The Caribbean Cultural Center African Diaspora Institute (CCCADI) is celebrating its 50th anniversary with Harlem Week.
CCCADI focuses on reconnecting Caribbean and African diaspora communities across New York City to their roots. Based in East Harlem, CCCADI served as a connecting point between the east and west sides of the neighborhood during Harlem Week.
“We were probably the only organization based on the east side of Harlem that really represented all of the communities that are the African diaspora in New York City,” Melody Capote, director of CCCADI, said. “What was important in our messaging to Harlem Week was ‘we need you to bridge east and west Harlem’ … we wanted to assure that the presence and the participation of our organization was highlighting artists and cultural workers who lived on the east side. And that’s exactly what we did.”
This year, CCCADI will present the Afribembé festival on Aug. 16 during Harlem Week, a “jam session” celebrating traditions from throughout the African diaspora. The institute is showcasing artists whose performances reflect the roots of East Harlem.
Performers at the Afribembé festival include Pan Evolution Steel Orchestra, Los Planeros de la 21 and Kofago Dance Ensemble. All three represent a different demographic of Harlem and carry sounds that can resonate with many African diasporic communities.
“[It’s] bringing those two communities together, informing, educating, and entertaining an audience on the west side that might not otherwise know about this … but will see themselves and hear themselves in the music,” Capote said.
As a cultural organization, CCCADI regularly uses art as a way to highlight and celebrate diverse groups. To Capote, art can act as a bridge between people.
“The importance of the art and community is being a mirror to the very community that informs the programming that we do and educates not only our own, but others,” Capote said. “So that we can create cross-cultural understanding, that we understand the multiplicity of what is this city, this state, and this nation…”
CCCADI has worked with Harlem Week in previous years to represent East Harlem groups and figures during the celebration. Following these successful collaborations, the organizations reunite for the eighth official Afribembé festival.
This year’s Harlem Week is particularly fitting for CCCADI, with the theme “Honoring Our Legacy” coinciding with the organization’s 50th anniversary. Capote’s aunt, Marta Morena Vega, Ph.D., started CCCADI in 1976, with Capote joining the team six years later. Now, Capote remains the director.
“I was a teenager and I remember this dream coming together in our home in the Bronx,” Capote said. “And so, in honoring the legacy, we’re honoring the legacy of Afro Puerto Rican matriarchal leadership of an organization that has now gotten to 50 years.”
With a packed schedule, Harlem Week especially opens the door for anyone to deeply connect with the performances, art and music, along with the cultures they represent.
“Through music, through costumes, through a visual arts exhibition, through song, through dance, you connect [and] you remember,” Capote said. “You remember to remember.”
