Past Events

The Martin Luther King Multi Purpose Center Invites Families to a FREE event at RoCA in conjunction with the Charles White: Influences exhibition.

Saturday, May 21
3:00–5:00pm
Children must be accompanied by a parent or guardian.

This event is in partnership with the Gordon Center for Black Culture and Arts, the CEJJES Institute, and Rockland Center for the Arts (RoCA).

Spend the day with the family making art together with Kanitra Perrault (art teacher at both MLK & RoCA) and learn about Charles White. This fun-filled day will include a gallery tour of the exhibitions, refreshments, as well as wood sculpture and painting art workshops! Socially conscious, politically active, inspirational, Charles White was one of the most important African-American artists working in the twentieth century. Best known for depicting people of color in both heroic and realistic ways, White's portraits reinforced the dignity, humanity and beauty of the black figure.

Also on view: "See, Observe, Think, Reflect, Internalize" Photography by Collette V. Fournier.

This program is free of charge, but registration is required. A shuttle bus will take families from MLK to RoCA at 2:30pm and will depart from RoCA at 5:00pm to return to MLK.

To Register, call (845) 358-0877, or visit www.rocklandartcenter.org.

This project is made possible with funds from the ReStart the Arts, a regrant program of ArtsWestchester with support from the Office of the Governor, the New York State Legislature and the New York State Council on the Arts.

Oil and Water
Honoring Indigenous Futures with Storytelling
A film screening & community conversation with
Brooklyn Demme & Ramapough Lenape Water Protector,  Aaron Davis

Thursday, October 27 at 7:30pm, FREE to the PUBLIC

Stories can help us come together and honor the connections which we share with the rest of the world.

Honoring Indigenous Futures with Storytelling: Oil & Water is a program of short documentary films on water, land, and indigenous sovereignty which will bring viewers from the Lakota Standing Rock Reservation, to the Split Rock Sweetwater Prayer Camp of our Ramapough Lenape first peoples in the Hudson Valley, to the Achuar community of Wachirpas in the Amazon.

The first film is Protection Not Protest: The People of Standing Rock, the final short film by Academy Award^â winner, Jonathan Demme. Following, we will see The Place Where the People Gather and The People of the River Wachirpas.

This restorative screening event is in collaboration with Truth 2 Power, the Sweetwater Cultural Center, Rivertown Films, and the Gordon Center for Black Culture and the Arts. A conversation led by filmmaker Brooklyn Demme and Ramapough Lenape Water Protector Aaron Davis will complete the evening.

The Women of South Mountain Road

Thursday, November 3 at 7:00pm

Free to the Public

Reservations are required.

Maxwell Anderson, Kurt Weill, Henry Varnum Poor, Morris Kantor … All of these men who lived and worked in the mid-twentieth-century artists’ colony on South Mountain Road gained international respect and renown. But what about the gifted female artists and intellectuals who made “The Road” their home?

Susan Deeks, executive director of the Historical Society of Rockland County, introduces ten of these women—Mary Mowbray-Clarke, Ruth Reeves, Lotte Lenya, Bessie Breuer Poor, Martha Ryther, Marjorie Content, Anne Poor, Hesper Anderson, Eva Zeisel, and Lita Hornick—to explore their unique achievements and make a case for why they should have a more prominent place in the history of American arts and letters.

This program is in conjunction with The Women of South Mountain Road exhibit on view at RoCA, October 17–November 23, 2022.

The Women of South Mountain Road exhibition and related programs are made possible thanks to essential support from Kenneth Jay Linsner, in Memory of Dr. Carole Weaver-Linsner.

My Talented Friends:
An Evening of Short Documentaries by Marta Renzi

With Brief Performances by Special Guests:
          Arthur Aviles
          Doug Elkins
          Cecil MacKinnon

Thursday, December 15 at 7:00pm 
Free to the public (space is limited and reservations are suggested)

Join us for a film screening of rarely-seen documentaries by filmmaker and choreographer, Marta Renzi. A series of documentary films featuring talented artists who just happen to be filmmaker Renzi's friends and colleagues. Each has graciously agreed to appear in a brief live performance, and /or exhibit their art. Films include: Arthur & Aileen, Dancing is an Old Friend, The Circus According to Cecil, Where the Dance Is, and Cathy & Harry. This event is in partnership with Rivertown Films. . . .

For more information or to register, call (845) 358-0877 or visit www.rocklandartcenter.org

Music Sessions in the Gallery: Toby Walker

Tickets: $25, students/$20 seniors; 
Sat., February 25 at 7:30pm

Join us for a concert with internationally-acclaimed musician and songwriter, Toby Walker. A virtuoso performer of roots music, who has been hailed as a specialist of fingerstyle guitar. He has toured the US, and Europe to thunderous accolades. Blending the blues, ragtime, country, bluegrass, old-time jazz and rock, Walker’s style is his own.

