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X-WR-CALDESC:Events for Van Cortlandt Park Alliance
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DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260418T100000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260418T120000
DTSTAMP:20260417T085735
CREATED:20260324T221403Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260324T221521Z
UID:10002367-1776506400-1776513600@vancortlandt.org
SUMMARY:Super Seedlings
DESCRIPTION:Join VCPA for tons of family-friendly garden fun! Let’s grow together! \nSuper Seedlings is a free\, drop-in gardening program for kids ages 3-7 and their caregivers. \nEach Saturday session will have a fun theme to explore\, nature crafts\, planting\, soil digging\, and more! \nCome once\, twice\, or all four weeks for some playing and planting! We hope to see you there! \nDates: 4/18\, 4/25\, 5/2\, 5/9\nTime: 10 AM – 12 PM\nLocation: The VCPA Learning Garden is located near the Mosholu Avenue and Broadway entrance of the park (past the Northwest playground). \nDrop-ins are welcome\, but advance registration is recommended. \nPlease e-mail us with any questions at gardening@vancortlandt.org \n 
URL:https://vancortlandt.org/event/super-seedlings-4/2026-04-18/
CATEGORIES:Community
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://vancortlandt.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/super-seedlings-sp26-website-pix1.png
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260421T180000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260421T200000
DTSTAMP:20260417T085735
CREATED:20260409T232122Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260410T153014Z
UID:10002382-1776794400-1776801600@vancortlandt.org
SUMMARY:Meet the Design Ideas Lab Teams
DESCRIPTION:Join us for a panel with the three teams selected from the Reimagining Design Ideas Competition to envision future memorial in the Bronx \n\n\n\n\nReimagining the Enslaved African Burial Ground at Van Cortlandt Park is hosting a special panel conversation in partnership with Lehman College at CUNY\, Campus Honors & Scholar Engagement. \nRSVP Now. \nLed by Van Cortlandt Park Alliance\, Design Trust for Public Space\, and Immanuel Oni of Liminal sp\, Reimagining has selected three design teams through its Bronx community-engagement-informed Design Ideas Competition\, aiming to generate new visions for a memorial honoring the site. Reimagining is honored to announce the Design Ideas Lab cohort: \n\nRodney Leon/ Leon Pinkster Azalea Collaborative: Leon “Pinkster Azalea Collaborative” is a collaboration between Rodney Leon\, Elgin Cleckley(_mpathic design)\, and Creative Urban Alchemy established for the Reimagining of Van Cortlandt Park’s Enslaved African Burial Ground. The Collaborative’s founder Rodney Leon\, is the designer of the African Burial Ground Memorial in New York City\, which is the first National Monument in the United States dedicated to the contributions of people of African descent. Mr. Leon is also the Architect and Designer of the United Nations Permanent Memorial to the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade. His practice Rodney Leon Architect has a unique expertise focusing on the design of sacred\, cultural and public spaces over the last 30 years. Ifeoma Ebo: Nigerian-American\, Brooklyn-based public artist\, educator at the Spitzer School of Architecture at City College and Principal of Creative Urban Alchemy (CUA) – an award-winning design studio working at the intersection of art\, architecture\, urban design & planning. With a career spanning two decades\, she is renowned for her transformative work in urban landscapes\, with a keen focus on equity and design excellence. She has significantly impacted urban design and development projects\, partnering with prestigious institutions like the United Nations\, FIFA\, and the NYC Mayor’s Office. She is joined by Ximena Diaz Velasco\, a Community Designer at CUA trained in landscape architecture and international development. Elgin Cleckley is an award-winning Architect\, Civic designer\, and Associate Professor at the University of Virginia\, where he leads the internationally recognized _mpathic design initiative\, pedagogy\, and design practice. He has collaborated on major civic and cultural projects across North America over three decades and helped realize the groundbreaking Weston Family Innovation Centre at the Ontario Science Centre (Toronto). Current design projects include Brookes (Revisited) installation at the Beck Center in Knoxville (Tennessee)\, Royal Museum Greenwich (UK)\, and the Charles Wright African American Museum (Detroit)\, and a public space at Kindlewood (Charlottesville).\n\n\nUjijji Davis Williams/ JIMA studio: A landscape architectural design and urban planning studio that collaborates with community groups\, organizations\, and builders committed to culturally relevant placemaking and strategic implementation. JIMA Studio contributed to a conceptual design investigation interpreting the history of the Forrest Slave Mart\, a holding facility for enslaved Africans and African Americans owned and operated by Nathan Bedford Forrest in the midst of Downtown Memphis.\n\n\nSunsum Collective: a collaboration between Wil Jones\, founding principal of NYC-based urban practice GROUND3D\, architect Deena Darby\, cultural preservationist and placemaker Talisha Ward\, landscape architectural designer and herbalist Simone Delaney\, and urban planner Nolen Scruggs. The interdisciplinary team has expertise in community engagement\, historic preservation\, landscape design\, and public programming. Team members have contributed to community-engaged planning and design efforts related to the Flatbush African Burial Ground\, advancing heritage corridor strategies\, participatory design processes\, ecological design interventions\, and collaborative approaches to cultural preservation and public memory.\n\nJoin us for a talk and reception at Lehman College to celebrate and meet the design teams\, learn more about the hidden histories of the Enslaved African Burial Ground in Van Cortlandt Park\, and explore how the design ideas lab will lay down a blueprint vision for a future permanent memorial—one that connects Bronx residents and visitors to the site’s history\, acknowledges its painful legacy\, and creates space for gathering\, education\, and healing. Moderated by Jeremiah Olayinka Ojo\, Artist\, Educator & Preservationist. \nThis panel discussion is part of Van Cortlandt Park Alliance’s REIMAGINING initiative. In partnership with the Design Trust for Public Space and Immanuel Oni\, Liminal Sp\, VCPA invites the community to reimagine the park’s Enslaved African Burial Ground site as a memorial space that fosters long-term healing and restoration. This project is supported by a generous grant from the Mellon Foundation. \n\n\n\n\nThis event will be held in B39 Carman Hall at Lehman College.
