teenagers playing pickup games, or families enjoying the sunshine and exercise. One of my neighborhood courts recently got a makeover courtesy of an initiative called Project Backboard. This organization works with artists to repaint public basketball courts all over the country, installing colorful works of art “in order to strengthen communities, improve park safety, encourage multi-generational play, and inspire people to think more critically and creatively about their environment.” The St. Nicholas basketball court was designed by artist and Harlem native Faith Ringgold, a prolific multimedia artist best known for creating narrative quilts. The court design is based on her 1974 work “Windows of the Wedding #1: Woman.” The large-scale version of the work is an abstract, colorful pattern which “will be transformed into something of living narrative quilt” as countless stories play out on top of the painted surface.

Labor Day on Little Island

We’re relaxing on our long weekend, enjoying the sunshine and cooler weather. From the lookout of New York City’s newest park, Little Island, the view is spectacular. You can see for miles down the Hudson – even the Statue of Liberty, several miles away in New York Bay, is visible on a clear day. The man-made island, built on the site of historic Pier 54, which was severely damaged by Hurricane Sandy, opened to the public just a few months ago. The charming park is a perfect way to enjoy the Labor Day holiday. We hope you get to relax on a little island of your own!

Immersive Van Gogh Exhibit at Pier 36

Usually, when we see fine art, it is displayed fixed to the wall of a museum. No matter how vibrant and expressive the images are, the work remains inert, trapped by a frame. But at the Immersive Van Gogh exhibition at Manhattan’s Pier 36, the viewer is plunged into a living painting. The vivid colors and expressive brushstrokes that are Van Gogh’s signature come to life on the walls, floors, and mirrored surfaces of the space. The artist’s huge body of work is animated and projected in a cavernous exhibition space, accompanied by an expertly curated soundtrack. The result is breathtaking – some moments quite literally drew gasps from the attendees gathered in the space. It is a rare experience to step inside of a painting and watch it come to life, and Vincent Van Gogh’s gorgeous post-impressionist style creates a dream-like atmosphere that is unlike anything else.

Merry Wives at Shakespeare in the Park

Some people think of Shakespeare as stuffy, old-fashioned, and difficult to understand. That’s because many people have only experienced Shakespeare’s plays in a classroom, reading cramped text out of a dusty book. The Public Theater aims to change that perception – they stage fun, modern productions of Shakespeare’s plays every summer, and then give out tickets for free. Though the theater remained dark last year, this year Free Shakespeare in the Park returned with a production of “Merry Wives,” a fresh take on “The Merry Wives of Windsor.” Writer Jocelyn Bioh moved the setting to South Harlem, in a community of West African immigrants. The cast, which is made up of exclusively Black actors, recites Shakespeare’s words in a variety of accents. Rather than the clipped British tones that you frequently hear from those reading Shakespeare, the characters in “Merry Wives” speak in the cadences of Ghana, Nigeria, Jamaica, and New York City. Major scenes in the show take place in a Senegalese hair braiding salon, a laundromat, and a city park, rather than in a manor house and its grounds, making the show feel firmly rooted in present-day Harlem. The show is riotously funny, beautifully staged, and superbly acted, and is a fantastic example of Shakespeare for a modern audience.