Call: 845-358-0877 or visit www.rocklandartcenter.org to order. 

Sat., April 29 at 7:30pm
Tickets: $25 students/seniors $20

It’s no secret that Deni Bonet can play the violin like nobody’s business. Or that she writes memorable songs that make you want to listen again and again. For years, Deni has been honing her craft as a violinist, singer, songwriter, and performer. Her style ranges from pop to roots-rock to new folk. Although classically trained, Deni quit the classical world because she hated having to wear black and sit still! She has a stellar resume, having performed and recorded with Cyndi Lauper, R.E.M., Sarah McLachlan, and many others. Her previous appearances include four sold-out concerts at Carnegie Hall, NPR’s Mountain Stage, The Great Wall of China, the United Nations, and the White House for President Obama. For the past several years, Deni has been touring in the US and Europe headlining festivals, performing arts centers, clubs, colleges, and concert halls soloing with symphonies. Her music has been featured on HBO, NBC, American Airlines, and several films. She was recently awarded a grant through the Arts Envoy Program of the US Government to spend a month on a residency in Africa teaching violin, songwriting, and rock ‘n’ roll at a music college in Zanzibar. Deni Bonet has released several CDs of her own original music, including last year’s critically acclaimed “Bright Shiny Objects” on Zip Records/Sony-RED. She is currently putting the finishing touches on a new album that will be released in 2022.

Chris Flynn is a guitarist and singer who has accompanied Rock and Roll Hall of Famers Ronnie Spector and Dennis Dunaway (Alice Cooper), along with Simon Kirke (Free, Bad Company), Chris Collingwood (Fountains of Wayne), Garland Jeffreys, Willie Nile, and many others. He has performed at Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center and served for many years as the musical director of the All Star Irish Rock Revue in New York City, featuring Irish luminaries such as Cait O’Riordan (The Pogues), Joanie Madden (Cherish the Ladies), and raconteurs Alphie and Malachy McCourt. He has been performing and touring with Deni Bonet for the past four years.

Call 845-359-0877 or visit www.rocklandartcenter.org to order tickets.

Music Sessions in the Gallery:
Bill and the Belles

Sat., Jan. 14^th at 7:30pm
Tickets: $25, students/$20 seniors; 

“What may be the most innovative modern interpretation of vintage roots music.”—No Depression

“Bill and the Belles is committed to helping early county music remain appreciated—not just replicated.”—Rolling Stone

They’re a joy to watch live, and we bet you can’t make it through their set without smiling.”—The Bluegrass Situation

“Bill and the Belles’ brand of Americana oftentimes feels like it’s turning back the hands of time with their charming vintage sound.”—Pop Matters

“Bill and the Belles blend a traditional stringband sound with ‘60s pop ...”—Wide Open Country

“It’s Americana as dark comedy.”—Tinnitist

Happy Again isn’t exactly happy. But the delightfully deadpan new album from roots mainstays Bill and the Belles is full of life, humor and tongue-in-cheek explorations of love and loss. Out May 21, 2021 on Ditty Boom Records (distribution and promotion by Free Dirt Service Co.), Happy Again marks a new chapter for the group by featuring eleven all-original songs penned by founding member Kris Truelsen. . . . [T]he group has a knack for saying sad things with a bit of an ironic smirk, pairing painful topics with a sense of release and relief. Anyone who’s been to one of their shows can attest that you leave feeling lighter and refreshed. . . . This raw songcraft, along with the deft production touch of Teddy Thompson, son of Linda and Richard Thompson, who encouraged using only first or second takes, gives Happy Again an emotional punch that deepens with each listen.

Particle Theory
Saturday, March 11, 7:30pm
$25, students/$20, seniors

Please call RoCA if you have any questions, 845-358-0877.

Since the mid 90s, Gregg Terlizzi, Lee Baronian, and Arthur Toufayan have created some very distinct, colorful music that collaborates Middle Eastern, Jazz and Blue Grass. . . . 

Haven

A Play by Samuel Harps
Part One: Safe Houses of the Hudson Valley

Saturday, February 18 at 8:00pm

LIMITED SEATING IS AVAILABLE FOR THIS SHOW! PLEASE CALL 845-358-0877

Rockland Center for the Arts
27 South Greenbush Road West Nyack, NY

Registration is required and begins Feb. 4^th.
Free of charge or by donation.
Masks encouraged. 

In collaboration with The Gordon Center for Black Culture and the Arts and Shades Repertory Theater.

Starring: Donna James – Steve Allen
Dameon Reilly – Maiysha Jones Reilly
Brian Bagot – Michele Evans – Scott Schneider

Costumes – Zacha Liz
Stage Manager – Allison Schneider

	This project is made possible with funds from the Statewide Community Regrants Program, a regrant program of the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature and administered by ArtsWestchester.