A Meeting of Community Minds at CAC@SJB

CAC@SJB family members Luis Bernard (poet), Rich Robles (musician), 

and Glenn Angel Echevarria (artist) invite you to the Center

Who said community organizers don't do much or have any real responsibilities?

Forget Sarah Palin!!  We welcome the community organizers, artists, poets, musicians who are making things happen in our under-served communities to come for a special "Moment of Noize" gathering at the Center for the Arts & Culture @SJB in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn.  The members of CAC@SJB  invite you to this special gathering at the Center on Saturday, Nov.8, 2008 from 1pm  - 4pm.. to meet and speak about the important issues that are compelling us to work inside our community through all our god-given artistic talents.

  

Luis "Mr. B" Bernard blazes the mic for the crowd

at a Poetry 4 Peace event at the Center

We will have a mixture of art, poetry, and music as the backdrop for the discussion forum we will be hosting.  There will be an open mic for anyone who wants to get up and share whatever they would like with everyone in attendance.  This is a great opportunity to share one another's ideas, make some new contacts, start new community relationships, begin new friendships, and just network with other community artists, activists, and organizers who share the same passion for community and making a difference!    

  

Advisory Team member and multi-talented musician, Richie Robles, 

shares some of his thoughts and ideas at one the Center's Lyrical Sanctuary gatherings 

CAC@SJB is a pure grassroots, volunteer-driven, community arts center made up of individuals who care about making a difference, and have been doing so since 2002.  We invite you to join us help make a difference in our community, and in the lives of our youth who need mentors and safe places for them to go. 

 Dynamic young poet, Yazmira "Yazzie" Hurtuado, and artist, 

Glenn Angel, share a hug at the Center

If you are a community artist, poet, musician, activist, or want to be one.. come join us and share what it is you'd like to do and maybe we can help make things happen for you at the Center!  For more info about this special community gathering at the Center for the Arts & Culture @SJB, contact Glenn Echevarria at CACSJB@yahoo.com (646)763-4260 or Luis Bernard at InProgress@verizon.net (347)623-2547.  We look forward to seeing you there!

For Directions to CAC@SJB, click into the "Home" link at the bottom of this post.. then go the "links" section 

at the top right side of the blog.

Danielle's Birthday Celebration at CAC@SJB - An unforgettable afternoon full of memories, tears, and a lot of love

Members of Danielle's family including her brother, Rashid (left), sister Monique (center),

and her mother (right) at the Center during Danielle's Birthday Celebration

A week ago on Saturday, Oct. 4th, a special gathering of friends, family, and colleagues met at the Center for the Arts & Culture @SJB to celebrate the life of one unique and very special young woman in all our lives, Danielle Locario, who returned home to the Lord late last month. It was an emotional afternoon for all who attended the special occassion.. but the spirit in the center was joyous, loving, uplifting, and simply blessed.

Artist, Jay Gonzalez, works on the portrait dedicated to Danielle during the week

before Dani's Birthday Celebration at the Center

Danielle's brother, William Jr., and father, William Sr., blessed the occassion and

posed in front the completed portrait of Danielle created by artist, Jay Gonzalez

The Center's walls were beautifully adorned with Danielle's favorite artwork and paintings from the Center, while her favorite songs played in the background throughout the afternoon. Family members, friends, co-workers, and fellow volunteers from Bedford Stuyvesant Volunteer Ambulance Corps (where Danielle served as a Deputy Chief and volunteer EMT), took turns sharing their feelings and memories of Danielle, and the great outpouring of love was moving and very inspiring. Individual after individual stepped up to the open-mic and made us laugh and cry as everyone just embraced our memories of Danielle, and we found great comfort and support in celebrating her life together, and the great impact Dani made in each of ours.

Danielle's family, friends, and co-workers packed the

Center for Dani's Birthday Celebration

Our great friend and extraordinary poet, Malik Canty,

blessed us all with his deep poetry

Other special guests who knew Danielle came to share poetry, sing songs, and we were all treated to a very special dance from the wonderful teen dance group, What You See Is What You Get, from St. John's parish, that was choreographed by Ms. Aloha Peartree and dedicated to Danielle.

