Honoring Nikki Giovanni: A Night of Art, Music, and Poetry
Chief Baba Neil Clarke. 2024 BAC Social Innovation Fellow and Grantee. Photo: BAC Staff, 2025.
BAC, 651 ARTS, and Brooklyn Org closed out Black History Month with an unforgettable evening of performances, music, and poetry honoring the life and legacy of Nikki Giovanni.
This heartfelt tribute featured an incredible lineup of artists from diverse disciplines, all coming together to celebrate Giovanni’s profound influence on their artistry and lives. Guests experienced this extraordinary event inside 651 ARTS’ state-of-the-art theater at the new L10 Arts & Cultural Center in Downtown Brooklyn.
A special thank you to 651 ARTS and Brooklyn Org for collaborating with us to bring this meaningful tribute to life. And a huge thank you to the evening’s talented lineup of artists — Chief Baba Neil Clarke, DJ Lovie, Rochelle Jamila, Najee Omar, Abiodun Oyewole, and Liza Jessie Peterson.
BAC Grantee & Partner Events
Cynthia Tobar: Mujeres Atrevidas
Cynthia Tobar is a 2024 BAC Grantee.
March 6 | 6pm | 200 Willoughby Ave., Library, 3rd Floor, Alumni Reading Room, BK
An evening screening of our latest segment of Mujeres Atrevidas! This event will center women and women-identified Latine immigrant workers in the construction field and how they activate their power and agency with Construction Workers United and Workers Justice Project. The evening will start with a screening of the short documentary Mujeres Atrevidas, followed by a panel discussion moderated by cinema studies scholar and educator Gina Marchetti with film director Cynthia Tobar, scholar and editor Mónica-Ramón Ríos, Ligia Gualpa, Executive Director of Workers Justice Project and Armary Perez, Director of Construction Workers United, Workers Justice Project.
BRACKISH BROOKLYN AT ST. LYDIAS
Brackish - Music & Art is a 2024 BAC Grantee.
March 6 | 8pm | 304 Bond Street, BK
Brackish - music & art is a Brooklyn-based concert series committed to showcasing the work of female, non-binary, queer, and BIPOC experimental artists. Brackish offers artists across the disciplines of music, visual art, poetry, and movement a space to take risks, create, and explore new work. Our curators - Angela Morris (founder), Ryan Easter, and Jessica Pavone - are dedicated to cultivating an experience of unusual/underground performance in an intimate, safe and accessible environment.
ALTERNATIVE SYNERGY THE COMPANY: The Myth - Where Movement Unveils The Truth
Alternative Synergy The Company is a 2024 BAC Grantee.
March 8 | 7:30pm | 182 4th Avenue, BK
The Myth Project Preview marks the bold return of Alternative Synergy The Company, led by visionary choreographer Amanda Spilinga. This powerful fusion of dance and theater explores identity, connection, and resistance, bringing to life characters whose personal truths collide, forcing them to confront their beliefs and reshape their worlds. More than a performance, this exclusive preview offers a raw, intimate glimpse into an evolving narrative, where movement and storytelling expose the complexities of human relationships. Spilinga’s choreographic style blends the emotional depth of street dance culture with the structured elegance of classical and jazz forms, creating Alternative Synergy—a movement where individuality strengthens the collective. Supported by the Brooklyn Arts Council, her work is daring, provocative, and unafraid to challenge expectations. Step inside the creative process. Witness the first phase of a groundbreaking work in motion—where movement speaks, and transformation begins.
BROOKLYN RAGA MASSIVE: Katha & The Mothers of Tabla
Brooklyn Raga Massive is a 2024 BAC Grantee.
March 14 | 6:30pm | Jack NY, 20 Putnam Ave, BK
Brooklyn Raga Massive's Ragini Festival is proud to showcase this multidisciplinary work in progress- an exclusive preview of Mothers of Tabla, a groundbreaking performance illuminating the untold history of women’s contributions to South Asian tabla percussion arts. This show promises to challenge narratives and reclaim forgotten legacies through live music, Kathak storytelling, and immersive visuals.
The Neurodivergent New Play Series: Epoxy Resin Nightmare
The Neurodivergent New Play Series is a 2024 BAC Grantee.
March 16 | 2pm | A.R.T/New York South Oxford Space: 138 South Oxford Street, BK
A monthly play reading series promoting the work of neurodivergent writers and directors since 2023.
The Lampblack Reading Series
March 16 | 4pm | MoCADA: 10 Lafayette Avenue, BK
Join Lampblack for the second season of their monthly Reading Series. Lampblack’s second event will feature Stephanie Wambugu, Irvin Weathersby, and Tiana Clark!
This event is free and open to the public.
