BRIC ANNOUNCES LINEUP AND SPONSORS FOR 40TH SEASON OF BRIC CELEBRATE BROOKLYN! FESTIVAL
BRIC ANNOUNCES LINEUP AND SPONSORS FOR 40TH SEASON OF BRIC CELEBRATE BROOKLYN! FESTIVAL
BACKED BY AMERICAN EXPRESS
JUNE 5 – AUGUST 11
AT THE PROSPECT PARK BANDSHELL
Festival Launches BRIC’s Year-Long 40th Anniversary Celebration
Lineup Includes Free Concerts Headlined by Common, The Breeders, Aimee Mann, Superchunk, Fischerspooner, Mala Rodríguez, Rhye, Kronos Quartet, Anoushka Shankar, Tinariwen, BADBADNOTGOOD, Noname, Tarrus Riley, Gary Clark Jr., Godspeed You! Black Emperor, and more
Live Music with Film Screenings of Brimstone and Glory and Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind
Family Concert by Los Lobos
A BET Opening Night Concert, A Five-Concert Eventbrite Music Series, and A Four-Concert Bud Light Music Series
Dance Performances by Dorrance Dance and Ballet Jazz de Montréal
Benefit Concerts by The Decemberists, Vance Joy, Grizzly Bear + Spoon, Joe Russo’s Almost Dead, Courtney Barnett, and Good Vibes with Jason Mraz & Brett Dennen
40th Season is Backed by American Express
BRIC, the leading presenter of free cultural programming in Brooklyn, is pleased to announce the lineup and sponsors for its 40th season of the BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn! Festival. With 31 performances (June 5 – August 11), BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn! launches a yearlong celebration to cap off four decades for the pioneering NYC arts-and-media organization and leading presenter of free cultural programming in Brooklyn. The programming, reflective of Brooklyn’s eclecticism and diversity, will feature a wide array of free, world-class performances at the beautiful Prospect Park Bandshell.
Of the BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn! Festival, Billboard writes, “In the crowded summer festival season, BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn! stands apart.” Since it began in 1979 as a catalyst for a burgeoning Brooklyn performing arts scene, and to bring people back into Prospect Park after years of neglect, the Festival has become one of the city’s foremost summer cultural attractions. Winner of the Village Voice Readers’ Poll and Critics’ Picks for “Best Free Concert Series,” BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn! Festival is New York City’s longest-running summer outdoor performance festival. Over its 40-year history, the Festival has presented more than 2,000 artists, drawing a diverse audience upwards of 200,000 each season. Time Out New York writes, “Catching one of these gigs is guaranteed to be a highlight of your summer show-going season, whether you're seeing a buzzy indie-rock band, a classic soul or funk group, or one of the best hip-hop artists around.”
The 2018 season kicks off June 5 with a free BET-sponsored opening night concert by Academy and GRAMMY Award-winning actor and musician Common. Preceding the concert will be a gala honoring outgoing BRIC President Leslie Griesbach Schultz for her 13 years of transformational leadership. Since 2005, Schultz has helped BRIC grow from $3.7 million to $15.8 million in annual operating revenues; led the transformation of BRIC from an umbrella for largely discrete arts and media programs in disparate locations into a leading, high-impact institution in an award-winning new facility in Downtown Brooklyn; vastly expanded BRIC’s programming, education initiatives and community-engagement work; strengthened BRIC’s commitment to providing support and resources for Brooklyn artists and media-makers; and advanced workplace equity and diversity.
The 2018 season exemplifies the BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn! Festival’s signature mix of music, film, dance and multimedia works, complemented by food and other provisions from local artisans and vendors. Of the 31 total performances being presented this season, 25 are free (with a $5 suggested contribution at the gate): 21 music concerts, two Music & Movies performance events in which live music accompanies films projected on one of NYC’s largest (50’ wide x 21’ high) outdoor screens, and two dance performances. The remaining six shows are ticketed benefit concerts, which offer rare opportunities to see great artists in an extraordinary outdoor setting at reasonable ticket prices while supporting the Festival’s free performances.
The full season lineup consists of artists from Brooklyn and around the world—across the U.S., the Caribbean, Latin America, the Middle East, Africa, and Europe. They include The Jayhawks / Mandolin Orange / Parsonsfield (June 16), Fischerspooner / Juliana Huxtable (June 23), Branford Marsalis / Roger Guenveur Smith (June 29), Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder / Sierra Hull and Justin Moses / Mamie Minch (June 30), Antibalas / Combo Chimbita / DJ Nickodemus (July 12), Kronos Quartet / Trio da Kali (July 14), Anoushka Shankar / My Brightest Diamond (July 20), Tinariwen / Cheick Hamala Diabate (July 27), Tarrus Riley with Dean Fraser and the Blak Soil Band / Mwenso & the Shakes (August 4), and Godspeed You! Black Emperor / Emel Mathlouthi (August 10).