Aloha Peartree shares memories and introduces her community teen dance group

St. John's community teen dance group, What You See Is What You Get,

dance for Danielle (part 1)

What You See Is What You Get.. dance for Danielle (part 2)

As you can see, this celebration of Danielle's life in honor of her 25th birthday was an afternoon that touched our hearts and had us all praising the Lord for blessing us with the gift of Danielle during her time on this earth. The following videos are short clips of individual testimonies in memory of Danielle from her birthday celebration at the Center that we invite all of Dani's family, friends, and guests of the Center's blog to view and take into your heart. We hope these testimonies and memories of Danielle touch your heart as they have ours.. and help bring some peace and healing from the sorrow we all feel in Danielle's passing through celebrating her life. In that way, we know she is always going to be with us.. in our hearts.. forever.

One of Dani's neighbors reflects on her life

Sharing feelings and memories of Danielle on the open-mic

"Mr. B" Luis Bernard shares some of his feelings and memories of Danielle

Daughter of Charity and friend, Sr. Anne Marie, shares her feelings (part 1)

Daughter of Charity and friend, Sr. Anne Marie, shares her feelings (part 2)

Dani's closest friend and sister, Denise Springer, shares some of her feelings

Close friend, Vaden Culpepper, poignantly shares his heart and feelings

at Dani's birthday celebration

Close friend and CAC@SJB Director, Glenn Angel Echevarria, sings U Are An Angel for Danielle

We greatly thank Danielle's family and friends for all their love, support, and assistance in making this special occassion an unforgettable and healing one for all of us at the Center. We must also acknowledge St. John's parish for allowing us the space and opporttunity to celebrate her life with dignity and respect for all she did to make a difference in all our lives, and in the Bed-Stuy community and parish she loved at St. John the Baptist.

Sr. Anne Marie helps lead the closing prayer at Dani's birthday celebration

We hope you enjoyed this post and encourage you to share some of your comments with us by clicking on the "Comments" link at the bottom right of this post. Any more feelings and memories of Danielle are greatly welcome. We will share all of these memories and comments on this post as we recieve them.

Thank you.. be blessed.. and see you at the Center again for our next activities and special events!

CAC@SJB is BACK!!!

CAC@SJB Director, Community Coordinator, and Artist,
Glenn Angel Echevarria, paints at the Center

The Center for the Arts & Culture at St. John the Baptist is back!

Yes.. once again, after the long Summer break, CAC@SJB is re-opening its doors for the community again for a series of special events and activities this fall and winter. All community residents are welcome to attend.

Glenn (center left) with Dominique Roberts and members
from teen rap group, Epi-F-Any, at the Center last year

CAC@SJB will be open on Mondays and other selected evenings during the week beginning next Monday, 4 pm – 8pm. This year, the Center is celebrating 6 years of existence at St. John the Baptist parish, where we’ve been offering the community various events, programs, workshops, and live performances in celebration of the arts since 2002.

St. John's Youth Group Mural - Designed by Glenn Angel

This mural was painted by 16 youth group members in Sept. 2001,
and is presently on display in the Youth Area at St. John's Parish in Brooklyn.

The human spirit is reborn and lifted to new heights whenever we come together in this very special place. We welcome you to be a part of it as we celebrate 6 amazing and blessed years of living, breathing, and overdosing on all the beautiful and wonderful expressions of art we've created and have experienced at the Center.

Glenn Angel instructs a young teen in the painting of a mural

You will no doubt come to realize, as many others before have, that CAC@SJCAC@SJB has proven itself to be “the little Center that could.” It's the dedication B is simply the hidden gem of St. John’s parish, and one of Brooklyn's unknown treasures. With all the obstacles placed before and around it since day one, and commitment to keep our Center alive for the whole community that drives the family members of CAC@SJB to keep fighting the good fight, overcome the obstacles, bypass the haters, and focus on achieving new goals through our "faith with works." This is not a venture for money, or personal ambitions.. solely a unified mission and true passion to fill a great void in our community.. a place where there is no favortism, nepotism, or negativism. We love giving back what God has given us.. the gift of love through the beautiful art of life.

