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Sandy Bennett Art Gallery

"As I was sitting there, the deejay was playing music and talking over the music, and the kids were going crazy. All of a suddent, something to me, 'Put something like that on a record, and it will be the biggest thing.' I didn't even know you called it rap."

                                                                     - Sylvia Robinson, founder of Sugar Hill Records

While the word “performing” is centered in its name, bergenPAC’s mission is to make all art forms accessible to the community. As part of that, The Sandy Bennett Art Gallery features a different visual artist each month – many from Bergen County. The gallery was named for former bergenPAC team member Sandy Bennett in 2016 after her passing. She was a passionate artist herself and loved to curate the gallery from the time bergenPAC first opened.

 

The gallery is now curated by Helene Cohen, who continues to emphasize creating a platform for artists of all backgrounds. She also hosts artist receptions so the public can meet the creators and hear more about the work. Located on the mezzanine level of the theater, many of the gallery pieces are available for sale with 30% of the proceeds supporting bergenPAC’s nonprofit mission.

 

For more information, please email hcohen@bergenpac.org.

Current Exhibition

Back by Popular Demand: For the Culture 

April 2024

All Access Community Development Corporation (AACDC) presents “Hip Hop 50 Bergen,” an exhibit celebrating the 50th anniversary of the genre and its global impact and local origins.  Thanks to Sugar Hill Records and its founder Sylvia Robinson, Bergen County is considered the birthplace of Hip Hop's commercial success, monetization, and globalization of the genre.

The exhibit features items and memorabilia from Bergen County's own pioneers, such as the Sugar Hill Gang. These local Hip Hop innovators will also be honored with Congressional certificates and county recognition.

The exhibit is executive produced by AACDC's executive director Randy Glover and bergenPAC’s Sandy Bennett Art Gallery Curator Helene Cohen.  The artistic producers of the event are Awesome 2's Teddy Ted Whiting and Kevin Bonners. 

The public is invited to visit the exhibition during regular Box Office hours and to ticket holders prior to shows.

The Rink, in Bergenfield, may not be the mean streets of L.A., or a burnt-out block in the Bronx.

But here, too, hip-hop happened.

"It was just a general rink, a skating rink, but everybody wanted to be there," said "Teddy Tedd" Whiting, who with his older cousin Special K are The Awesome 2: two of the founding fathers of Bergen County's overlooked, underreported, but pivotal hip-hop scene.

Read an article about the exhibit on northjersey.com

Upcoming Events

 

May

Youth Consultation Services

Blossoms Art

 

September

Janet Kroenke

Mixed Media

Located on the mezzanine level of bergenPAC, the Sandy Bennett Art Gallery is open to ticket holders on show evenings, during daily Box Office hours, and by appointment.

All Gallery Receptions are open to the public.