Returning for the 17th consecutive year is Series Title Sponsor Bud Light, which presents the Bud Light Music Series, including Aimee Mann / Superchunk / Jonathan Coulton (June 21), R+R=Now Featuring Robert Glasper, Terrace Martin, Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah, Derrick Hodge, Justin Tyson, Taylor McFerrin / Paul Beaubrun (June 22), Gary Clark Jr. / Fiona Silver (August 9), and The Breeders / Speedy Ortiz (August 11).
BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn! Festival also welcomes Series Title Sponsor Eventbrite, which will present the Eventbrite Music Series, including Rhye / Natalie Prass / Overcoats (July 7), Mala Rodriguez / Ana Tijoux / Girl Ultra (July 13), Brandi Carlile / Ruthie Foster (July 26), BADBADNOTGOOD / Charlotte Day Wilson (August 2), and Noname / Topaz Jones / Jazze Belle (August 3).
The Music & Movies series events include a screening of Viktor Jakovleski’s 2017 documentary about the National Pyrotechnic Festival in Tultepec, Mexico, Brimstone and Glory, with a live score by Wordless Music Orchestra, and an opening set by Sonido Gallo Negro (July 21); and Hayao Miyazaki’s Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984) with an opening performance by Kaki King (July 28).
Los Lobos will headline this year’s Family Concert on June 10, performing an electrified collection of hits and family music bona fides. Dance performances this year include The Blues Project featuring Dorrance Dance with Toshi Reagon & BIGLovely (June 28); and Les Ballets Jazz de Montréal with Leonard Cohen’s Dance Me, an acclaimed dance homage to Leonard Cohen (July 6).
This summer’s benefit concerts provide support for the free performances and include The Decemberists (June 13), Vance Joy / Alice Merton (June 14), Grizzly Bear + Spoon (June 20), Joe Russo’s Almost Dead (July 19), Courtney Barnett / Julien Baker / Vagabon (July 25), and Good Vibes with Jason Mraz & Brett Dennen (August 7).
The Festival welcomes several Co-Sponsors:
The 40th season of the BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn! Festival is backed by long-time sponsor American Express, as part of the company’s commitment to strengthen the communities where its Card Members and colleagues live and work.
Bud Light returns for the 16th consecutive year, and will activate with fun VIP experiences at their four-concert Bud Light Music Series.
In support of New York City’s independent live music scene, Eventbrite is a first-time sponsor, bringing to life the first five-concert Eventbrite Music Series and offering chances to access VIP experiences throughout the season.
Returning season co-sponsor Oris, the independent Swiss watch brand, will have a cool, immersive airstream trailer onsite and a special promotion with local retailer The Clay Pot.
Sorbabes will once again refresh Festival crowds with dairy-free, plant-based sorbets made from rich nut butters and real fruits with delicious toppings folded in. Sorbabes - It’s not ice cream, it’s better. Discover for yourself @Sorbabes.
Co-Sponsor IKEA Brooklyn, NYC’s destination for home furnishing and goods, returns for its 10th consecutive season, providing decor to beautify the Bandshell.
BET serves as sponsor of the opening night concert as part BET’s celebration of Black Music Month.
WorldStage and Audible Difference Inc. are the official providers of the Festival’s lighting, video and audio systems.
Hilton Brooklyn New York is the official hotel partner for the Festival.
WNET’s new ALL ARTS multimedia platform joins long-time Season Media Partners The Village Voice, WABC-TV, WNYC 93.9 FM/820 AM and WFUV 90.7 FM, which plans several live broadcasts from the Festival.
Longtime promotional partner on select jazz performances include WBGO 88.3 FM.
The Festival is presented in partnership with the City of New York Parks & Recreation and the Prospect Park Alliance.
A complete list of supporters can be found at www.BRICartsmedia.org/cb.
BRIC President Leslie Schultz, said, “We are enormously proud that the world-class BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn! Festival has become a leading light of New York City’s vast cultural offerings, and that we are marking our 40th season of extraordinary, diverse and free performances. For four decades—since the summer of 1979—the Festival has represented the best of what Brooklyn and America can be: a welcoming supercollider of ideas and cultures, informing and enriching each other. We are grateful for all the support BRIC receives to keep the festival free and accessible to all New Yorkers.”
