*To purchase tickets to the fundraiser or to pay your artist submission fee use Google Checkout located at the bottom of this page, or pay with cash or check. Checks can be made payable to Bronx River Art Center and mailed to P.O. Box 5002, Bronx, NY, 10460. You can also pay at the door in cash or check with ID.

WHY:  This fall marks a critical moment in the Bronx River Art Center's (BRAC) nearly 25-year history, as a two-year renovation of our building is set to break ground in January 2011. This renovation will ensure that BRAC will be an inviting and safe haven for generations to come. During this time, we intend to maintain our commitment to providing quality visual arts and digital media instruction, and presenting cutting-edge and socially significant contemporary art at locations throughout the Bronx as part of our "BRAC on the Block" off-site programming plan. But, these changes also present the additional costs of moving and multiple rents for our temporary spaces, which we seek to address through a month-long series of celebratory fundraising events. Our goal is to ensure that all of our supporters and participants are aware of, and can find, our temporary residencies and, to ask the Bronx community to help us meet the additional expenses associated with this broad distribution of our programming.

WHAT:  Throughout September, our "Harvest Move" fundraising drive will offer several fun-filled activities:

• A series of Sidewalk Art Sales on five Wednesdays, in conjunction with the Phipps West Farms Farmers' Market days. The Student Art Sidewalk Sale will include a variety of artwork, including ceramics, drawings, paintings, and prints, created by our talented students. We encourage local residents as well as art appreciators from all over the city to stop by and add work by future art-stars to their collections at astonishingly affordable prices.
  • Where: Outside our building at 1087 E. Tremont Ave
  • When: 10am - 3pm every Wednesday from September 1st through September 29th, 2010.

• Our Gallery's season opening exhibition, "About Me."
  • Where: At our new "temporary" gallery space – Bronx Art Space at 305 East 140th Street (between 3rd and Alexander Avenues – in the Bronx Cultural Corridor).
  • When: The evening of September 10th

• The BIG event – a celebratory FUNdraising Party on the Harvest Moon (fall equinox). This will be the VERY LAST event in our home gallery at 1087 East Tremont Ave. This event will include live music, a DJ, and a free happy hour from 6 – 7 PM, all for the nominal benefit ticket price of $20 per person or two for $30.
  • Where: At BRAC's building at 1087 E. Tremont Ave.
  • When: Thursday, Sept 23rd from 6 – 9 PM.
  • Outernational Sounds by DJ Lightbolt (www.lightbolt.net)

• The FUNdraising Party will also include an audience juried Art exhibition and sale. This exhibition is open to artists of all ages working in any medium. There is a $20 entrance fee per piece of work submitted. But wait! Don't stop reading! There's something in it for you. Your submission gets you free entry into the FUNdraising event and you get a $10 event admission discount for a friend. $10 of your submission fee goes directly to supporting BRAC. The other $10 goes into a pot with all the other submissions. Throughout the evening the audience will judge which works they think are the best. At the end of the night we will award 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place to three pieces of artwork with a cash prize from the sum of money collected. All work in the exhibition will be offered for sale at a price the artist chooses. Anything that sells during the evening will be handled like a gallery sale with 50% going to support the center and 50% going to the artist. If your work doesn't sell you get to take it home! You can submit by paying your submission fee online through Google Checkout at the bottom of this page and dropping off your work at the gallery anytime before the FUNdraiser between September 6th and 23rd (contact us to coordinate a time). Or you can carry your work to the event and pay your $20 submission fee in cash at the door. We'll hang it right then and there. Be sure to arrive right at 6pm for open bar happy hour and to ensure ample time for your artwork to garner votes.

• The month-long activities will culminate with "Registration Weeks" for our fall semester of after-school art classes. Registration will run from Monday, September 27th through Saturday October 9th, and will take place at our new, temporary "command center" just around the corner from our current location, at 2064 Boston Road, at 179th Street. As an introductory incentive we will be holding FREE intro art workshops on our terrace at our new temporary space (2064 Boston Road) in each of our five media: Filmmaking (for teens) on Monday, Cartooning on Tuesday, Digital Photography (for teens) on Wednesday, Ceramic Sculpture on Thursday, Portfolio Preparation (for 8th & 12th graders) on Friday, and Drawing & Painting on Saturday during the first week of registration, September 27th through October 1st. Workshops will be from 4 – 6 pm, Monday through Friday and 12 – 2 pm on Saturday. This will be a wonderful opportunity for students to become familiar with the variety of art media we offer as well as our new home base, where our administrative offices as well as our digital media lab will be located.

During the month of September, we will also gladly accept donations online through Google Checkout at the bottom of this page as we count down to our "Harvest Move" fundraising goal of $50,000. This amount will secure our multiple rents for our first year out of our building and cover our moving costs so that all of our FY11 operating budget can be spent on providing the our first-rate arts programming.

We look forward to seeing familiar as well as new faces throughout the month of September at one or another of our special "Harvest Move" events. We also hope to see you "On the Block" throughout the next two years.

Thank you to everyone that made it out to see us through our move! 

Thank you to all the businesses that donated delicious food for the event.