Americana/ble
Join us on Friday, May 1, 2026 for Americana/ble, Kiddie Pool’s first BIG GROUP SHOW. This grand old house is opening its doors again for a lively pop-up salon featuring artwork and performances from 20+ artists, musicians, and community organizers with strong ties to the Capital Region. Think of it as a melting pot of contemporary art & thought, right here in our corner of Upstate New York. You’re invited to melt with us for the main event on May Day, or visit us to view the artworks during the month of May.
May Day
2026
We’re melting for our first BIG GROUP SHOW!
Julia Alsarraf · Fern Apfel · Owen Barensfield · Alexis Bhagat · Judith Braun · Katie Chin · Tesora Garcia · Alex Gingrow · Danny Goodwin · Robby Herbst · Tara Holmes · Francine Hunter McGivern · Nina Isabel · Dani Klebes · Adrian Lee · Dustin Loveland · Jillian McDonald · Catherine McTague · Lillan Mulero · Ossie Jon-Nwakalo · Michael Oatman · Andrew Pellettieri · Daniel Rothbart · Douglas Rothschild · Michael Scoggins · Jillian Sweeney · Karley Sullivan · The 518 Newsletter · We Are Revolutionary · Christian Wechgelaer · Rachel Whitney ·
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Opening Reception
May Day
Friday, May 1, 2026
6—9pm
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Open Viewing Hours
May 3, 17, 24 (Sundays)
12—4pm
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Monuments w/ Alexis Bhagat
Walking Tour
May 7, 2026
Beginning at 6pm
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Belonging to the Air
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Artist Panel Discussion
Open to the public
Thursday, May 21, 2026
TBA
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Memorial Day
Sunday, May 31, 2026
TBA
Belonging to
the Air
Avery Irons:
Join us as writer Avery Irons returns to Kiddie Pool to share her debut novel, Belonging to the Air, just released this year. Open your heart with the story of honest "Bird" Bennett, a young, Black girl with a hunger to learn what lies beyond the walls she shares with her family in an Illinois freedman's town. As Bird comes of age, she reckons with domestic turbulence and what it means to fall in love. Rejecting a life of self-denial, she grows into herself in Harlem, before being called home again.
Sunday
May 17
Monuments
Walking tour
w/ Alexis Bhagat
Together we will walk and think about monuments; why we make them, and what we make them about. As the capital city of New York, Albany contains a concentration of memorials, mostly to wars and conquest. These war names, and names of the fallen, are recorded on the plaques and granite bases of monuments in and around the Empire State Plaza complex.
We will ask, what monuments are here, and what is missing?
Meet at Kiddie Pool, 128 Grand St. in Albany
Ending at West Capitol Park, 7:30 or 8pm
Thursday
May 7, 6pm
IMG: Kara Walker, Fons americanus (Tate Museum 2020)
Americana/ble is participating in the Fall of Freedom May Day movement. FoF is an "urgent call to action to make art, music, and beautiful protests foregrounding artistic labor and aligned with immigrants' rights organizing, to amplify all struggles against repression and state violence." Learn more here.
Patrons & Partners
Kiddie Pool is committed to gathering and sharing resources. Our first step for Americana/ble was raising funds for the essentials, including; event materials, physical labor, stipends for performing artists and organizers, and proper insurance for the artworks. And, we did it!
Thanks to 20 wonderful patrons and subscribers our Kickstarter campaign was fully funded, and we able to move forward with care for the folks making it happen. But, we’re not done yet. Additional programming is in the works; so wish us luck as we continue to drum up support for art + civic culture in the Capital Region.
Hungry for independent coverage of Capital Region culture? Subscribe to our partner publication, The 518 Newsletter!