Jack Walsh, BRIC’s Vice President of Performing Arts and Executive Producer of BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn! Festival, said, “We are thrilled to announce the 40th summer season of the BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn! Festival at the Prospect Park Bandshell. This special season features over fifty celebrated artists from around the world and around the block who reflect the times and advance the Festival’s founding principles of inclusion and democracy, illuminating the vibrant cultures that make our borough so unique. We invite everyone to come together at the Prospect Park Bandshell as these artists take our stage to compel, intrigue, entertain and uplift us.”
Sue Donoghue, President of the Prospect Park Alliance, said, “We are delighted to host the 40th season of BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn! Festival at the Prospect Park Bandshell. Over the past four decades, this festival has brought a wide range of free music and family programming to Prospect Park, to the delight of the many diverse communities we serve. Congratulations to our partners at BRIC for this tremendous success.”
Friends of BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn! Festival memberships for individuals and small businesses offer reserved seats, Friends Tent access with food and beverage service, and ads for businesses. The Friends Tent interior is specially designed by IKEA Brooklyn. More information is available at www.BRICartsmedia.org/cb.
BRIC CELEBRATE BROOKLYN! Festival 2018 LINEUP
Tuesday, June 5, 8:00pm
BET Opening Night Concert!
COMMON
Free
“An artist’s duty,” Nina Simone once said, “is to reflect the times.” The rapper/poet/actor/activist Common has embodied this statement his whole career. From his ‘90s breakout in underground progressive hip hop, through mainstream success with the Soulquarians, and on to Hollywood stardom and beyond, he has remained an eloquent narrator of the injustices, challenges, conflicts, and hopes of his cultural moment. In the spirit of Simone’s quote, the Festival’s 40th season is a summer-long celebration of democratic ideals and social justice—and there’s no better way to kick it off than with a free show by this inspiring artist-citizen.
Following the concert, at 10:00pm, gala guests and Friends of the BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn! Festival (i.e. members) are invited to the Opening Night After-Party featuring a celebrity guest DJ to be announced.
Sunday, June 10, 3:00pm
Family Concert
LOS LOBOS
Free
For decades, the celebrated Mexican-American rock band Los Lobos have been seamlessly “moving back and forth between their Chicano roots and their love of American rock & roll” (Billboard), with hits like “La Bamba,” which was the first Spanish-language song to reach No. 1 in the U.S. charts. Lesser known, but equally as powerful, are their family music bona fides: the outstanding concept album Papa’s Dream (1995) and a whole record of Disney tunes (2009).
Wednesday, June 13, 7:00pm
THE DECEMBERISTS
Ticketed BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn! Benefit Concert
$45 (General Admission – Standing)
Tickets can be purchased by visiting BRICArtsMedia.org or Ticketfly.com.
Thursday, June 14, 7:30pm
VANCE JOY | ALICE MERTON
Ticketed BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn! Benefit Concert
$54.50 advance / $60 day of show (General Admission – Standing)
Tickets can be purchased by visiting BRICArtsMedia.org or Ticketfly.com.
Saturday, June 16, 7:00pm
THE JAYHAWKS | MANDOLIN ORANGE | PARSONSFIELD
Free
For more than 30 years, The Jayhawks “have crafted widescreen power-pop with country-western affectations, summoning an easygoing romanticism and a skyward sound that makes even their sad songs seem happy.” (Portland Press Herald) 2016’s stellar record Paging Mr. Proust and a more recent collaboration with Ray Davies show they’re still at the top of their game. The sublime harmonies of North Carolina duo Mandolin Orange, who “approach traditional roots music from a fresh, modern perspective,” (Rolling Stone) and the raucous foot-stomping Americana of Parsonsfield round out a perfect Saturday at the Bandshell.
Wednesday, June 20, 6:30pm
GRIZZLY BEAR + SPOON
Ticketed BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn! Benefit Concert
$46 advance / $51 day of show (General Admission – Standing)
Tickets can be purchased by visiting BRICArtsMedia.org or Ticketfly.com.
Thursday, June 21, 7:30pm
Bud Light Music Series
AIMEE MANN | SUPERCHUNK | JONATHAN COULTON
Free
Aimee Mann, whom NPR named one the 10 best living songwriters, is at the height of her powers: her 2017 record Mental Illness is her “quintessential statement.” (Pitchfork) The seminal pop-punk band Superchunk co-headlines, riding a wave of angsty momentum generated by their 2018 release What a Time to Be Alive, a snarling polemic against our current political moment. Singer-songwriter and raconteur Jonathan Coulton opens.
