Lower East Side Community Hero

Nominated by Sarah Batchu

Sabura has been a resident of Lower East Side for two decades. She grew up in the South Bronx where she was active in arts and performance programs in the local church and community centers. Both of her parents were artists in their own right, so she was immersed in creativity of all kinds. Sabura credits them for her sense of service to the community. “Both of my parents were active in the community. My mother was a Girl Scout leader and member of several women’s groups; my father taught art lessons to people for free. They both made costumes and designed sets for church plays and volunteered in other ways. For example, my father used to take the neighborhood boys to Central Park on Saturdays, to teach them how to play football. Nobody paid him to do that. He just cared.”

After raising a family, Sabura finally attended college years after graduating from Fieldston High School. She proudly graduated from the City University of New York the same week her grandson graduated from kindergarten. Sabura taught cultural anthropology at CUNY and tutored college students at all levels in writing and the humanities. Her work in theater as a playwright and director has received accolades. She credits Crystal Field, Executive Director of Theater for the New City and The Nuyorican Poets Café for her successful return to the world of theater. Her writing and directing continue to garner accolades. Her original plays have been produced in venues in New York and beyond.

She teaches writing workshops, including one for adults, at the Center for Wellbeing & Happiness (part of the Lower East Side Girls Club) where she is also a participant in their wonderful programs! She was featured in a video about the Center. “I love this neighborhood. In all its diversity and color, I feel a real family here. Also, there are so many incredible cultural gems here including TNC (Theater for the New City) The Girls Club & Center for Wellbeing & Happiness; Nuyorican Poets Café; Kenkeleba House/ Wilmer Jennings Gallery; Henry Street Settlement; The Clemente Center; LaMama and so many other performing arts spaces and galleries. We have dozens of beautiful community gardens, independent bookshops, ethnic restaurants, and so much more. We have already lost too many cultural gems; therefore, we must fight to protect the ones we still have and build new ones.”