About this listing
A cultural center in the South Bronx
Place Details
Borough : Bronx
Neighborhood : Hunts Point
Place Matters Profile
The Point CDC is a community-based organization that uses the arts to organize for comprehensive revitalization, and social and economic justice in its local area.
The Point Community Development Corporation was founded in 1994 by Bronx residents Maria Torres, Paul Lipson, Steven Sapp, and Mildred Ruiz. All had worked at a local settlement house, Seneca House, where they gained an appreciation for applying the arts to youth work and community development. With their new endeavor, The Point's founders hoped to stimulate culture and enterprise in the Bronx in collaboration with local artists and entrepreneurs. The population in the surrounding Hunts Point and nearby neighborhoods had suffered greatly in the "urban crisis" years of the 1960s through 1980s (bad times lasted longer in the South Bronx than in other parts of the city), and the foursome planned to use the arts to revitalize and rebuild their local community. Rather than just offer social services that addressed symptoms of socio-economic disadvantage, The Point
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The Point CDC is a community-based organization that uses the arts to organize for comprehensive revitalization, and social and economic justice in its local area.
The Point Community Development Corporation was founded in 1994 by Bronx residents Maria Torres, Paul Lipson, Steven Sapp, and Mildred Ruiz. All had worked at a local settlement house, Seneca House, where they gained an appreciation for applying the arts to youth work and community development. With their new endeavor, The Point's founders hoped to stimulate culture and enterprise in the Bronx in collaboration with local artists and entrepreneurs. The population in the surrounding Hunts Point and nearby neighborhoods had suffered greatly in the "urban crisis" years of the 1960s through 1980s (bad times lasted longer in the South Bronx than in other parts of the city), and the foursome planned to use the arts to revitalize and rebuild their local community. Rather than just offer social services that addressed symptoms of socio-economic disadvantage, The Point offered a rich array of arts, environmental, and business-oriented programming to the area’s youth.
The Point is located in a mixed residential and industrial neighborhood that is bisected by the Bruckner Expressway. At one time, this was one of the most thriving commercial areas in the Bronx. Located nearby is the Hunts Point Terminal Market, built in the 1960s, which is still the largest produce market in the United States. In the early years of the 20th century, the local population was largely of Eastern European Jewish, German, and Irish descent, which after the 1950s became increasingly African American and Latino.
By the time The Point was established, much of the housing that had been abandoned and burnt during the crisis years had been rebuilt. (The area didn't regain all the units that it lost, but at least the empty, rubble-strewn, and dangerous lots were gone.) Community-based groups like The Point had, by necessity, played a large part in that renewal process. For far too long, the private and public sectors had done little to repair the damage that had been done to the physical and human landscapes of Hunts Point and neighborhoods like it around the city. By the 1990s, those still living in the area had homes, but there were few jobs nearby and very little in the way of commercial or financial services in the area. "You couldn't even find a bank," Executive Director Paul Lipson told us, "and you can't create any kind of quality of without a functioning local economy." Lipson and his colleagues set out to use the arts to stimulate economic activity. "We really felt there was a need for a creative sector to take hold. There are a lot of creative people here already, so that’s why we did this."
From the beginning, The Point's arts-driven mission has been not only community and economic development, but also the celebration of the cultural life of the South Bronx to help young people gain an appreciation for the arts. The programs for young people are important because the Bronx has the greatest percentage of residents under the age of 18 than any other borough in the city. They have youth programs in Latin and Afro-Caribbean percussion, the El Grito Dance Studio holds classes in hip hop and Latin dance, and circus workshops are taught by the circus professionals of Cirque de Monde. There are classes in video production and editing, martial arts, and photography (in collaboration with the International Center for Photography, ICP, which established a satellite studio and lab there in 1998). The Point also hosts a theater troupe of young actors, Upstage, which has presented 15 performances since 1999, and a group called The Part (The Point Actors Repertory Theater) which provides professional training in theater arts to community members age 16 and older. WPNT 1700AM, The Point’s community radio station which broadcasts to the local area, gives training in broadcasting to young people.
Environmental and environmental justice programs are also important to The Point; the neighborhood is bounded by both the Bronx and East Rivers, and the asthma rates among local residents--a condition worsened by pollution--are appallingly high. Educational offerings include a Summer Youth Day program which encourages environmental stewardship; canoe trips on the Bronx and East Rivers; boat-building; and a summer camp at Camp Quinahung in Beacon, NY. The Point's advocacy efforts have included a successful campaign to stop a new, massive waste transfer station in Hunts Point; lobbying for changes in truck routes in the area to limit traffic and pollution; and with the help of the Hunts Point Rangers (young people who work on environmental justice issues), documenting and reporting environmental abuses such as open top waste hauling, illegally dumped garbage, and illegal trucking.
The 19,000 square-foot building was once part of a complex of buildings that made up the American Banknote Building, where until 1985, paper money, stamps, and stock certificates were printed. By the time The Point's founders identified it as a prospective location, the building had been vacated. Lipson recalls, "Well, we worked up the block so we had been looking at this building for years. It was in a residential community, but it was an industrial building, a pretty rare opportunity. So you could reach people who lived here and yet have this space to do something you usually cannot do in a residential area. So we were lucky that way."
The Point makes good use of the building's ample spaces. The courtyard hosts the graffiti murals of the aerosol art collective, Tats Cru, which has made its home at The Point since 1995. Trees and plants in the courtyard have species identification for use by the environmental classes. The main doors give onto a 4,000 square-foot atrium, whose vaulted ceilings and high windows give the space an airy feel. Most of the walls are used as exhibit space for the visual arts and photographs which young people make in their workshops. In 2003 an upstairs space was renovated to create a teen center. Off the atrium is a 125-seat black box theater, the Obie Award-winning Live from the Edge Theater, which presents comedy, hip hop, poetry, Latin jazz performances, and theatrical works, and has featured such performers as Danny Hoch, Reg E. Gaines, and Dave Valentin. It is also one of the only professional stage theaters in the southeast Bronx with a continual run of shows. Since 1997 the theater has hosted "Represent the Reel: The South Bronx Film & Video Festival" which features films about the Bronx or by Bronx natives. Around the perimeter of the atrium, in the “neighborhood marketplace,” are located the small start-up shops and workshops designed to foster local entrepreneurship. Marketplace participants must live in the southeast Bronx, within certain zip codes.
The Point constantly receives calls or visits from people looking to use it as a model for their own efforts. Lipson says, "They come from Scotland, South Africa, California, Rhode Island. There is not a week that goes by that we don’t have two or three different groups coming to look at this model.
For more information, visit www.thepoint.org.
Sources
Interview with Paul Lipson by Elena Martinez for Place Matters, 2004
www.thepoint.org and organizational flyers.
[Posted, 2004]