Friday, June 22, 7:30pm
Bud Light Music Series
R+R=NOW featuring ROBERT GLASPER, TERRACE MARTIN, CHRISTIAN SCOTT aTUNDE ADJUAH, DERRICK HODGE, JUSTIN TYSON, TAYLOR MCFERRIN | PAUL BEAUBRUN
Free
Each member of Robert Glasper’s exceptional new collective is an underground icon in his own right, contributing to prestigious releases from the likes of Snoop Dogg, Jill Scott, and Herbie Hancock. The name stands for Reflect+Respond=Now, and the mission is to create music that speaks to the current socio-political moment. BRIC has commissioned the group to write a new piece of music for this show called The Liberation Suite, which will have its world premiere at the Bandshell as part of their set. The Haitian-American singer and guitarist (and Brooklynite) Paul Beaubrun opens.
Saturday, June 23, 7:30pm
FISCHERSPOONER | JULIANA HUXTABLE
Free
“The art-pop duo and original poster-boys for New York City's electroclash scene” (NPR) have come storming back with a fresh embrace of sensuality, lust, and love, and a new stage show that is not for the prudish. Sir, Fischerspooner’s first new record in nine years, boasts a gaggle of name-drop-worthy collaborators (Michael Stipe, Caroline Polachek of Chairlift, Boots) and is packed with dance floor ready singles. The DJ/author/conceptual artist Juliana Huxtable, “a mind whose output transcends prescribed limitations,” (artnet) spins.
Thursday, June 28, 8:00pm
THE BLUES PROJECT FEATURING DORRANCE DANCE WITH TOSHI REAGON & BIGLOVELY CREATED BY MICHELLE DORRANCE, DERICK K. GRANT, TOSHI REAGON, AND DORMESHIA SUMBRY-EDWARDS
Free
This joyful and explosive collision of dance and music solidified Michelle Dorrance’s reputation as “one of the most imaginative tap choreographers working today.” (The New Yorker) The Blues Project brings together Dorrance’s exceptional company with the elemental musical force that is Toshi Reagon & BIGLovely to reveal “a deep merging of forms: As Ms. Reagon’s music envelops the dancing, the dancing seeps through to the last chord and sometimes even beyond it.” (The New York Times)
Friday, June 29, 7:30pm
BRANFORD MARSALIS | ROGER GUENVEUR SMITH: FREDERICK DOUGLASS NOW
Free
The GRAMMY Award-winning New Orleans-based sax player and bandleader Branford Marsalis is “a jazz chameleon...with a swooping tone, supple phrasing, and witty licks.” (AllMusic) His two sets tonight bookend Roger Guenveur Smith’s startling one man show, Frederick Douglass Now, which incorporates elements of poetry slam, rap, and revival minister to recast the words of the runaway slave-turned-abolitionist into a 21st century context and “makes a striking statement about where America has come and still has to go in terms of race.” (LA Times)
Saturday, June 30, 7:00pm
RICKY SKAGGS and KENTUCKY THUNDER | SIERRA HULL AND JUSTIN MOSES | MAMIE MINCH
Free
Mandolin master and 2018 Country Music Hall of Fame inductee Ricky Skaggs “is without peer as a combination vocalist and instrumentalist.” (AllMusic) This living legend will get a run for his money from Sierra Hull, who as a teenage mandolin phenom “emerged as one of bluegrass' most celebrated prodigies” (NPR) and the multi-instrumentalist (and former Skaggs bandmate) Justin Moses. Brooklyn’s own Mamie Minch starts the show.
Friday, July 6, 8:00pm
LES BALLETS JAZZ DE MONTRÉAL: LEONARD COHEN’S DANCE ME
Free
Originally commissioned before Leonard Cohen’s death and with his blessing, Ballet Jazz de Montréal’s sprawling homage to his songs “is a grandly executed hodgepodge of performance art that pushes the entertainment value of contemporary dance closer to the level of a rock concert or big-budget musical.” (Ottawa Citizen) It debuted in Canada to great acclaim last year and the full piece will have its American premiere at the Bandshell.
