Meetup Visit to the New York Public Library of the Performing Arts Flamenco Exhibit (August 1, 2013)

     On Thursday, August 1^st, the NY Librarians Meetup group had the good fortune to be able to meet with Barbara Cohen-Stratyner at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. 

Photo outside NYPL of the Performing Arts by Kosboot 

She was able to share with us more details about this significant collection of audio, video, photographic, and other materials related to theater, dance, and music. As a whole, the collections create one of the largest performing arts collections in the world, with many materials that the library has been collecting for over one hundred years.  While we were there, we were able to view two different exhibition areas that illustrated the variety of materials collected and preserved by this library.

     American Sabor: Latinos in U.S. Popular Music is a show about popular music and Latinos in the U.S that was still partially on display while  we visited.  A new show will soon be opening in its place, but even the small part still on display illustrates the variety of materials collected by the library. Lovely movie posters were hung along the walls while historical music played in the gallery. Brightly colored record catalogs and advertisements for Latino music from a variety of countries filled the glass cases, bringing to life a time in U.S. history in which Latino music and dance had become quite popular among the general public.

  Flamenco: 100 Years of Flamenco in New York, a show that has included a wonderful variety of photographs, films, and posters of Flamenco dancers and performers over the last 100 years in New York.  Beautifully preserved costumes, advertisements, and a large advertising banner arranged alongside videos of dancers created a wonderfully interesting and informative experience. More detail about the exhibit can be viewed in this online brochure also provided by the NYPL for the Performing arts. 

One of many lovely photos exhibited.

     We really appreciate the time Barbara spent with us, explaining that the varied items in this collection create a rare treasure for the public to enjoy. For more detail on current and future exhibitions, Barbara also keeps an NYPL blog that is one of many informative blogs that can be browsed online from the NYPL's blog channels page. Even if you don’t have time to visit the performing arts collections and exhibits in person, great material is being posted regularly to the blogs, so we suggest that you check them out some time!