The Stony Island Arts Bank is a hybrid gallery, media archive, library and community center –&nbsp;and a home for Rebuild’s archives and collections. Designed by William Gibbons Uffendell and built in 1923, the bank at 68th Street and Stony Island Avenue was once a vibrant community savings and loan. By the eighties, the branch had closed and the building remained vacant and deteriorating for decades. Reopened&nbsp;in October 2015, the radically restored building serves as a space for neighborhood residents to preserve, access, reimagine and share their heritage – and a destination for artists, scholars, curators, and collectors to research and engage with South Side history.The Arts Bank collections include:<ul><li>Johnson Publishing Archive + Collections: Books and periodicals donated by the Johnson Publishing Company, publisher of Ebony and Jetmagazine.</li><li>University of Chicago Glass Lantern Slides: Over 60,000 slides of art and architectural history from the Paleolithic to Modern eras</li><li>Edward J. Williams Collection: 4,000 objects of “negrobilia” – mass cultural objects and artifacts that feature stereotypical images of people of color</li><li>Frankie Knuckles Records: “Godfather of House Music,” Frankie Knuckles’ vinyl collection</li></ul>For more information contact <a href="mailto:info@rebuild-foundation.org">info@rebuild-foundation.org</a>&nbsp;

Devin Mays will be in conversation with Martine Syms discussing the Johnson Publishing Company&rsquo;s impact on the contemporary Black aesthetic and media.

In Conversation with Martine Syms

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