Saturday, July 7, 7:00pm
Eventbrite Music Series
RHYE | NATALIE PRASS | OVERCOATS
Free
From a mysterious studio project to sold-out shows, Rhye has expanded their downtempo R&B sound with a sprawling live band and concerts that now stretch “into extended jam sessions that touched on everything from the irrepressible soul-funk of Curtis Mayfield to late ‘60s psychedelic soul bands like Vanilla Fudge and Rare Earth.” (Billboard) The night begins with the “slow neo-soul simmer” (Stereogum) of the dynamic singer-songwriter Natalie Prass and the “magnetic harmonies” (Billboard) of electro-folk duo Overcoats.
Thursday, July 12, 7:30pm
ANTIBALAS | COMBO CHIMBITA | DJ NICKODEMUS
Free
The Brooklyn afrobeat juggernaut Antibalas’ live shows have become the stuff of legend. Last year’s Where the Gods Are in Peace, released on the storied Bushwick label Daptone Records, “takes their lustral party vibes and adds layers of activist lyrics, satire and incendiary rhythms to create their strongest, and most politically charged, album to date.” (Drowned in Sound) With an opening set of high energy, locally-sourced tropical futurism from Combo Chimbita and DJ Nickodemus of Turntables on the Hudson fame presiding, it’s a global dance party born in Brooklyn.
Friday, July 13, 7:00pm
Eventbrite Music Series
MALA RODRIGUEZ | ANA TIJOUX | GIRL ULTRA
Free
The Latin Alternative Music Conference returns for its annual showcase with a night of fierce women headlined by the Spanish MC Mala Rodriguez, whose fiery hybrid style “marries flamenco, boom-bap hip-hop, laptop trap, and ‘70s soul.” (Remezcla) Ana Tijoux, a French-Chilean rapper “who melts and reworks the Spanish language like a blacksmith,” (NPR) and Girl Ultra, “a bleeding-heart R&B diva from Mexico City,” (Remezcla) complete the bill. Presented in association with the Latin Alternative Music Conference.
Saturday, July 14, 7:30pm
KRONOS QUARTET | TRIO DA KALI
Free
No group has been more adventurously omnivorous in its collaborations than Kronos Quartet, and last year’s Ladilikan, with the Malian supergroup Trio Da Kali, is a high point in a career of high points. Inspired by gospel queen and civil rights pioneer Mahalia Jackson, the record runs the gamut “from subtle harmonic counterpoint, to circular riffs reminiscent of Steve Reich’s minimalism, to grander phrasings that seem to join the dots between Malian blues and Appalachian folk.” (The Guardian) The two bands grace our stage, separately and together, for a magical evening.
Thursday, July 19, 7:00pm
JOE RUSSO’S ALMOST DEAD
Ticketed BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn! Benefit Concert
$45 (General Admission – Standing)
Tickets can be purchased by visiting BRICArtsMedia.org or Ticketfly.com.
Friday, July 20, 7:30pm
ANOUSHKA SHANKAR | MY BRIGHTEST DIAMOND
Free
Melding Indian classical raga with other world music influences and electronica beats in her new project Land of Gold, the sitar master Anoushka Shankar creates a sound “whose shimmering textures seem to offer a hotline to the divine,” (The Australian) honoring tradition while boldly embracing the future. The indie experimentalist Shara Nova, who as My Brightest Diamond makes music that “feels simultaneously micro-orchestrated and entirely, ecstatically spontaneous,” (NPR) brings a brand new lineup to the Bandshell in advance of a new record out this fall.
Saturday, July 21, 7:30pm
Music & Movies
BRIMSTONE AND GLORY W/ LIVE SCORE BY WORDLESS MUSIC ORCHESTRA | SONIDO GALLO NEGRO
Free
One of the biggest movie screens in NYC will explode with light, color, and sound during this screening and live orchestral score of Brimstone and Glory, a documentary by the creators of Beasts of the Southern Wild about the National Pyrotechnic Festival in Tultepec, Mexico, that captures the ritual, danger, and absolute beauty of fireworks. "Mixing sheer spectacle with human-interest threads, [the film is] a poetical, entrancing documentary,” writes Variety. Wordless Music Orchestra provides the percussive accompaniment, and Sonido Gallo Negro, a stunning theremin-driven nine-piece instrumental combo from Mexico City that channels both the mystique and mysticism of 1960s Peruvian cumbia, opens.
Wednesday, July 25, 7:00pm
COURTNEY BARNETT | JULIEN BAKER | VAGABON
Ticketed BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn! Benefit Concert
$39.50 advance / $45 day of show (General Admission – Standing)
Tickets can be purchased by visiting BRICArtsMedia.org or Ticketfly.com.