Events, Workshops, & Professional Development
Applying for Affordable Housing in NYC
March 4 | Virtual
The Entertainment Community Fund and New York Foundation for the Arts are thrilled to present “Applying for Affordable Housing in NYC!” This webinar is aimed to help participants get organized so they can be best prepared to take advantage of opportunities to apply.
During this event, we will explain the application process in simple steps to help applicants avoid common mistakes and include resources and information to support immigrant artists in applying for these opportunities. We’ll share information regarding assessing your income, eligibility criteria, and documentation in order to address the specific needs of arts workers.
TransNewYork: Workforce Readiness Training Group for TGNCNB People
March 7: Every Friday for 5 Weeks | 1561 Bedford Ave, BK
Join a new workforce readiness training group specifically for transgender, gender non-conforming and non-binary people. Brooklyn Community Pride Center is proud to host this program and the 5-week group meets Friday nights at 6:30pm. At the end of the five weeks, a small compensation ($300) will be paid to each participant who complete the training. TransNewYork offers an expert staff member who also trains leading companies and corporations in LGBTQ cultural competence, so participants can interview for jobs at welcoming workplaces. The group will be facilitated by Tabytha Gonzalez (she/her).
If you have any questions or concerns, reach out to Dr. Gennifer Herley at gherley@transnewyork.org.
Annex Celebration Open House
March 8 | 80 Hanson Place, BK
Join BAX for an afternoon of creativity, community, and celebration as we open the doors to BAX’s brand-new accessible Annex Space at 80 Hanson Place! The Annex is located on the Ground floor, Entrance on South Portland Street.
This exciting event follows our inaugural ASSEMBLE convening on disability artistry (curated by BAX AIR Elisabeth Motley and in collaboration with Jacob’s Pillow) and invites you to explore, connect, and create.
Springboard for the Arts: Website Basics for Artists
March 8 | Virtual
Get a big picture view of the components of your artist website, find clarity on whether you need a website for your artistic practice and learn the basics of creating a website. This workshop is part of a series of Work of Art + workshops presented in partnership with Hennepin County Library.
This workshop is a part of Work of Art+, workshops and panels that complement the Work of Art: Business Skills for Artists series, whose curriculum is always available for free download. Or you can buy a copy of the book.
Ti Atis (Little Artists) Second Saturdays
March 8 | Brooklyn Children’s Museum, 145 Brooklyn Ave, BK
Haiti Cultural Exchange returns to the Brooklyn Children’s Museum for a new season of interactive youth and family programming! Learn about diverse art forms and celebrate Haitian culture through activities and performances facilitated by Haitian artists.
This March, special guest teacher, artist Harry Abilhomme, will lead a coronation craft project where participants will build kouwòn papye (paper crowns) adorned with their own drawings and flè (flowers) honoring the women in our community.
Valuing the Invaluable: Pricing Your Artwork
March 13 | Virtual
How much should you sell your work for? Designed for visual artists of all disciplines, pricing your work in a way that builds in a profit is essential for any thriving art career. Learn about the factors that go into a profit-focused pricing strategy and the basics of getting your work to the right price point.
Designed for artists who want to develop or adjust their pricing to creating a thriving art business. Participants will walk away with methods they can apply to their art business or practice.
a4 MARCH TOWN HALL: POETRY
March 18 | 5-25 46th Ave, LIC
A4 is celebrating the literary arts by gathering poets and spoken word artists to share their work, resources, and opportunities with each other and the wider AAPI creative community. Featured presenters include poet Sreshtha Sen and writer, musician, and activist Taiyo Na.
Creatives Thrive NYC: The credit Hustle
March 20 | Virtual
Debt can sneak up on you, and the credit and debt system in our country is designed for most of us to lose. It can start with a first credit card, or needing to take out a student loan, or getting a new car; then, one day you look up and find yourself mired in multiple sources of debt. You are not alone and you don’t have to figure it out alone!
Creative Capital Artist Lab: Promoting Projects and Events
March 26 | Virtual
With the power of their social media and digital content, artists can start promoting their projects years before their opening, screening, or publication. In the final session of the three-part Artist Lab series, Content Strategy for Artists: Promoting Yourself and Your Work, Robin Cembalest, a faculty member at the School of Visual Arts and popular Creative Capital coach, offers a timeline for creating a promotional narrative that unfolds before, during and after your event.
Powerhouse arts: Brooklyn Fine Art Print Fair
March 27-30 | 322 Third Ave, BK
Powerhouse Arts (PHA) Printshop Director Luther Davis and the wider PHA team have partnered with Fine Arts Baltimore (FAB) to bring to life a critical new entrant in the New York art fair circuit—one committed to re-affirming New York as a key hub for esteemed print fairs.
