[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 92 (Friday, June 24, 2011)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1210-E1211]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




IN CELEBRATION OF THE UNVEILING OF THE 2011 ``BID ON CULTURE'' WINNING 
                 BANNERS RECOGNIZING BLACK MUSIC MONTH

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. CHARLES B. RANGEL

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                         Friday, June 24, 2011

  Mr. RANGEL. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the Artists whose 
designs were selected through the BID on Culture banner design 
competition. On Tuesday, June 21, the 125th Street Business Improvement 
District along with the Harlem Arts Alliance, Inc. and the Harlem 
Community Development Corporation, unveiled the 2011 ``BID on Culture'' 
winning banners in recognition of June Black Music Month.
  BID on Culture is a new initiative developed through the partnership 
between the 125th Street Business Improvement District (125th BID), the 
Harlem Arts Alliance (HAA) and the Harlem Community Development 
Corporation (HCDC) to showcase and promote our rich unique heritage 
while bringing recognition to the many talented entertainers and venues 
throughout, as Harlem celebrates Black Music Month.
  The ``BID on Culture'' Banners have added to the branding of 125th 
Street as the center of culture in Harlem, highlighting our community's 
diversity, history, and contributions to and throughout our Nation and 
the world. Currently, there are 36 new banners that are now flying on 
streetlight poles along the world-renowned famed 125th Street corridor. 
Let me now recognize the six winning designs that were selected from 41 
submissions in the 3rd Annual ``Bid on Culture'' banner design 
competition. Corine Campbell for Billie Holiday; Misha McGlown for Jimi 
Hendrix and Josephine Baker; Tomo Mori for Somos la Musica; Soyca 
Mphahlele for New Colors; and Hubert Williams for True Colours.
  Harlem resident Artist, Corine Campbell says her creativity usually 
starts from a simple place like spotting a color combination that she 
wants to incorporate into a painting, expressing feelings with lines 
indescribable to words or finding attractive shapes to produce a 
portrait. She usually depicts women, while experimenting with different 
media, such as, paint, ink, pencils, yarn, fabric, and computer 
software. ``It has been that way ever since I was a child drawing in my 
sketchbook in Harlem. Art allows me to escape somewhere fun while 
discovering numerous possibilities,'' Campbell said. Her design in the 
2011 banner competition features legendary jazz vocalist Billie 
Holiday.
  Detroit, Michigan Artist, Misha McGlown attended Wayne State 
University and Center for Creative Studies. Although she began painting 
professionally in 2006 and has since exhibited throughout the New York 
area, she is best known for her jewelry collection, under the Omo Misha 
brand. She was awarded her first solo exhibit by Columbia University in 
2008 and on behalf of artHARLEM, she curated EVOLUTION: The Changing 
Face of Harlem--an exhibit, hosted by Columbia University, featuring 
the works of 25 Harlem artists. She is currently Curator-in-Residence 
for Harlem's Cafe One and has worked in programming and development for 
The Children's Art Carnival, and led residencies and youth workshops 
for numerous organizations in New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. A 
multi-faceted artist and visionary, Misha is a published author and 
creator of The Omo Misha Times--a webzine covering art, fashion, 
politics, fun and social awareness. She has been the recipient of 
artistic awards by the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, the Puffin 
Foundation, and Harlem Arts Alliance. Her designs in the 2011 banner 
competition feature Josephine Baker and Jimi Hendrix.
  Artist Tomo Mori was born in Shijonawate in the countryside of Osaka, 
Japan and later moved to Tokyo. There, she discovered a severe 
affliction with allergies that kept her house-bound, but allowed her to 
find a new freedom: art. At 15, she enrolled in the Tokyo Metropolitan 
High School for Music and Fine Arts and a year later traveled to 
California to study English. She returned to Japan, where her first 
large scale painting, ``Scream,'' was exhibited at the prestigious 
Metropolitan Museum in Ueno. In 1991, she moved to Atlanta, and studied 
at the Atlanta College of Art. Tomo worked as a graphic designer for 16 
years but last year, she decided to focus on her art. She has found her 
artistic home at Harlem where she says she thrives from the creative 
energy. Inspiration struck while she was taking a dance class in Mali. 
She realized that her life experience among different cultures combined 