Thursday, July 26, 7:30pm
Eventbrite Music Series
BRANDI CARLILE | RUTHIE FOSTER
Free
Brandi Carlile’s 2018 record, By the Way, I Forgive You, is a career-defining tour de force that “expertly skirts the fine line between rootsiness and pure, pre-‘Americana’ singer/songwriter finesse.” (Variety) With a voice that easily slides from whispered raw emotion to rafter-shaking power, she makes the intimate feel anthemic and the anthemic transcendent. Texan blueswoman Ruthie Foster’s trio showcases her soulful, gospel-infused vocals and luminous guitar, which Rolling Stone calls “pure magic to watch and hear.”
Friday, July 27, 7:30pm
TINARIWEN | CHEICK HAMALA DIABATE
Free
The GRAMMY Award-winning, guitar shredding desert blues group Tinariwen originally formed while living in exile. Called “music's true rebels” by NPR, these Tuareg musicians from northern Mali bonded over revolutionary politics and a shared love of the radical chaabi protest music of Morocco, Algerian pop rai, and western artists like Led Zeppelin and Carlos Santana. The night begins with the Malian griot and ngoni master Cheick Hamala Diabate.
Saturday, July 28, 7:30pm
Music & Movies
NAUSICAÄ OF THE VALLEY OF THE WIND | KAKI KING
Free
Roger Ebert once called Hayao Miyazaki and his Studio Ghibli collaborator Isao Takahata, of Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke fame, “arguably the greatest directors of animation in the world.” Considered by some their finest film, Nausicaä, the 1984 masterpiece that launched the studio, is a visually dazzling post-apocalyptic epic about a warrior princess and her fight to save a toxic jungle and its giant mutant insects from an ancient weapon of unimaginable power. Think Star Wars meets Avatar, but smarter and more fun than both. The otherworldly Brooklyn-based guitarist Kaki King sets the stage for the fantasy.
Thursday, August 2, 7:30pm
Eventbrite Music Series
BADBADNOTGOOD | CHARLOTTE DAY WILSON
Free
Mixing instrumental hip hop with free improvisation and spacey electronica, the virtuosic Toronto quartet BADBADNOTGOOD lets “the jazz philosophy of music bending to individual musicians’ styles shape their genre-hopping evolution.” (The Seattle Times) Wildly innovative covers and collaborations with the likes of Kendrick Lamar and Tyler The Creator have catapulted the group to stardom. The singer-songwriter and guitarist Charlotte Day Wilson, another BBNG collaborator, possesses a “wide, bright, humid voice” (NPR) that packs a heavy emotional wallop.
Friday, August 3, 7:30pm
Eventbrite Music Series
NONAME | TOPAZ JONES | JAZZE BELLE
Free
The outspoken Chicago MC and poet Noname’s acclaimed 2016 solo debut, Telefone, showcased “a potency and urgency in her complicated, spoken word-esque cadences” (Stereogum) that captivated the hip hop world and set her miles apart from this generation of rising talent. The night begins with sets from the electrifying Brooklyn rapper and singer Topaz Jones, who “proved his scholarship by weaving West Coast G-funk with Southern rap flows,”
(Pitchfork) and Jazze Belle, a Harlem outfit with “a sound that's both unique and intimate, carving out its own space in the NYC expanding alt soul scene.” (The Deli)
Saturday, August 4, 7:30pm
TARRUS RILEY WITH DEAN FRASER AND THE BLAK SOIL BAND | MWENSO & THE SHAKES
Free
Tarrus Riley, the son of the late, beloved ska and rocksteady star Jimmy Riley and “one of the most accomplished of the second generation of Jamaica roots reggae singers,” (Jamaica Gleaner) belts out love songs and black history lessons with equal passion. Mwenso & the Shakes’ members hail from across the globe but all call Harlem home; they put on an electrifying show The New York Times calls “intense, prowling, and ebullient.”
Tuesday, August 7, 7:30pm
GOOD VIBES WITH JASON MRAZ & BRETT DENNEN
Ticketed BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn! Benefit Concert
$55 advance / $60 day of show (General Admission – Standing)
Tickets can be purchased by visiting BRICArtsMedia.org or Ticketfly.com.
Thursday, August 9, 7:30pm
Bud Light Music Series
GARY CLARK JR. | FIONA SILVER
Free
Once a blues rock phenom and collector of Hendrix comparisons by the truckload, Gary Clark Jr. has developed into a genre-warping guitarist and singer defiant of categorization. Is it psychedelia? Soul? Hip hop? Yes. Whatever you want to call it, his “fiery technique is a thrill to witness.” (The New York Times) The “brash and beguiling” (Paste) chanteuse Fiona Silver kicks things off.
