Kenté Cultural Center “Shaping Minds and Nurturing Self Esteem Through Culture History and Arts”

Like the many individual threads and colors of a Kenté cloth the members of weave together to make something beautiful and strong. Kenté has been a strong positive entity in New London’s cultural development community and is making strides to become a bigger part of the arts community by participating in events such as Art Night.

Kenté Cultural Center was founded in downtown New London in 1997 by a group of African-American citizens, many of whom were educators concerned with the lack of creative and cultural activities available to young people of color.  They also witnessed cuts being made in the school system from creative programs like art and music.

“We felt that the art and culture programs were just as important as the math and science classes,” says Jayne Glover, founder and executive director of Kenté. The other co-founders of Kenté were Trish Burgie-Capps, Merrylyn Weaver, Rev. Wade Hyslop and Shirly Gillis, all African-American business and community leaders.

The center's mission is to promote the contributions and importance of African-American culture and history to society. Its main focus is providing programs and activities for youth, especially those ages eight to 15.

Kente provides programming to New London’s youth geared towards cultural, social and professional development such as "Male 2 Male" and "Chat & Chew" for male and female participants, respectively. The programs are run by older staff members who serve as positive role models for the teens and preteens involved in these programs.

Kenté also provides art classes for its younger members as well as math, science and reading programs that incorporate arts and culture into the lesson.

For five years the gallery space downstairs from the Kenté Cultural Center was funded by a grant as a space for the youth of New London to display their creative work. “It was also a great way for some of the high school seniors to add a gallery show to their resume before applying to art schools,” Glover tells Patch.  Receptions were attended by the parents and friends of the young artists and were a source of pride and motivation for the young artists.

However, the grant has recently run out and Kenté will now be opening the gallery space to all artists of African descent.  “We are new to this aspect of the gallery and are currently seeking out artists to display their work in the future shows,” said Glover.

The current show, curated by Gretchen Hatfield, is the first non-student show and consists of art from the private collections of the Kenté board members who are well-traveled and collect art from the various nations that they have visited.  The art includes paintings, wood work and embroidery including a couple of paintings by Paul Goodnight.  The reception for this show, which took place during the first Art Night of the season, was one of the biggest for the Kenté gallery.

Kenté is already a strong player in New Londons African cultural community and it is poised to make an impact in the art gallery scene as well. 

Kenté Cultural Center invites everyone to get involved with the center, either as a participant in its arts and culture programming or as a volunteer to help keep the Cultural Center strong. For more information on Kente Cultural Center please visit http://www.kentecultural.org/index.html.