Recent news

BRIC is pleased to announce the lineup for its 35th anniversary Celebrate Brooklyn! Performing Arts Festival, which will comprise 29 shows, June 5 – August 10. The programming, reflective of the borough’s vast diversity, will feature a wide array of free, world-class performances in the singular environs of the Prospect Park Bandshell. The New York Times recently wrote, “Beautiful as it is, Prospect Park just feels incomplete in the fall and winter months; it truly comes alive in summer, when the tremendous Celebrate Brooklyn! brings dozens of free and benefit shows to its bandshell.” When BRIC launched Celebrate Brooklyn! in 1979, Prospect Park had long been neglected, and the festival was intended to bring people back into it. In the 35 years since, the festival has been an anchor in the park’s revitalization and a catalyst for the Brooklyn performing arts scene, and it has since become one of the city’s foremost summer cultural attractions. Gothamist named Celebrate Brooklyn! #1 on their list of “100 Reasons Why Brooklyn Lives up to the Hype.”

In January, BRIC and Brooklyn Public Library (BPL) began a partnership to expand BRIC’s media education programs for Brooklyn residents. BRIC is now BPL’s lead media education partner, offering free courses and equipment at BPL’s new state-of-the-art, 5,500-square-foot Shelby White and Leon Levy Information Commons, at Central Library on Grand Army Plaza. In May, BPL and BRIC will launch Phase II of the collaboration, expanding BRIC’s presence to BPL branches throughout the borough.

Quote of the Day: "The drawings amount to Etch-a-Sketch-like patterns that both emphasize words and constrain them. Wrapping around the walls of the small gallery, the 47 cards look like a physics experiment in which something has flattened out and picked up speed—and sometimes exploded." (Lana Bortolot, WSJ.com)

BRIC Arts | Media | Bklyn is proud to present "The 25th Annual BRIC Contemporary Art Education Exhibition" of student artwork. Curated by Hawley Hussey, BRIC’s Director of Contemporary Art Education, the exhibition marks 25 years of presenting artwork created in a wide variety of media by students in grades pre-K through high school in public schools across Brooklyn as well as in Queens and the Bronx. This year’s exhibition will include artistic contributions by over 1,000 students from 14 partnering public schools. The exhibition will be on view May 15 – June 14, 2013.

BRIC will host acclaimed choreographer Ronald K. Brown and his company, Evidence, A Dance Company, for three-year residency at new arts and media complex, BRIC House, starting in 2013. This project aims to develop demand for contemporary dance among residents of of public housing developments neighboring BRIC House.

Quote of the Day: "If there’s a better way to kick off the season than dancing on the East River at night with a huge crowd of people, we don’t want to know about it." --Brokelyn

BRIC, producer of Celebrate Brooklyn!, the borough’s premier outdoor summer festival, presents the Celebrate Brooklyn! Bridge Dance Party series. The free series, held on Brooklyn Bridge Park’s Pier 1 on three consecutive Thursday evenings in May (May 9, 16 & 23), will serve as a “bridge” to Celebrate Brooklyn’s 35th anniversary season at the Prospect Park Bandshell, which starts in June. Celebrate Brooklyn! Bridge Dance Party comprises a varied lineup of bands paired with DJs, on a great lawn with sweeping views of the city, plus dance lessons, free valet bike parking, food trucks and more. The free dance parties will begin at 7pm each night and end by 10pm. Pier 1 can be entered at the foot of Old Fulton Street at the Brooklyn waterfront or from the new Squibb Park Bridge. Featured artists include Big Sam's Funky Nation, Pedrito Martinez, Zapp Band, and DJs D-Nice, Freedom Party NYC, and DJ Nickodemus.

BRIC is pleased to announce that GRAMMY® Award-winning singer-songwriter Patty Griffin will open the 35th annual Celebrate Brooklyn! Performing Arts Festival, the borough’s premier outdoor summer festival, with a free concert June 5 at the Prospect Park Bandshell. The performance, Griffin’s first NYC appearance in over two years, will feature material from her new album, American Kid, which New West Records releases May 7. Prior to the 8:15 P.M. concert, BRIC will hold the Celebrate Brooklyn! Opening Night Gala, honoring festival Artistic Director Rachel Chanoff and BRIC Board of Trustees member Mark Cheffo, at 5:30 P.M. BRIC will announce the full Celebrate Brooklyn! lineup in May.

BRIC Arts | Media | Bklyn presents an installation of "Forty-Seven Easy Poundcakes Like grandma Use To Make," a series of forty-seven text-based computer drawings by interdisciplinary Brooklyn artist Nyeema Morgan. The work will be presented in BRIC Rotunda Gallery’s Project Room at 33 Clinton Street in Brooklyn Heights. The opening reception will take place Wednesday, March 13, from 7-9 pm and the work will be on view through April 27, 2013. Admission is free.

Arts | Media | Bklyn presents Cultural Fluency: Engagements with Contemporary Brooklyn, an exhibition at BRIC Rotunda Gallery that brings together six artists whose creative engagements with the city embody its culture. This exhibition is curated by Erin Gleason, a 2012-13 recipient of the Lori Ledis Emerging Curator Fellowship, and includes artists David Court, Aisha Cousins, Malesha Jessie, Hiroki Kobayashi, Martin McCormack, and Mark Reigelman. Their work – which ranges from public art to photography to guerilla opera bombs – explores and portrays the borough and its diverse culture, while also impacting it. The opening reception will take place March 13, from 7-9 pm at BRIC Rotunda Gallery, 33 Clinton Street, Brooklyn Heights, and the show will be on view through April 27, 2013. Admission is free.