North American Bengali Conference
The North American Bengali Conference (NABC) is an annual conference held in North America on Bengali culture. It is usually held around the weekend of, preceding, or following July 4. Since starting in 1980 in New York City under the sponsorship of the Cultural Association of Bengal, it has spread to several cities in the United States and Canada. During the event, people discuss issues affecting the Bengali and Bengali-American community including cultural identity and issues,[1] the future of the community, addressing unique issues affecting the community, networking opportunities, social gatherings, class re-unions, movie showings, literary readings and cultural performances dealing with Bengali culture.
NABC Youth and Next Generation
NABC Youth is a sub organization of NABC that tries to bring together the youth participating in the conference to help promote a common identity and cultural awareness for the age group. It is unknown when exactly a formal youth organization was set up, but events geared toward the younger generation have been around since the beginning of NABC.
In 2005 at its 25th anniversary, the NABC created the NABC Next Generation as an evolution of NABC Youth. The thought among the organizers was that the second generation of Bengalis had grown beyond the age to be considered "youth" anymore. Thus, they created the Next Generation program to address issues faced by 1.5 or second generation Bengalis born in North America.
Venues
- 1980: New York City, New York
- 1981: New York City, New York,
- 1982
- 1983
- 1984
- 1985
- 1986: San Francisco/San Jose, Bay Area Auditorium at the California School for the Deaf, Fremont, California
- 1987: New York
- 1988: Atlantic City, New Jersey, Atlantic City Convention Center
- 1989
- 1990
- 1991 Boston area, Lowell, Massachusetts
- 1992: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
- 1993: Los Angeles, California, California State University, Fullerton
- 1994: Chicago, Illinois, Hyatt Regency O'Hare
- 1995: New York Metro Area, White Plains, New York
- 1996: Houston, Texas, Adam's Mark Hotel
- 1997: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania area, King of Prussia, Pennsylvania
- 1998: Toronto- Regal Constellation
- 1999: San Francisco Bay Area, Santa Clara Convention Center, Santa Clara, California
- 2000: Atlantic City, New Jersey, Atlantic City Convention Center/Kolkata, India, Gubilee
- 2001: Boston area, Lowell, MA
- 2002: Atlanta, Georgia World Congress Center
- 2003: Long Beach, CA, Long Beach Convention Center
- 2004: Baltimore, Baltimore Convention Center
- 2005: New York City, Madison Square Garden
- 2006: Houston, George R. Brown Convention Center
- 2007: Detroit, Cobo Conference/Exhibition Hall
- 2008: Toronto, Metro Toronto Convention Centre
- 2009: San Jose, McEnery Convention Center
- 2010: Atlantic City, Atlantic City Convention Center
- 2011: Baltimore, Baltimore Convention Center
- 2012: Las Vegas, Paris Las Vegas
- 2013: Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Metro Toronto Convention Centre
- 2014: Orlando, Florida, USA, The Peabody Orlando
- 2015: Houston, Texas, USA, George R. Brown Convention Center