Senate Resolution No. 798

BY: Senator PARKER

COMMENDING the Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration
Corporation upon the occasion of celebrating their
50th Anniversary with a Rare African Art Exhibit at
the Center for Arts & Culture from February 10-April
28, 2017

WHEREAS, It is the custom of this Legislative Body that
organizations that give positive definition to the profile and
disposition of the communities of the State of New York profoundly
strengthen our society with their commitment; and

WHEREAS, It is the intent of this Legislative Body to commemorate
those events of historical significance which add strength, vigor and
inspiration to the cultural diversity and quality of life in the
communities of the State of New York; and

WHEREAS, Attendant to such concern, and in full accord with its
long-standing traditions, this Legislative Body is justly proud to
commending the Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation upon the
occasion of celebrating their 50th Anniversary with a Rare African Art
Exhibit at the Center for Arts & Culture from February 10-April 28,
2017; and

WHEREAS, Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation, the nation's
first community development organization, partners with area residents
and businesses to improve the quality of life in long-blighted areas of
Central Brooklyn; and

WHEREAS, The Corporation strives to attract investment, improve the
business climate, foster the economic self-sufficiency of families,
enhance family stability, and promote the arts and culture; and

WHEREAS, The exhibit, entitled "Brooklyn is Africa A Borough of
Inclusion; a Continent of Invention" highlights African art as integral
to African life; the exhibit if part of an African Artifacts Collection
of Eric Edwards, the Founder and Executive Director of the Cultural
Museum of African Art; and

WHEREAS, Eric Edwards has devoted his life to cherishing and
preserving that which symbolizes the most precious, beautiful and human
aspects of who we are a s a people and presents that to the world; and

WHEREAS, The 2,500 piece collection has taken Eric Edwards 46 years
to amass, and represents all 54 African countries with artifacts dating
as far back as the Nubian Empire; and

WHEREAS, The spectacular exhibit will present pieces as diverse as a
royal woman's head carved out of stone dating make 4,000 year, to Terra
Cottas of the Nok Dynasty (Niger), to a carved wooden royal coffin, to
Ibo Ceremonial Dance Dresses; and

WHEREAS, It is the sense of this Legislative Body, in keeping with
its time-honored traditions, to recognize and pay tribute to those

organizations which help to preserve the history and heritage of a
people and enhance the profile of cultural diversity which strengthens
the fabric of the communities of New York State; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED, That this Legislative Body pause in its deliberations to
commend the Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation upon the occasion
of celebrating their 50th Anniversary with a Rare African Art Exhibit at
the Center for Arts & Culture; and be it further

RESOLVED, That copies of this Resolution, suitably engrossed, be
transmitted to Eric Edwards, Founder and Director of the Cultural Museum
of African Art and to the Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation.