FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
BRIC CELEBRATE BROOKLYN! JULY IS HERE
Habibi Fest, Royel Otis, Cindy Blackman Santana, CARRTOONS, and More Five Nights Free in Brooklyn This July
July Lineup Includes: EMEL, Yacine Boulares, Lucía, Sofía Valdés, Patricia Brennan, plus “Community Joy Day” Co-Presented with Legal Aid Society in Celebration of Their 150th Anniversary featuring SaintJames Joy
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(Brooklyn, New York, June 24, 2026) – BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn! continues its 47th season with six nights in July spanning Afro-Arab music, civic celebration, indie rock, jazz, world music, and new soul. Five shows are free at the Lena Horne Bandshell at Prospect Park, with one benefit concert and one community pop-up at Brower Park in Crown Heights.
July accentuates the season theme “Radical Joy,” rooted in the belief that coming together around music, free and open to all, in the heart of Brooklyn, is itself something worth protecting.The line-up is built around the communities that make up Brooklyn and the broader metropolitan area.
JULY EVENTS
Free | Lena Horne Bandshell, Prospect Park
Now in its third year as New York’s premier contemporary Arabic music festival, Habibi Fest brings its full curatorial vision to the Lena Horne Bandshell. The night spans jazz, North African tradition, soul, and dance floor culture, a cultural statement as much as a concert, and one of the most distinctive lineups BCB! has ever presented.
EMEL is a Tunisian singer-songwriter whose voice bridges Arab tradition and contemporary global music. Mai Egizouli brings a singular sound rooted in the SWANA tradition. Nesrine is a powerful vocalist whose presence commands the stage. Yacine Boulares, hailed by Radio France Internationale as one of the most talented jazzmen of his generation, is the founder of the Habibi Festival itself — making his BCB! appearance both a homecoming and a statement. A Fulbright scholar and New School graduate, his ensemble AJOYO won Best Global Music EP at the Independent Music Awards in 2020, and he is a 2023-24 National Arts Club Fellow.
Closing the night, Yalla! Party Project, an arts collective centering Queer SWANA and BIPOC women and friends, brings their emblematic Brooklyn dance party to the Bandshell, with DJs spinning North African sounds, Arabic pop, and global grooves.
SATURDAY, JULY 11 | COMMUNITY JOY DAY
The Legal Aid Society Presents: St. James Joy | Pahua | Puppetmobile
Free | Lena Horne Bandshell, Prospect Park
Co-presented with the Legal Aid Society in celebration of the organization’s 150th anniversary, Community Joy Day anchors the season’s civic dimension. The show brings together Brooklyn communities alongside one of the city’s most essential legal institutions. It’s a reminder that culture and access to justice are not separate conversations. Come for the picnic. Stay for the music.
Saint James Joy is a Brooklyn father-and-son DJ duo whose sets draw from the neighborhood’s musical history and present. Pahua is a composer, percussionist, DJ, and producer from Mexico City whose work weaves Caribbean rhythms and folkloric tradition into electronic production. Puppetmobile brings interactive community performance to all ages.
SATURDAY, JULY 18 | BENEFIT CONCERT Royel Otis | Ax and the Hatchetmen
Tickets Required | Lena Horne Bandshell, Prospect Park
Australian indie duo Royel Otis make their Brooklyn debut in one of the season’s most anticipated nights. Their sound moves fluidly across indie rock, new wave, post-punk, and psychedelic pop, and their live shows have built a devoted international following. Ax and the Hatchetmen open with their high-energy blend of rock, jazz, and beach rock. Proceeds from this benefit concert support BRIC’s free, year-round programming for the Brooklyn community.
FRIDAY, JULY 24 | JAZZ AT THE BANDSHELL
Cindy Blackman Santana | The Patricia Brennan Septet | Lucía
Free | Lena Horne Bandshell, Prospect Park
An all-women jazz bill featuring three artists redefining the genre from three different directions. Cindy Blackman Santana is one of the most accomplished drummers of her generation, with a 40-year career at the intersection of jazz and rock, extensive work as a bandleader and recording artist, and over a decade performing alongside Lenny Kravitz. Her technique, power, and musical intelligence are the story.
The Patricia Brennan Septet features Mexican-born composer, vibraphonist, and marimbist Patricia Brennan, who has expanded what those instruments can do and holds faculty positions at Manhattan School of Music, the New School, and NYU Steinhardt.
Lucía is a 24-year-old jazz vocalist from Veracruz, Mexico who won the 2022 Sarah Vaughan International Jazz Vocal Competition. Her music moves between jazz, Latin, pop, and son jarocho, and she is already one of the most watched young voices in the genre.
SATURDAY, JULY 25 | BCB! AT BROWER PARK
Free | Brower Park, Crown Heights, Brooklyn
BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn! takes the festival into the neighborhood with a free community pop-up at Brower Park in Crown Heights, in partnership with Council Member Chi Ossé and Rooftop Films. Black House Radio brings the sound.