Friday, August 10, 7:30pm
GODSPEED YOU! BLACK EMPEROR | EMEL MATHLOUTHI
Free
The legendary Montréal experimental collective Godspeed You! Black Emperor drives music writers to abandon caution with its “swelling, torrential compositions that also gracefully loom, like a dewed spiderweb, squaring the circle of neo-classical and punk rock.” (NPR) In Emel Mathlouthi, whose electronica-infused songs were the soundtrack of the Tunisian revolution, “you hear a person refusing to compromise, a searing vision founded on real risks and the necessity of truth.” (Pitchfork)
Saturday, August 11, 7:30pm
Bud Light Music Series
THE BREEDERS | SPEEDY ORTIZ
Free
Anchored by the deadpan vocals and vicious guitars of Kim and Kelley Deal, The Breeders came storming back this year with All Nerve, featuring the lineup from 1992’s iconic Last Splash. The new record has “many moments of bliss, even as the lyrics evoke isolation, frustration, and scuzz” (Pitchfork) as only this band can. Speedy Ortiz, which “once invited abundant comparisons to ’90s alternative rock bands like Pavement and Helium,” has continued to evolve, as frontwoman Sadie Dupuis “tackles the heavy task of killing her idols.” (Pitchfork)
About BRIC and the BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn! Festival
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.
Some of BRIC’s most 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.
The BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn! Festival is BRIC’s flagship performing arts program: a free, summer-long experience allowing New Yorkers to come back again and again with their friends and family to appreciate or discover a new genre, acclaimed artist, or world culture each night of the Festival. Entering its 40th season, the BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn! Festival has presented celebrated global music icons, legendary jazz artists, chart-topping indie bands, gravity-defying dance troupes, large-scale film projects and even a virtual reality performance, becoming one of the city's foremost cultural attractions and a beloved summer tradition. The festival’s Executive Producer is Jack Walsh. Its Artistic Director is Rachel Chanoff. Leslie Schultz is the President of BRIC
About Eventbrite
Eventbrite is the world’s largest ticketing and event technology platform. The company, which has processed $10 billion in gross ticket sales since inception, powered millions of events in 180 countries and territories in 2017. The Eventbrite platform enabled hundreds of thousands of event creators to bring a variety of live experiences to life for more than 50 million fans in 2017 - with cost effective, impactful tools, technology, and services. Eventbrite has acquired eight companies, including music ticketing powerhouses, Ticketfly and Ticketscript, to further solidify a fierce commitment to the independent live music scene. Customers include Tribeca Film Festival, Newport Folk and Jazz Festivals, Pitchfork Music Festival, and Wanderlust, in addition to top venues and promoters that include Bowery Ballroom, the Brooklyn Bowl, Merriweather Post Pavilion, and The Troubadour. Eventbrite was founded in 2006 by Julia Hartz, Kevin Hartz, and Renaud Visage. Investors include Sequoia Capital, Tiger Global and T. Rowe Price. Learn more at www.eventbrite.com.
About Bud Light
Introduced in 1982, Bud Light is a premium light lager with a superior drinkability that has made it the best-selling and most popular beer in the United States. Bud Light is brewed using a blend of premium aroma hop varieties, both American-grown and imported, and a combination of barley malts and rice. The light-bodied beer features a fresh, clean and subtle hop aroma, delicate malt sweetness and a crisp finish that delivers the ultimate refreshment. For more information, visit www.BudLight.com.
About Oris
For over 114 years, Oris has been making purely mechanical watches in Hölstein, Switzerland. The symbol of Oris mechanicals is the red rotor – it's a sign of the natural power that fuels the watches, and a registered trademark. Comprised of four worlds: Culture, Diving, Aviation and Motor Sport, Oris watches are made for everyday wear and offer the luxury of common sense. That means Oris provides the best possible watch for the money, using useful complications and functional designs. Staying true to a rich heritage, Oris is one of the few Swiss watch companies to remain independently owned and operated.
About Sorbabes, Inc.
Sorbabes, the new generation of frozen dessert, was crafted in 2012 by co-founding Sorbabes Deborah Gorman and Nicole Cardone who were inspired by the modern options they were seeing in the ice cream aisle. Sorbabes sorbets spin together whole food ingredients and indulgent toppings to create a craft ice cream-like experience – all plant-based with no dairy or dairy alternatives. For more information, visit www.sorbabes.com.