URL:https://vancortlandt.org/event/meet-the-design-ideas-lab-teams/
CATEGORIES:Community
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://vancortlandt.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Draft-2-VCPA.jpg
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260423T170000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260423T180000
DTSTAMP:20260417T085735
CREATED:20260226T210516Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260226T210738Z
UID:10002175-1776963600-1776967200@vancortlandt.org
SUMMARY:Forests Uptown Series
DESCRIPTION:Thursdays at 5pm\nJoin Riverside Park Conservancy and Van Cortlandt Park Alliance for our hybrid lecture series on our urban forest. All talks are free & open to the public\, including time for a Q&A & discussion.\nMarch 12: Winter Tree Identification\nMarch 19: Forest Assessments in NYC\nMarch 26: History of NYC Wildfires\nRSVP Now
URL:https://vancortlandt.org/event/forests-uptown-series/2026-04-23/
CATEGORIES:Community
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://vancortlandt.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/Uptown-Forest-Series.jpg
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260425T100000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260425T120000
DTSTAMP:20260417T085735
CREATED:20260324T221403Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260324T221521Z
UID:10002368-1777111200-1777118400@vancortlandt.org
SUMMARY:Super Seedlings
DESCRIPTION:Join VCPA for tons of family-friendly garden fun! Let’s grow together! \nSuper Seedlings is a free\, drop-in gardening program for kids ages 3-7 and their caregivers. \nEach Saturday session will have a fun theme to explore\, nature crafts\, planting\, soil digging\, and more! \nCome once\, twice\, or all four weeks for some playing and planting! We hope to see you there! \nDates: 4/18\, 4/25\, 5/2\, 5/9\nTime: 10 AM – 12 PM\nLocation: The VCPA Learning Garden is located near the Mosholu Avenue and Broadway entrance of the park (past the Northwest playground). \nDrop-ins are welcome\, but advance registration is recommended. \nPlease e-mail us with any questions at gardening@vancortlandt.org \n 
URL:https://vancortlandt.org/event/super-seedlings-4/2026-04-25/
CATEGORIES:Community
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://vancortlandt.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/super-seedlings-sp26-website-pix1.png
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260425T130000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260425T160000
DTSTAMP:20260417T085735
CREATED:20260302T213513Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260413T194951Z
UID:10002231-1777122000-1777132800@vancortlandt.org
SUMMARY:Family Fun Day
DESCRIPTION:Van Cortlandt Park Alliance\, Women of Woodlawn and Woodlawn Taxpayers Association Present Woodlawn Family Fun Day featuring: \n\nShannon & John: Celtic and Americana Music Duo\nFace Painting\nUrban Park Rangers\nWoodland Family Walks\nNature Crafts\nBocce\nGames\nAnd more!\n\nRSVP Now.
