The Educational Alliance opened the Manny Center in its refurbished flagship building on East Broadway earlier this year. Early in 2015, the non-profit social service organization will debut a new art school in the same facility. Here’s more from a press release put out just before the holiday weekend:
In January 2015, the Art School will reopen with new studios in the Manny Cantor Center, a state-of-the-art community and cultural center and the original site of the Educational Alliance. The School’s modernized facilities provide a supportive environment for creative development and arts study where students enjoy spacious, well-lit painting and drawing studios, a newly- equipped ceramic and sculpture studio, a multidisciplinary studio, and two gallery spaces. It will offer an expanded curriculum to reflect community needs and desires, including drawing, painting, ceramics, sculpture classes, and jewelry-making for all skill levels and at affordable prices.
An art school open house will be held Wednesday, Dec. 10 from 6-8 p.m. More details are available through the Facebook invite. A controversy erupted in 2011 when plans for the renovation project were announced. Some art students strongly objected to the Educational Alliance’s decision to move the school from its 5th floor perch to a lower level space. The institution has an illustrious history dating to 1895; artists Peter Blume, Adolph Gottlieb, Louise Nevelson, Barnet Newman, Mark Rothko and Max Weber are among those who got their start at the Lower East Side school.
