Established in 1970, the Harbor Conservatory for the Performing Arts is the only multi-disciplinary performing arts school serving the East Harlem community.

We offer low-cost, high-quality instruction in vocal and instrumental music, dance and theater to over 700 children and teens and 300 adults, after school and on Saturdays throughout the year.  Most of Boys & Girls Harbor's educational, recreational and after-school programs receive performing arts training through the Conservatory, and in a time when public school arts programs have been drastically cut, the Conservatory's partnerships with local schools, developing custom in-school arts programs, provide crucial support for our community.

With a distinguished international faculty of 60 experienced teaching artists, all of whom are active performers, the Conservatory provides both introductory first time performing arts instruction for very young students as well as pre-professional training for youngsters with professional career aspirations.

Throughout its 40 year history, The Conservatory has served as a beacon for arts learning, receiving wide acclaim and preparing students for entry into specialized high schools and prestigious conservatories.   Our student ensembles perform at major venues like Carnegie Hall, The Apollo Theater, Ailey Citigroup Theater, Central Park Summer Stage, Aaron Davis Hall and Lincoln Center Out of Doors.

The Harbor's Latin Music Program celebrates our country's multi-cultural heritage and is the most comprehensive program of its kind in the United States.  Its uniqueness was profiled in the PBS documentary “Mi Mambo” and was the subject of a feature article in People Magazine.  The Harbor Conservatory has taken Latin music into the Conservatory, developing formal curricula to ensure that the knowledge and traditions are preserved and passed on to the next generation.

The Raíces Latin Music Museum, an affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution, began in 1979 as a grassroots initiative by musician/educators Ramon Rodriguez and Louis Bauzó of the Harbor Conservatory for the Performing Arts.  By saving important musical documents and artifacts from being destroyed, discarded, or otherwise lost, they have built one of the largest and most diverse collections of rare materials documenting New York City’s Afro-Caribbean Latin music legacy.