FRIDAY, JULY 31 | NEW SOUL NIGHT
CARRTOONS ft. Hailé Supreme | Sofía Valdés | Julia Zivic
Free | Lena Horne Bandshell, Prospect Park
Three artists at the leading edge of a new soul sound close out July at the Bandshell. CARRTOONS, the project of New York-based multi-instrumentalist and producer Ben Carr, has made the electric bass the centerpiece of a sound that earned him an NPR Tiny Desk performance and a growing national following. Sofía Valdés is a Panamanian singer-songwriter signed to Warner Records who writes with a directness that belies her age and a voice that commands attention. Julia Zivic is a Peekskill-based artist whose music navigates between tenderness and power with uncommon control.
LOGISTICS
All shows take place at the Lena Horne Bandshell at Prospect Park, 141 Prospect Park West, Brooklyn, NY 11215, with the exception of the pop-up show which takes place at Brower Park in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. Benefit shows require tickets. Visit HERE to RSVP for shows (not mandatory), purchase tickets for benefit shows, and keep up with the latest BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn! updates.
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PARTNERS AND SUPPORTERS
BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn! is presented in partnership with Prospect Park Alliance and NYC Parks.
Public support for BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn! is provided by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and the New York City Council with special thanks to Commissioner Diya Vij, New York City Council Speaker Julie Menin, Deputy Speaker Nantasha Williams; Council Members Crystal Hudson, Rita Joseph, Shahana Hanif, Chi Osse, Farah Louis, and Chris Banks; and members of the New York City Council’s Black, Latino, and Asian Caucus; and the New York State Legislature, with support from the Brooklyn Delegation, with special thanks to New York State Senators Zellnor Myrie and Andrew Gounardes; and New York State Assembly Members Robert Carroll, Brian Cunningham, and Phara Souffrant-Forrest. Additional support and special thanks to Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso.
BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn! at Brower Park is presented in partnership with New York City Council Member Chi Ossé and Rooftop Films.
Lead support for performing arts at BRIC comes from the Howard Gilman Foundation.
BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn! is made possible in part by generous support from our members, sponsors, funders, and Board of Directors. Additional support is provided from the Shubert Organization.
Media partners for the 2026 BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn! season include the Mayor’s Office of Media & Entertainment, WBGO, and City Point.
About BRIC
BRIC is one of New York City’s premier cultural nonprofits – a hybrid arts presenter, media producer, and educator. For almost 50 years, we’ve partnered with innovators and underserved communities to spotlight voices that deserve to be heard, through such tentpole programs as BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn!, BRIC JazzFest, BRIC House Party, BRIC TV, BCAT, and multiple artist residencies, workshops, and classes. In 2025, BRIC became the first media organization to join NYC’s prestigious Cultural Institutions Group. For emerging creators, lifelong storytellers, and communities shaping culture, BRIC is the amplifier. For more information visit bricartsmedia.org.
About Prospect Park Alliance
Prospect Park Alliance is the non-profit organization that sustains, restores and advances Prospect Park, Brooklyn’s Backyard, in partnership with the City of New York. The Alliance provides critical staff and resources that keep the park green and vibrant for the diverse communities that call Brooklyn home. The Alliance cares for the woodlands and natural areas; restores the park’s buildings and landscapes; creates new park destinations; and provides free or low-cost volunteer, education and recreation programs. Through the work of the Alliance, Prospect Park is an international model for the care of urban parks, and one of the premier green spaces in the United States. Learn more at www.prospectpark.org.
About TD Bank U.S.
TD Bank US Holding Company and its subsidiaries, including TD Bank, N.A., are collectively known as TD Bank U.S. As the U.S. banking business of The Toronto-Dominion Bank (TSX and NYSE: TD), a leading North American financial services firm, TD Bank U.S. serves more than 10 million clients and has a network of approximately 1,050 locations throughout the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, Carolinas and Florida. We support our clients and communities with a full range of retail, small business, and commercial banking products and services. We also offer customized private banking and wealth management services, a comprehensive suite of credit card products for consumers and businesses, and automotive vehicle financing and dealer commercial services. TD Bank U.S. is one of the largest banks in the U.S. by assets and is headquartered in Mount Laurel, N.J. To learn more, visit www.td.com/us.
About Con Edison
Con Edison is a subsidiary of Consolidated Edison, Inc. [NYSE: ED], one of the nation’s largest investor-owned energy companies. The utility delivers electricity, natural gas and steam, and serves 3.7 million customers in New York City and Westchester County, NY. For financial, operations and customer service information, visit www.conEd.com.
About Brooklyn Made
Brooklyn Made is a project of the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce dedicated to showcasing and supporting locally made goods and the creative entrepreneurs behind them. With retail locations at City Point in downtown Brooklyn and Industry City in Sunset Park, and a pop-up in Tokyo, Japan, Brooklyn Made is the destination for discovering what makes Brooklyn, Brooklyn.