Bronx Music Hall Celebrates Grand Opening as Borough’s First Newly Constructed Independent Music Performance Venue in More Than 50 Years

Image Courtesy of Bronx Music Hall

The $15.4 million facility celebrates the rich history & creative spirit that defines Bronx music

Opening weekend headlined by hip-hop legends Grandmaster Caz and MC Sha-Rock, and Grammy-nominated bandleader Bobby Sanabria

The Bronx’s first newly constructed, independent music performance venue in more than 50 years, the Bronx Music Hall (BMH), will open tomorrow in the Melrose neighborhood of the South Bronx, kicking off a weekend of events celebrating the grand opening. The $15.4 million, 14,000 square-foot music hall and community cultural center, developed by the nonprofit Women’s Housing and Economic Development Corporation (WHEDco), is dedicated to honoring, showcasing, and cultivating music, dance, theater, and interdisciplinary arts in the Bronx.

Located at 438 East 163^rd Street and part of WHEDco’s Bronx Commons mixed-use development, the BMH features a 250-person capacity performance theater, a grand lobby and exhibition hall, a multipurpose room and dance studio, a green room for performers, a recording studio and post-production room, and amphitheater-style seating in two adjacent plazas for outdoor performances.

Designed to serve an estimated 20,000 community members and visitors annually, the cultural center will offer live music, dance, and spoken word performances, music and dance classes, theater workshops and productions, a youth orchestra, film screenings, art exhibitions, community showcases, and other events. Furthermore, it will foster educational and cultural partnerships, collaborating with dozens of community organizations to inspire community engagement in the arts and to encourage youth to pursue careers in the arts and music.

The state-of-the-art facility is the new home of WHEDco’s Bronx Music Heritage Center (BMHC), founded in 2010 to preserve and promote Bronx music, cultivate Bronx artists, spur neighborhood revival, and provide free cultural programs for the community. The BMHC’s co-artistic directors Elena Martínez and multi-Grammy nominated percussionist Bobby Sanabria will curate programming at the Bronx Music Hall. The BMHC will also offer its free and low-cost music and dance classes to children, teens, and adults at the BMH.

The BMH will be the preeminent destination for artists to share and for audiences to experience the borough’s unparalleled musical legacy. The evolution of music in the Bronx over the last century has been shaped by social, economic, and cultural trends in the borough and city. Successive waves of migration to the Bronx—Germans, Jews, Puerto Ricans, Irish, West Indian, African American, Garifuna, West African, and Bangladeshi—added rhythms and languages to the soundscape, sometimes merging to form new genres. The Bronx was the birthplace of hip-hop in the 1970s. In the preceding decades, it was an epicenter of doo-wop, R&B, Latin Jazz, and salsa, and the home of dozens of live music venues.

The Grand Opening Weekend kicks off on Friday, October 18 at 5:30 PM with a panel, moderated by Nancy Biberman, WHEDco’s Founder & President Emerita. Following the panel, there will be an opening reception and ribbon-cutting event, including remarks by government officials and others who have supported the development of the Bronx Music Hall. The evening will culminate in musical performances starting at 8:00 PM from Bronx hip-hop legends Grandmaster Caz and MC Sha-Rock, Bronx DJ collective Uptown Vinyl Supreme, and the Afro-Haitian roots music band Kongo.

The festivities will continue Saturday, October 19, at 6:00 PM with a reception and the debut of a new photo exhibit, “The Place to Be: A Decade at the BMHC,” to be followed at 8:00 PM with a program called “Caribbean Sounds: New Orleans to The Bronx,” featuring the Bobby Sanabria Multiverse Big Band, joined by guests Janis Siegel, Antoinette Montague, and Jennifer Jade Ledesna, and Ricky Gordon & The Individuals of Peace. Opening weekend will conclude on Sunday October 20, starting at 2:00 PM for Open House New York, followed at 3:00 PM with “African Diaspora in The Bronx” featuring Yawuza Alhassan & the Wuza Wuza Ensemble and GrupoMaburuaña.

The Bronx Music Hall Grand Opening is supported by a $2.6 million grant awarded to the Women’s Housing and Economic Development Corporation from Empire State Development, which includes a $2.3 million capital grant recommended by the New York City Regional Economic Development Council, and $312,000 through I LOVE NY’s Market New York program, and a grant by the National Endowment for the Arts. To find out more about how National Endowment for the Arts grants impact individuals and communities, visit www.arts.gov.

For more information about the BMH, to purchase tickets, and to register for classes, visit bronxmusichall.org.

The BMH is the cultural centerpiece of Bronx Commons, WHEDco’s $165 million, award-winning mixed-use development that includes 305 units of affordable housing, 26,700 square feet of retail space, a 150-seat 3-K and pre-K school, and the Melrose Community Access Support and Training Center (CAST).

About The Bronx Music Hall and Bronx Music Heritage Center

The Women’s Housing and Economic Development Corporation (WHEDco) developed the Bronx Music Hall (BMH) as a performance venue and community cultural center dedicated to honoring, showcasing, and cultivating music, dance, theater, and interdisciplinary arts in the Bronx. Fully opened in 2024, the BMH is the new permanent home of WHEDco’s Bronx Music Heritage Center (BMHC), which was founded in 2010 to preserve and promote Bronx music, cultivate Bronx artists, spur neighborhood revival, and provide free cultural programs for the community. The BMHC operated out of the BMHC Lab since 2012.

About WHEDco

WHEDco is a community development organization founded on the radically simple idea that all people deserve to live in healthy, vibrant communities. Working in the South Bronx, WHEDco builds award-winning, sustainable, affordable homes that serve as anchors for strong communities of which residents can be proud. WHEDco’s mission is to create and bridge access in the Bronx to resources that support thriving neighborhoods—from high-quality early education and after-school programs to healthy food, cultural programming, and economic opportunity. For more information: www.whedco.org