Funding & Job Opportunities
JACK Is looking for a new EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR!
Deadline: March 11
Brooklyn performance and civic space JACK seeks an imaginative and resourceful leader with a passion for the arts and a track record of organizational stewardship. While the focus of this role is the overall fundraising, business, administrative, and operational management of JACK, we seek a collaborator with a passion for radical and community-driven performance. The Executive Director reports to the Board of Directors and is responsible for leadership of financial management, fundraising, facility and staff management, and external relations.
EN FOCO 2025 ARTIST FELLOWSHIP
Deadline: March 13
The En Foco Artist Fellowship Program is designed to support artists of color who utilize lens-based mediums and digital media technologies in their creative processes. This program merges the previous Photography Fellowship and Media Arts Fund, creating a unified opportunity for photographers and media-based artists in New York State. While applicants may apply to both forms for photographers and media-based artists, they will receive only one award. Submissions will be evaluated by a panel of industry professionals, ensuring recognition for the highest-quality work.
BRIClab Residency
Deadline: March 14
BRIClab offers emerging to mid-career artists essential support and opportunities to share their work. All residents receive a $2,500 stipend, mentorship, skills-based learning and professional development, and documentation of their work. Additional support, in the form of funding, space, access to equipment and media classes, and other resources vary according to tracks. BRIClab artists will also have the opportunity to share their work through public programming that will take place in Spring and Summer 2026.
The program’s three tracks are Contemporary Art, Film + TV, and Video Art. Each track offers unique resources and opportunities designed to meet the needs of varied artistic practices.
Bayard Rustin Residency
Deadline: March 15
Building on the social activist history of Penington’s founders, original board, and later residents, the Bayard Rustin Residency at Penington Friends House (PFH) is envisioned as an ongoing ladder to empowerment for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) working to end Systemic Racism and to create a culture of anti-Racism and intersectional equality in the United States of America. It is also intended to extend and strengthen the wider Quaker witness to equality.
2025 BAXTER ST MID CAREER ARTISTS INITIATIVE
Deadline: March 19
Baxter St is proud to announce an open call for mid-career lens-based artists. This new initiative supports those artists who fall in between the categories of emerging and established artists. This exhibition series will further Baxter St’s goal to foster cultures of belonging in the cultural sector by offering mid-career lens-based artists an opportunity to exhibit.
The Mid-career, Lens-based Artists Initiative is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.
THAT STUDIO RESIDENCY
Deadline: March 30
The Here and There Collective is committed to supporting contemporary artists from the Asian diaspora through various programs including artist features, events, and an artist residency program. Since 2022, our residency program has provided artists access to a private studio in Brooklyn, NY for 6 months. Our program offers artists time and resources to develop their practice as well as opportunities to connect with THAT’s community of artists, writers, gallerists, and curators.
NYPL: Picture Collection Artist Fellowship
Deadline: March 31
The New York Public Library’s Picture Collection, part of the Wallach Division of Art, Prints, and Photographs, is pleased to offer the Picture Collection Artist Fellowship to support artists or scholars engaged in the research, development, and/or execution of a new creative or scholarly work based on the Collection’s holdings. Since 1915, the Picture Collection has been an essential resource for artists, designers, illustrators, filmmakers, and many others who have relied on its voluminous holdings for inspiration. The fellowship allows dedicated access to the Collection and guidance from its staff with the goal of highlighting the Collection’s distinctive attributes. The fellowship will also foster community connections with peers and experts allowing for collaborative exchange.
Fellowship stipends are awarded on a sliding scale from $2,000 to $5,000 and are supported by the generosity of the Anne Levy Charitable Trust.
New York Theater Workshop: 2050 Administrative Fellowship
Deadline: April 4
The 2050 Fellowship is named in celebration of the U.S. Census Bureau’s projection that by the year 2050, there will be no single racial or ethnic majority in the United States. This projection provokes thoughts at New York Theatre Workshop about the transformations that will take place in the American landscape—technologically, environmentally, demographically, economically and artistically—now and in the future. They are a catalyst for broader questions about the direction of our field. But we’re not waiting for the year 2050 to make the change we wish to see. Instead, we’re working to reflect our evolving and beautifully diversifying society now—to ensure there’s space for those who will lead us into the future to build the skills they need now.
WFF Housing Stability Grant for Artists
Deadline: April 8
The Woodman Family Foundation Housing Stability Grant for Artists (WFF HSG) provides grants of $30,000, distributed over three years, to NYC-based visual artists in need who are seeking support for stable housing. In its inaugural cycle, the WFF HSG will award grants to five artists.
