The Pulsing Heart of Afro-Carribean Culture

By DESIREE JACKSON

The Caribbean Cultural Center African Diaspora Institute, the nation’s leading Afro-Caribbean cultural center, held a ground-breaking ceremony on Tuesday in East Harlem at a former fire station on 125^th St.

The new location will serve as a stepping stone to regenerating Afro-Caribbean culture in the Harlem community.

The four-story fire house that was designed by Napoleon LeBrun & Sons in 1889, will be filled with various galleries, activities and performances that will teach residents the history of this vibrant culture.

Inside the newly renovated space the sounds of African drums could be heard as a band of men dressed in traditional African garb, beat on drums to create a sense of euphoria and welcoming as residents and community leaders filled the space. Outside members of the ever growing staff stood in front of the building holding signs that displayed faces of influential Afro-Caribbean figures, such as Marcus Garvey and others.

The location of the building, which lies between Park and Lexington Avenue roshe run hyp femmes fits right in with the communities that it serves connecting the predominantly African American and African commuinties in West and Central Harlem with the Latino residents on Fifth Avenue.

This blend of cultures will also bring money and jobs to East Harlem , the organizers said.

“Part-time jobs for artists working in the schools,” said Marta Moreno Vega, founder and president of the non-profit organization. “We’ll have consulting jobs for technology and working with young people in the schools and in addition there will be staffing positions.”

The center was set to open in September 2015 and has raised some  $7.5 million through fund-raising and politicial support  to revamp the fire station that was closed and considered a “dead-zone” in 2003.

Vega concluded: “I want everybody to understand this is a reflection of us; a building doesn’t make culture it’s the people that make culture. What we celebrate is the community not the building.”