Mission:

Albany Barn is dedicated to providing a sustainable creative arts incubator and community arts center in Arbor Hill – a place for artists to live, work and inspire.

Vision:

Community renaissance catalyzed through creative collaboration.

History:

Albany Barn evolved from Rock2Rebuild™, a grassroots production group established to create events benefiting important causes while creating opportunities for local creative talent.  Rock2Rebuild staged several major multimedia events and founded an ongoing acoustic concert series in the Children’s Hospital at Albany Medical Center featuring capital region artists. Rock2Rebuild’s first undertaking to raise funds for children and families devastated by the 2004 South Asian tsunami disaster attracted 2,000 people, raised over $26,000, and was voted one of the year’s three “Best Concerts” in the Albany Times Union “2005 Readers Poll,” along with shows by top international touring acts Green Day and the Dave Matthews Band.

Albany Barn has continued Rock2Rebuild’s work as part of its broader mission, pioneering local music showcases at “Art on Lark” and “Lark Fest,” two of the region’s largest cultural events, and resurrecting the “Summer In The City Youth Talent Exhibition” to present works by young people from Arbor Hill and other downtown neighborhoods.