The African Cultural Center is a 501 (c)3 non-profit organization

African Cultural Center

The African Cultural Center is a 501 (c)3 non-profit organization established by Karim Camara in 2000. Mr Camara, from Guinea in West Africa, formed the ACC with a unique mission to educate diverse groups and empower youth and their families by utilizing multiculturalism in the arts. He is very dedicated to the arts and to retaining the culture from his motherland by educating those about Africa. Supported by donations and assistance from the public, ACC is a place that serves to ease the pain of adjusting to a new environment, restore relations with Africa as a whole and the larger African accommodates world that includes African-American and Caribbean peoples in New York City. It is also a place to create a community identity that accommodates cultural African traditions. The African Cultural Center is dedicated to preserving, promoting and presenting African art, history and culture through comprehensive programs and presentation in the visual arts, performing arts and through innovative education programs for the enlightenment of all.

The African Cultural Center’s programs provide people with an opportunity to gain an understanding about the vast cultures of New York through art. Multicultural performance and visual art is a vessel to break down barriers and increase a sense of cultural pride while improving a sense of self worth. Reconnecting children to history through art provides a fun vehicle for learning. Immigrants make up large a percentage of New York’s economic and cultural structure and these people need to be connected to their artistic roots and history. As of the 2000 census, there are about 450,000 African Immigrnats and Children of Immigrants living in New York City, making one of every 20 New Yorkers born directly linked to the rich culture and continent of Africa. The continent of Africa is filled with a myriad of art forms and New York City residents are provided with an opportunity to learn about the rich visual and performing arts of Africa.

The ACC offers opportunities for African-Americans in the NYC area to reconnect to a history that was taken. People are provided an opportunity to heal through the use of multiculturalism artistic techniques. Artist exchanges and creativity increases an understanding for the beauty of multiculturalism, and New York City is the place to intermingle with cultures around the world and break down prejudice through the use of creative structures inherent in all art forms. The ACC is a unique organization through providing opportunities for people in New York City to connect through art and work together with people from Africa.

The African Cultural Center also provides information, referral to general social services in the New York Metropolitan Area.