CAC@SJB Advisory Team member, Howard Folk (squatted in the center)
poses with a group at last Spring's Poetry Workshop

Once again, we look forward to seeing you back at the Center this year, as well as getting to meet the new faces that are sure to come by and enjoy what CAC@SJB has been offering the community for the past 6 years; a safe haven in the community of Bedford-Stuyvesant where art, music, poetry, culture, and community activism are alive and celebrated as an integral part of our lives and our very souls. We are a committed group of individuals who hold firmly to the gift of art and self-expression.. and we always look to connect with others in the community to work together to help lift up our community. How about you?

Long-time friend (CAC@SJB Advisory Team member) and multi-talented
musician, Richie Robles, paints a panel for the Center

For more info, if you would like to join us at the Center this year, contact Glenn Angel Echevarria at (646)763-4260, or via e-mail at GlennAngel@Gmail.com or Richie Robles at (646)335-7144.

You could always e-mail us at the Center at

CACSJB@yahoo.com

Some of the upcoming activities and events to look forward to..

Open-house Painting Sessions w/ Glenn Angel

Guitar Lessons for Beginners w/ Richie Robles

The Center’s 6^th Anniversary Group Art Exhibition

The Return of the Lyrical Sanctuary

New Poetry Events

Holiday Jam 2008

Celebrating Black History & Love II.. and more!

We look forward to seeing you at the Center soon

at one of our special events!

A Poem by Danielle Locario: My Downfall

Happy Birthday, Dani..

Oct. 3,1983 - Sept. 21, 2008

My Downfall

I don't remember what started it all.
It's tough to identify my own downfall.
Of all the days I look back and see
I still can't identify, why it wasn't meant to be.
At the time I was so blinded by a mistake
An error that would soon control my own fate.
A destiny that was choreographed by God.
A plan that was forever mapped in the stars.
He hurt me so bad, that time in the past.
The evidence, my pain, I thought it would last.
How did I come to choose him, I still do not know.
That lying, conniving cheat, I met long ago.
Was it entirely my fault, that tragic escapade?
These moments so clear, and now they have begun to fade.
I learned a valuable lesson that time long ago.
It ended in my downfall, this I now know.
It started a show, a small time drama.
Soon it matriculated to a full blown soap opera.
There are still a few shadows, but I can now hide the shame.
That time in the dark, the moment of pain.

WE'LL ALWAYS LOVE YOU AND MISS YOU, DANI. GOD BLESS YOU FOREVER..

Celebrating Danielle's 25th Birthday

This is an open invitation for all family and friends of our beloved young sister, Danielle Locario, to come and celebrate her 25th Birthday this coming Saturday, Oct. 4 from 1 - 5pm at the Center.

Sadly for us all, Danielle passed away on Sunday, Sept. 21, almost 2 weeks before her birthday on Friday, Oct. 3rd. As Danielle was a member of the Advisory Team and Planning Committee for the Center since 2003, we felt it would be wonderful to honor Danielle for her time, commitment, and service to us, St. John's parish, and the community over the years by celebrating her birthday with art, a little poetry, and the music she loved in a place she loved, the Center for the Arts & Culture @ SJB. We welcome any of her family members, friends, co-workers, and colleagues to come and be a part of this very special afternoon celebration. We will have an open mic for anyone who would like to share some thoughts, feelings, poetry, and memories of Danielle with all of us. We greatly encourage it! Beginning at 3pm, we will have a special presentation and a reflection in honor of Danielle.

Danielle shares her poetry at the Center last year

Special Notice: A fund is being created for Danielle's family in her name. We are asking all to help contribute anything you can to this special fund which will be extended to her family in order to help assist them during this very difficult time. We greatly appreciate any and all contributions you can provide. For more info, and to make a contribution to Danielle's Fund, please, contact Denise Springer at (718)207-2843 or Glenn Echevarria at (646)-763-4260.

Although all of us who were close to Danielle are still in a state of shock and continue to mourn the passing of our dear young sister, we will celebrate Danielle's life with a lot of joy and love on this special day.. because not only does she deserve it, she's earned it! We hope you will come and celebrate her courageous and inspiring life with us this coming Saturday at the Center. Until then, enjoy the rest of your week, be well, and may God bless us and Dani forever. See you there..