On your next jour­ney around New York City, hop on the G train and dis­cover Fort Greene. This Brook­lyn neigh­bor­hood brings a mix­ture of old and new. From eco-friendly restau­rants and cof­fee shops to con­tem­po­rary art gal­leries, dance stu­dios, and his­tor­i­cal the­aters, Fort Greene pro­vides a diver­sity of art, cul­ture, and good food to its res­i­dents and visitors.

Recently, I had the priv­i­lege to take part in a tour pro­vided by the Nat­u­rally Occur­ring Cul­tural Districts-NY, an orga­ni­za­tion bring­ing cul­tural lead­ers as well as lead­ers of the com­mu­nity together to revi­tal­ize New York City from our neigh­bor­hoods, and the Urban Bush Women through the neigh­bor­hood of Fort Greene with guide Maria Bur­man. Maria is a mem­ber of the Nat­u­rally Occur­ring Cul­tural Dis­tricts as well as the Direc­tor of Edu­ca­tion and Com­mu­nity Engage­ment for the Urban Bush Women, an all-female dance com­pany that height­ens aware­ness of social issues through dance. For 25 years, the Urban Bush Women has served by being able aspire as well as strengthen the com­mu­nity through pro­vid­ing edu­ca­tion in social jus­tice, gain­ing new audi­ences, and pro­vid­ing dance instruc­tion to the young and the young at heart.

While strolling along past Fort Greene’s unique brown­stone homes, our group had the chance stop and indulge in one of the tasti­est and most pop­u­lar treats Fort Greene had to offer–the Corn and Cuban. A neigh­bor­hood favorite, the Corn and Cuban is a sweet and spicy fla­vored corn on the cob served at the Habana Out­post, an eco-friendly, Mexican-American restaurant.

Designed in a picnic-in-the-park set­ting, Habana Out­post main­tains its restau­rant sus­tain­ably by pro­vid­ing solar power, a rain­wa­ter col­lec­tion sys­tem, and com­post and recy­cle sta­tions. Habana Out­post also plays an active role in the com­mu­nity by pro­vid­ing edu­ca­tional pro­grams that focus on urban envi­ron­men­tal­ism in Brook­lyn. Habana Out­post will be serv­ing its last Corn and Cuban of the year at the restaurant’s annual Hal­loween party, Octo­ber 28th, and will not open back up until April 2013.

Our next stop on the tour brought us to Mos­hood, a cloth­ing store ded­i­cated to pro­vid­ing clothes that rep­re­sents local design­ers of the African Dias­pora. Mos­hood also hosts out­door fash­ion shows show­cas­ing their pieces.

Our next stop, the Museum of Con­tem­po­rary African Dias­pora Art, or MoCADA, shows work that rep­re­sents the social and polit­i­cal issues of the African Dias­pora. Estab­lished in 2006, MoCADA has con­tin­ued to pro­vide fel­low­ship and intern­ship pro­grams to aspir­ing artists as well as tours and edu­ca­tional pro­grams to the public.

The Brook­lyn Acad­emy of Music, or BAM, is one of Fort Greene’s land­marks. For 150 years, BAM has brought drama, dance, and opera to its Brook­lyn residents.

Last but not least, our final des­ti­na­tion took us to Cumbe Cen­ter for African and Dias­pora Dance.  This dance stu­dio pro­vides instruc­tion in dance, per­cus­sion, and fit­ness derived from the African Dias­pora. Cum­bre also serves as a great part of the com­mu­nity in expos­ing oth­ers to per­for­mance tech­niques com­ing for the African Diaspora.

Fort Greene con­tributes to the Brook­lyn com­mu­nity a strong foun­da­tion of social and polit­i­cal aware­ness that is expressed through the neighborhood’s thriv­ing cen­ters of per­form­ing and visual arts.

For more infor­ma­tion on vis­it­ing and learn­ing about other com­mu­ni­ties in Brook­lyn as well as other towns in New York City, visit the Munic­i­pal Art Soci­ety.

Pho­tos: Karen Hill