HARLEM — El Museo Del Barrio has a plan to bring new visitors into the East Harlem museum this summer — and it involves good music and up-close meetings with the artists whose works are on display.
"RADIANCE: After Hours" at Museo Del Barrio will run every Wednesday from 6 to 9 p.m. through Aug. 28 and feature gallery talks, short films and good music.
The summer series is part of El Museo Del Barrio's 7th biennial exhibit La Bienal 2013, which features works by 37 Latino or Latin American artists who live in the metropolitan area.
"The idea of the biennial is to show the work of emerging Latino artists and to create a platform for artists who have never shown in a museum before," said Gonzalo Casals, deputy director for the museum. "It is to offer a different kind of museum experience."
Highlights will include a screening of Andrew Padilla's short documentary "El Barrio Tours" on July 24 and PLAYDATE on Aug. 14, a night of art-making and music designed for families with the Pinker Tones and the Little Orchestra Society.
The series will close out Aug. 28 with a talk by well-regarded East Harlem painter, public muralist and mosaic artist Manny Vega.
"You can talk to the artist and learn more about the work, and the gallery becomes a more welcoming space," Casals said.
So far, the event has been drawing about 300 people per week. Uptown also grows more attractive as a place to play with these sort of creative events, Casals said.
"There's a lot to do on Thursday, Friday and Saturday in New York City and not a lot to do on Wednesdays," he said.
But what the museum is really interested in is developing future supporters.
"The biennial was created to develop the next generation of stakeholders," Casals said. "We want people to keep coming back to the museum and bring their friends."
El Museo Del Barrio is located at 1230 Fifth Ave. Visit here for more information on RADIANCE.