URL:https://vancortlandt.org/event/family-fun-day-2/
CATEGORIES:Community
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://vancortlandt.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/Family.Fun_.Day_.2026.web_.jpg
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260426T090000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260426T103000
DTSTAMP:20260417T085735
CREATED:20260305T205157Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260324T155047Z
UID:10002233-1777194000-1777199400@vancortlandt.org
SUMMARY:Birding with NYC Bird Alliance
DESCRIPTION:Van Cortlandt Park Alliance and NYC Bird Alliance invite you to join us during 4 weekend mornings of birding in the park this spring. \nExplore Van Cortlandt Park’s ecologically diverse grounds and celebrate a long tradition of birding in the park. We will look for various species of resident and migratory birds and discuss a wide range of avian topics. Each walk will be led by a NYC Bird Alliance (formerly NYC Audubon) guide. \nAdvance registration is required. You must register separately for each date you would like to attend. \nBirding sessions meet at 9am on the following dates: \n\nSaturday\, April 11\nSunday\, April 26\nSaturday\, May 16\nSunday\, June 14\n\nNote: We do not provide binoculars and suggest that attendees bring their own. \nWant us to continue birding programs in the future? Please make a donation during checkout. All donations made will be used to continue birding programs. \nAs space is limited\, if you are not able to attend please let us know ASAP so we can fill in your spot by emailing info@vancortlandt.org. \nRSVP Now. \nThese birding events are generously supported by NYC Bird Alliance. \nPhoto by Jack Rothman
URL:https://vancortlandt.org/event/birding-with-nyc-bird-alliance-4/2026-04-26/
CATEGORIES:Community
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://vancortlandt.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Birdwalk-photo-by-Jack-Rothman-for-website.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260428T183000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260428T200000
DTSTAMP:20260417T085735
CREATED:20260322T221431Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260324T160708Z
UID:10002238-1777401000-1777406400@vancortlandt.org
SUMMARY:Unhired Hands
DESCRIPTION:Van Cortlandt Park Alliance and Van Cortlandt House Museum presents a poetry reading by poet and Bronx byproduct David Mills.\n\nMills will read from Unhired Hands\, his new poetry collection about slavery in Queens and Massachusetts.  The reading will be held the downstairs educational space inside the Van Cortlandt House Museum (only accessible via stairs). \nSpace is limited so advance registration is required. \nRSVP Now. \nThis reading is a part of Van Cortlandt Park Alliance’s Reimagining initiative. In partnership with the Design Trust for Public Space and Immanuel Oni\, Liminal Sp\, VCPA invites the community to reimagine the park’s Enslaved African Burial Ground site as a memorial space that fosters long-term healing and restoration. This project is supported by the Mellon Foundation. \nThis event is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature. \nAbout Unhired Hands:  You never quite know where to place Mills’ work in the poetic landscape. This is a good thing given the clusters of poets bunched around the same subjects and approaches. In Unhired Hands\, where he explores slavery in Queens and Massachusetts\, he’s formal while wild in style; he’s both historical/recognizable and strange/innovative. Like Ralph Waldo Emerson tuning in from the outer boroughs; like Phillis Wheatley riding Funkadelic’s mothership. He possesses an archival acumen akin to Natasha Trethewey; a cultural vernacular rich as that of August Wilson; the intellectual quirks of Pharaoh Sanders and Sun Ra. Unhired Hands highlights his expressive documentarian impulses while adding to his clear technical mastery. He reconstructs / conjures Queens (through the lives of enslaved individuals Victoria Earle Matthews\, Millie Tunnell\, and Martha Peterson)\, and Massachusetts (with an homage to Phillis Wheatley). His research is exacting\, but open; the poems are formal but never formulaic. The image of Matthews sneaking books between chores\, her eyes “learning to swim\, learning to sink into literature’s at turns clear and sometimes troubling waters” is a kind of statement of poetics and a lyrical reconstruction of history. Mills writes beyond “the jurisdiction of flinch\,” into the intimacy of interrogation:  its also an “interrogation of intimacy.” This collection is akin to a history book scored by form and spirit\, ingenuity and telepathic empathy…\nTerrance Hayes\, National Book Award and MacArthur-Genius-Award winning author of Lighthead. \nAbout David Mills: David Mills is currently a New York Public Library Cullman Fellow finishing a poetry collection about slavery in the Bronx. He holds an M.F.A. from Warren Wilson College and an M.A. from New York University in creative writing. He’s published five collections: Unhired Hands\, Boneyarn (Manhattan slavery poems)\, After Mistic\, The Sudden Country and The Dream Detective. His poems have appeared in Ploughshares\, Colorado Review\, Fence\, Crab Orchard Review\, Jubilat\, Callaloo\, Brooklyn Rail\, and Obsidian. He has received a 2026 NYSCA grant to write a poetry collection about Brooklyn slavery.
URL:https://vancortlandt.org/event/unhired-hands/
CATEGORIES:Community
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://vancortlandt.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/Unhired-Hands-840-x-560-px.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260430T170000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260430T180000
DTSTAMP:20260417T085735
CREATED:20260226T210516Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260226T210738Z
UID:10002176-1777568400-1777572000@vancortlandt.org
SUMMARY:Forests Uptown Series
DESCRIPTION:Thursdays at 5pm\nJoin Riverside Park Conservancy and Van Cortlandt Park Alliance for our hybrid lecture series on our urban forest. All talks are free & open to the public\, including time for a Q&A & discussion.\nMarch 12: Winter Tree Identification\nMarch 19: Forest Assessments in NYC\nMarch 26: History of NYC Wildfires\nRSVP Now
URL:https://vancortlandt.org/event/forests-uptown-series/2026-04-30/
CATEGORIES:Community
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://vancortlandt.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/Uptown-Forest-Series.jpg
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