Announcing the Third Annual BRIC OPEN
Announcing the Third Annual
BRIC OPEN Line-Up
Centered on the Theme of Justice, the Arts & Ideas Festival is
Free and Open to the Public April 24-27, 2019
BRIC, the leading presenter of free cultural programming in Brooklyn, is proud to announce the third annual BRIC OPEN will take place from April 24-27, 2019. This edition explores the theme of Justice through art, music, film, performance, conversations, neighborhood walks, and shared experiences. In line with BRIC’s commitment to accessibility, all events are free and open to the public.
"We are thrilled to present the third annual BRIC OPEN festival, which allows us to delve deeper into the intersection of arts and humanity through the lens of BRIC's bold performing arts, contemporary art, and community media programs," says Kristina Newman-Scott, President of BRIC. "The diverse lineup of the festival aims to give a platform to artists whose work is rooted in social justice and innovation."
This year’s festival, BRIC OPEN: Justice, interrogates notions of justice and empathy and aims to use artistic and creative experiences to open up spaces in which participants can find freedom in self-expression and witness others in their full humanity. A remarkably diverse line-up of artists and presenters demonstrate the intersectionality of justice, the power of voice, and the joy in finding strength in community.
BRIC OPEN 2019 HIGHLIGHTS
Programming highlights include contemporary art exhibitions featuring Jaishri Abichandani, Liz Collins, Texas Isaiah, Macon Reed and Kamau Ware, the world premiere performances ofPhillip Howze’s Self Portraits, a story slam with the Innocence Project with a performance byPhony Ppl, a teen justice summit, “Who is Fort Greene?” walking tours by Ware’s Black Gotham Experience, a community storytelling project led by Yazmany Arboleda entitled Future Historical Society, an Open Mic curated by Mahogany L. Browne, as well as additional activities by Harriet’s Apothecary, Urban Bush Women, New Latin Wave, Colectiva Cosmica,The Disability/Arts/NYC Task Force (DANT) and more.
A list of programs is available at https://www.bricartsmedia.org/open. Additional programs to be announced. BRIC House is located at 647 Fulton Street in Brooklyn and is open weekdays and Saturdays at 8AM and Sundays at 10AM.
BRIC OPEN: Justice is sponsored by NYU Tandon School of Engineering.
ON THE THEME, JUSTICE:
How can artistic experiences, shared with one another, speak to questions of justice?
We imagine justice as a bold ideal encompassing fairness, access and equity -- something to strive for. But, as enacted in our society, through systems which reflect and reinforce unfair power structures, the practice of justice needs to be interrogated. What does justice look like? Justice for whom? As defined by whom?
During the third annual BRIC OPEN arts and ideas festival, BRIC invites you to creatively engage with one another to grow in compassion and understanding. In a city where we often share space, but not meaningful connections, the festival opens up spaces to find freedom in self-expression and witness others in their full humanity. These actions lay the ground for each of us to see our individual fates tied up with that of our communities, and ask us to confront and correct injustices that only persist if we are not fully recognizing others in their complex wholeness. Art can offer context, acknowledge histories, and engage the body and voice, words and images, to illuminate complex ideas. It can develop energy and excitement, and spark action. We believe that art can allow questions about justice – and their answers – to resonate more deeply, and in productively jarring ways, move us incrementally toward greater empathy.
ABOUT BRIC OPEN
Established in 2017, the BRIC OPEN is an arts and ideas festival that converges around BRIC’s core values of creativity, inclusion, participation, and community. The festival aims to bring people together to radically imagine a more equitable, liberated future, through four days of art, music, film, performance, conversations, neighborhood walks, and shared experiences.
ABOUT BRIC
BRIC is the leading presenter of free cultural programming in Brooklyn, and one of the largest in New York City. The organization presents and incubates work by artists and media-makers that reflects the diversity of New York. BRIC programs reach hundreds of thousands of people each year. BRIC’s main venue, BRIC House, offers a public media center, a major contemporary art exhibition space, two performance spaces, a glass-walled TV studio and artist work spaces. BRIC’s acclaimed programs include the BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn! Festival in Prospect Park; groundbreaking media initiatives, including BRIC TV, BRIC Radio, and Brooklyn Free Speech; and renowned contemporary art exhibitions. BRIC also offers education and community-building programs at BRIC House and throughout Brooklyn.
In addition to making cultural programming genuinely accessible, BRIC is dedicated to providing substantial support to artists and media makers in their efforts to develop work and reach new audiences. BRIC is unusual in both presenting exceptional cultural experiences and nurturing individual expression. This dual commitment enables BRIC to most effectively reflect New York City’s innate cultural richness and diversity.
ABOUT THE NYU TANDON SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING
The NYU Tandon School of Engineering dates to 1854, the founding date for both the New York University School of Civil Engineering and Architecture and the Brooklyn Collegiate and Polytechnic Institute (widely known as Brooklyn Poly). A January 2014 merger created a comprehensive school of education and research in engineering and applied sciences, rooted in a tradition of invention and entrepreneurship and dedicated to furthering technology in service to society. For more information, visit engineering.nyu.edu.
PRESS CONTACTS
Marcella Zimmermann Blake Zidell
Vice President, Cultural Counsel Blake Zidell & Associates
marcella@culturalcounsel.com blake@blakezidell.com