The WFF Housing Stability Grant for Artists is offered in recognition of the increasing unaffordability of rental housing in New York City, and the housing insecurity it creates for artists. The WFF HSG hopes that recipients will be able to remain in, or find, reliable and stable housing for at least three years, thereby allowing them to focus on their creative practice and build more sustainable careers. Recipients may use the funds for new housing which reduces their rent obligation, guarantees a stable rental obligation such as a lengthy lease in their existing or new housing, and/or provides greater access to live/work space.
Anonymous Was A Woman Environmental Art Grants
Deadline: April 15
The Anonymous Was A Woman Environmental Art Grants (AWAW EAG) provides grants of up to $20,000 to environmental art projects led by women-identifying artists in the United States and U.S. Territories.
The AWAW EAG supports environmental art projects that inspire thought, action, and ethical engagement. Projects should not only point at problems, but aim to engage an environmental issue at some scale. Proposals should illustrate thorough consideration of a project’s ecological and social ethics. Projects that explore interdependence, relationships, and systems through Indigenous and ancestral practices are encouraged to apply.
New York Community Trust: Edward and Sally Van Lier Fellowship Program
Deadline: May 22 at 5pm ET
The New York Community Trust invites applications for grants to support talented young professional artists (aged 18 to 30) from historically underrepresented populations in the performing, visual, media, and literary arts. Grants awarded through our Edward and Sally Van Lier Fellowship Program will help arts groups provide young professional artists living and working in New York City with paid opportunities to create and present new work, as well as training, mentorship, and other support. Fellowships are intended to help young artists achieve a significant professional credit that will advance their careers.
The Creative Center: Hospital Artist-in-Residence Program
Hospital Artist-In-Residence Carmen Rios at BronxCare Health System, Family Medicine, and her art cart.
Deadline: Rolling
The Creative Center's Hospital Artist-In-Residence (AIR) Program serves patients, families, caregivers, and healthcare staff in the New York City Area and beyond. The 10 current Hospital AIRs serve over 3,000 patients each year at multiple hospital sites and develop supportive relationships with countless staff and caregivers. AIRs are professional artists trained by The Creative Center to work in a multitude of healthcare settings.
JFNY Grant for Arts & Culture
Deadline: Rolling
This program provides support to non-profit organizations in the U.S. that organize projects that will further the understanding of Japanese arts and culture within the 37 states east of the Rocky Mountains, plus Washington D.C.
Successful projects generally take the form of performances, exhibitions, film screenings, and workshops. This grant also supports online projects related to Arts & Cultural Exchange that incorporate issues pertaining to the COVID-19 global pandemic such as virtual exhibitions, virtual performances, film streaming, online conference as well as webinar. Priority will be given to those projects that have secured additional funding from sources other than the Japan Foundation, as well as projects that take place in areas where access to Japanese cultural events are relatively limited.
Resources
ARTIST LEGACY PROJECT
Supported in part by Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, the Artist Legacy Project provides estate planning services and related legal services to artists with HIV/AIDS at no charge to them. This ensures that artistic legacies are preserved and that artists will be able to maintain control over the final disposition of their work.
Legal services include:
Wills
Powers of attorney
Living wills
Health care proxies
In recent years, VLA has expanded the Artist Legacy Project to provide free access to other legal services (like legal clinics) and discounted member rates for educational services to artists with HIV/AIDS and arts organizations with HIV/AIDS-related missions.
Indiespace: Emergency Mental Health Micro Grants
The IndieSpace Mental Health grant awards individual artists $500 micro grants to use toward therapy, medication, meditation classes, and any other mental health-related costs. It is our hope that by providing this financial resource, we can help remove barriers that prevent artists from seeking and receiving the care, support, and information they need to care for their mental health.
What We're Reading
“Artists Protest New Anti-Diversity Policy at National Endowment for the Arts”
by Tessa Solomon | ARTnews
“Brooklyn Artist Finds Inspiration in Their Father, Bed-Stuy Community in MoMA PS1 Exhibit”
by Richard Burroughs | BK Reader
“A Matter of Pride: How pro-drag-wrestlers make space for queer fighters in Brooklyn”
by Carrene Gepilano | Brooklyn Paper
“Because, Solidarity’ fosters community resistance through storytelling at Gallery Particulier”
by Lauren Rapp | Brooklyn Paper
Cover Image: “Care Package VII” presented by Kyoung eun Kang, 2024 BAC Grantee. Photo: Walter Wlodarczyk.
Empowering Artists. Empowering Communities.
The arts are a lifeline to sustain wonder, inspiration, healing, and a sense of community in our lives. Please join Brooklyn Arts Council in our mission to empower Brooklyn artists and arts organizations that bring life and joy into our home borough.