About IKEA
Since its 1943 founding in Sweden, IKEA has offered home furnishings of good design and function at low prices so the majority of people can afford them. There are currently more than 414 IKEA stores in 49 countries, including 47 in the U.S. IKEA incorporates sustainability into day-to-day business and supports initiatives that benefit children and the environment.
About BET Networks
BET Networks, a subsidiary of Viacom Inc. (NASDAQ: VIA, VIA.B), is the nation's leading provider of quality entertainment, music, news and public affairs television programming for the African-American audience. The primary BET channel is in nearly 85 million households and can be seen in the United States, Canada, the Caribbean, the United Kingdom, sub-Saharan Africa and France. BET is the dominant African-American consumer brand with a diverse group of business extensions including BET.com, a leading Internet destination for Black entertainment, music, culture, and news; BET HER (formerly CENTRIC), a 24-hour entertainment network targeting the African-American woman; BET Music Networks - BET Jams, BET Soul and BET Gospel; BET Home Entertainment; BET Live, BET’s growing festival business; BET Mobile, which provides ringtones, games and video content for wireless devices; and BET International, which operates BET Networks around the globe.
About Hilton Brooklyn New York
Opened in November 2016, Hilton Brooklyn New York is the newest addition to Brooklyn’s exciting and ever-changing downtown. A stone’s throw from the best of the borough, Hilton Brooklyn New York is a boutique hotel with big-impact amenities. These include Black Walnut Restaurant and Bar; fitness and business centers, both open around the clock; and flexible conference and event space. The hotel’s choice location – a 10-minute drive from lower Manhattan and surrounded by 12 subway lines – makes it highly accessible for business events and special celebrations. Hilton Brooklyn New York is managed by Urgo Hotels and Resorts. For more information or reservations, visit www.brooklynnewyork.hilton.com or call 718-834-8800.
About The Village Voice
Founded in 1955 by Ed Fancher, Dan Wolf, and Norman Mailer, The Village Voice was the nation's first alternative newsweekly, introducing a free-form, progressive, and provocative brand of writing that would change the face of journalism. For 62 years, the Voice has continued to break new ground, reporting on and chronicling the life of New York, foreshadowing shifts in the culture, society, and politics, fearlessly confronting power in all its forms, and providing an essential platform for dialogue, independent thought, and free expression. For more information, visit www.villagevoice.com
About WABC-TV, Channel 7
WABC-TV, Channel 7, the ABC-owned television station in New York, is the most watched station in the nation’s largest media market, and its signature Eyewitness News is the #1 source for news in the New York area. WABC-TV prides itself on its legacy of commitment to local communities and the special events that sustain those communities. WABC-TV deeply values its long partnership with the Celebrate Brooklyn! Festival, and looks forward to helping to promote great music and art in Brooklyn for years to come.
About WNYC
Listener-supported WNYC is the home for independent journalism and courageous conversation on air and online. Broadcasting live from New York City on 93.9 FM and AM 820 and available online and on the go.
About WFUV
WFUV (90.7 FM, wfuv.org), New York’s source for music discovery, is a noncommercial, member-supported public media service of Fordham University for 70 years. WFUV has received national recognition for its award-winning weekday format of adult album alternative music, award-winning local news and sports, and a diverse weekend lineup. WFUV’s robust website has extensive audio archives, videos, song playlists, an events calendar, blog and other resources.
About ALL ARTS
ALL ARTS is a multimedia platform devoted to engaging and showcasing established and emerging artists working in visual art, music, theater, dance, film, literature and more. ALL ARTS embraces a global spirit and the perspective that art is a product of time and place, and does not exist in a bubble. More at allarts.org (hyperlinked, ideally) and on social @allartstv.
About WBGO
WBGO is the global leader in jazz radio, broadcasting from the jazz capital of the world. Founded in 1979, WBGO is a publicly-supported cultural institution that preserves and elevates America’s music: jazz and blues. WBGO reaches a weekly audience of more than 400,000 in the New York/New Jersey metro area via 88.3FM. Through programs such as Jazz Night in America, produced in partnership with NPR and Jazz at Lincoln Center, and WBGO's position as content provider to NPR, its reach extends to millions more across the country. From its home base of Newark, New Jersey, Public Radio station WBGO has long been an anchor institution in community engagement through its partnerships, concerts, education and news programming.
For more festival information, please visit www.BRICartsmedia.org.
Press Contacts: Ron Gaskill at Blake Zidell & Associates:
718.643.9052, ron@blakezidell.com.