with her boundless curiosity fuels the engine that makes her art 
original. Her focus on music/dance, process, and color are the 
catalysts for her 2011 banner competition design submission of the 
vibrant dancers, Somos la Musica, which will find a stage along 125th 
Street.
  Originally born in Zambia, Africa, Harlem resident Artist Soyca 
Mphahlele grew up in the Parkside Projects in the Bronx and went on to 
attend the Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music and Art and 
Performing Arts and later graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 
Visual Communication from the Maryland Institute College of Art. He has 
lived, worked, and worshipped in Harlem since he was a child. Soyca 
says his work ``represents the tone of the real New York and his 
enduring respect for the art of the streets.'' His 2011 banner 
competition design, New Colors, does just that.
  Artist Hubert Williams was born in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, but 
moved to New York in 1964. A versatile photographer, filmmaker, and 
visual artist as well as a musician (organist) had his first encounter 
with a camera in 1976. He has since gone on to photograph his viewpoint 
of people, places, and structures as well as weddings, fashion events, 
opera, and jazz concerts. ``I live to shoot,'' Williams says of his 
passion for photography through his vivid 2011 banner competition 
design submission True Colours.
  In addition to the banner competition, BID ON CULTURE presents Black 
Music Month in Harlem featuring nearly 100 events at nine venues 
throughout the area. The month-long celebration features Jazz, Blues, 
Gospel, R&B, Classical, Caribbean, Salsa, Afro-Cuban, Funk, and Soul 
music performances as well as spoken word, art, and other 
entertainments. Known worldwide as the epicenter of Black culture, 
Harlem's contribution to American music and all the arts is legendary. 
Concerts include the Michael C. Lewis Jazz Experience at the Aloft; 
Nate Lucas Organ Trio, and Paul Mooney ``Live In Harlem,'' at the Lenox 
Lounge; the Danny Mixon Trio at Showman's Jazz Cafe; the Oral Tradition 
of Gospel Music in Harlem at the Dwyer Cultural Center; the Ben 
Williams & Sound Effect at the Harlem Stage Gatehouse; and Karaoke & 
Martini Thursday at Sylvia's Also.
  Bid on Culture is also a participant in Make Music New York, a live, 
free musical celebration across the city that takes place each June 21, 
the longest day of the year, where hundreds of public spaces throughout 
the five boroughs become impromptu stages for more than 1,000 free 
concerts.
  The 125th Street BID is a non-profit organization funded primarily 
from an additional tax assessment collected from the property owners 
within the defined boundaries. Organized in compliance with State and 
city laws, the property and business and business owners determine the 
services and programs needed for the district. The BID will utilize the 
competition to bring visibility to its streetscape improvement efforts 
and to enliven the community's central business district. www.125th
streetbid.com.
  The Harlem Arts Alliance (HAA) is a not-for-profit arts service 
organization committed to its mission of nurturing the artistic growth 
of artists and the organizational development of arts organizations 
based in Harlem and surrounding communities. Comprised of over 750 
individual artists and arts organizations, HAA plays an essential role 
by helping to build the resources, network, and capacity of its richly 
diverse membership. Counted among its members are young emerging 
artists as well as established and internationally recognized artists. 
Also represented are small grassroots organizations and major cultural 
institutions in Harlem and beyond. In addition, HAA maintains strong 
partnerships with numerous arts organization and institutions 
throughout New York State, the region, and the nation to maintain vital 
collaborative efforts to promote the arts in communities 
(www.harlemaa.org).
  Harlem Community Development Corporation (``Harlem CDC''), a New York 
State public benefit corporation, was created in 1995 to serve the 
greater Harlem community, including East Harlem, Central Harlem, West 
Harlem and Washington Heights, through planning and facilitating the 
development of a range of community development projects and 
revitalization initiatives and restore Upper Manhattan

[[Page E1211]]

as an economically stable and culturally vibrant community. Harlem CDC 
targets the redevelopment of vacant or underutilized commercial and 
residential property and publicly-owned spaces (www.harlemcdc.org).
  Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join with me in recognition of 
the 2011 ``BID on Culture'' Winning Banners and in celebration of Black 
Music Month.

                          ____________________