May in Brooklyn

BAC Wellness Studio

COMMUNITY VOICES OPEN CALL: WELLNESS SOUNDTRACK SUBMISSIONS

BAC Neighborhood Clinic Healing Installation. Ifetayo Cultural Arts Academy at Weeksville Heritage Center, 2021. Credit: Ryan George, Videographer. Doug Sharf, Video Editor.

Deadline: May 6 at 11:59 PM EST

Share your go-to tracks for joy, for power, for healing and help us build a Wellness Soundtrack for Brooklyn!

What songs inspire healing for you? The complete BAC Community Healing Music playlist will be accessible in BAC Sonic Clinic and select songs will be part of the DJ Set for our June 2022 Wellness Festival.

 

WELLNESS STUDIO PODCAST SERIES

Photo by Aeilushi Mistry.

Join us in conversations highlighting cultural leaders’ ideas around art and well-being; mental and physical health; and spiritual lineages of healing and freedom. This content contemplates questions like, “where do culture, art, and spirit converge for wellness?” Listen to the first two episodes now!

Episode 1: Healing Sounds in Celebration

Episode 2: Healing Sounds in Resistance

Podcasts produced and researched by ALT.

 

NEIGHBORHOOD CLINIC HEALING INSTALLATIONS

BAC Neighborhood Clinics. Chief Baba Neil Clarke at Weeksville Heritage Center, 2021. Credit: Ryan George, Videographer. Doug Sharf, Video Editor.

We are launching a series of installations related to healing and wellness in partnership with arts and culture organizations across Brooklyn! These programs are a part of BAC Wellness Studio, our new hybrid program that provides space for the well-being of Brooklyn’s creative community.


 

Installation at Bed-Stuy Art House

Images courtesy Bed-Stuy Art House.

BAC Wellness Studio is partnering with Bed-Stuy Art House on May 21 to present BAC Sonic Clinic digital art and sound installations. Digital art created by David Gumbs. Music and Soundscapes created by Vong Pak and Jonghee Oh, Aleishi Minstry, Zane Rodulfo, Samir Langus, and Martin Vejarano.

Accompanying the Sonic Clinic art and sound installation are a slate of workshops. Join us for a day of healing activities:

May 21 | 9 AM - 11 AM: Open Youth Acting Improv Workshop with 2FIFS for young people from around Brooklyn.
May 21 | 11:30 AM - 1 PM: Haircut & Conversation on Wellness with Barber Rick of Rick’s Barbershop.
May 21 | 1:15 PM - 6 PM: Wellness Studio Sonic Clinic Sound & Digital Art Exhibition
May 21 | 6:30 PM - 7:15 PM: Breathing with Orisha Workshop with Oludare Barnard of Kire Wellness.

Stay tuned for more information on the following:

Wellness Festival at MoCADA: June 25
Installation at MoCADA: June 27 - July 3
Wellness Festival at Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Plaza: July 29
Installation at Greg Jackson Center: July 30 - August 5
Installation at NARS Foundation: August 11 - 12

 

UPCOMING QR CODE ACTIVATIONS

Artwork 1: Sunlight Meditation by Arielle Jennings
Artwork 2: Infinite Health by Pamela C. Turczyn
Artwork 3: Dance Party by Clementine Martinez

BAC Wellness Studio QR codes will be posted at partner locations including public spaces and university campuses. Scanning the QR code with a phone will give you digital access to therapeutic activities and soundscapes presented in BAC Wellness Studio.

Keep an eye out for posters and fliers at the following locations:

  • Medgar College CUNY: Brooklyn Campus

  • NYC Department of Parks & Recreation Centers: Brownsville, Sunset Park, Prospect Park, East New York, and Crown Heights

  • Universe City NYC

QR Codes will also be posted online on the following partner websites and social media platforms:

  • Albany Community Center

  • Brooklyn College: Flatbush Campus

  • Creative Conscientious Art Collective

  • Edith and Carl Marks Jewish Community House of Bensonhurst

  • Guyana Cultural Association

  • Long Island University: Brooklyn Campus

  • New York University: Brooklyn Campus

  • St. Francis College


2022 Spring Party

Monday, June 6
6 PM - 10 PM
BKLYN Studios at City Point, 445 Albee Square West

Honoring:
Edward Mafoud, Co-Owner, Damascus Bakery & Okwui Okpokwasili, Choreographer, Performer, Writer

Buy your tickets today to Brooklyn Arts Council’s Spring Party and join us for a festive night with delicious food and drink, great art, electrifying performances, and even better company!
 
Funds raised through BAC’S Spring Party will provide crucial support to the independent artists and grassroots arts programs that fill our communities with joy and vibrancy. Your donation advances us towards a more equitable Brooklyn: where every corner of the borough has access to the arts.

For more information, to purchase tickets, or to donate auction items click here. We can't wait to see you there!


Our Grantees' Events

Upcoming in-person & virtual events hosted by our board members, grantees, fiscal sponsees, and partner organizations. Keep scrolling for a full, comprehensive list of what's top-of-mind this May.

 

Spring Tea at Narrows Botanical Gardens

Tea Arts & Culture is a Brooklyn Arts Fund grantee. Stay connected via website, Facebook, and Instagram.

May 8 | 2 PM - 5PM
464 Bay Ridge Avenue, Brooklyn

Join Tea Arts & Culture in Bay Ridge for an afternoon of outdoor tea to embrace the Spring season and share the appreciation for tea, nature, art, and music. Have a stroll in the garden with artist Jeannine Bardo to collect objects from nature and make art. Join mentees and friends to taste teas around the world and enjoy the music from the Brooklyn Nomads.

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Last Ward presented by Yaa Samar! Dance Theatre

Yaa Samar! Dance Theatre is a Brooklyn Arts Fund grantee. Stay connected via website, Instagram, and Facebook.

May 5 - 12 | Various Times
Gibney 280, The White Box

Last Ward follows one man’s journey towards death in a hospital room. Surrounded by the sterile mechanisms of modern medicine, the patient reflects on his life, relationships and connection to place, as the ritual of doctor visits and family calls transform into an increasingly bizarre landscape of tragedy and humor. Written/directed by Amir Nizar Zuabi with choreography/music by Samar Haddad King, Last Ward blends dance and theater (in Arabic with English subtitles) in a highly-visual evening-length performance.

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Grace Chorale of Brooklyn: The Constitution, a Secular Oratorio BY BENJAMIN YARMONLINSKY

Grace Chorale of Brooklyn is a Local Arts Support grantee. Stay connected via website, Instagram, and Facebook. Photo by Eliza Hicks.

May 14 at 7 PM | May 15 at 3 PM
Saint Ann & the Holy Trinity Church , Brooklyn

Composer Ben Yarmolinsky has chosen a corresponding 18th century musical style, the Handelian oratorio, as the model for his setting of The Constitution. The work comprises choruses, arias, and recitatives, similar to the Messiah, but with a recognizably American sound that combines jazz rhythms, blues, folk, gospel, as well as Handelian flourishes.

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Foster Care Film & Community Engagement Project: Meeting the Mental Health Needs of Youth in Foster Care

Foster Care Film & Community Engagement Project is a Brooklyn Arts Fund and Local Arts Support grantee. Stay connected via website, Instagram, and Facebook. illustrations by Sherry Xiao, Andrea Poretta, and Alicia Chen.

May 23 | 7 PM - 8:30 PM
Virtual Event

A virtual film screening and Q&A in honor of National Foster Care Month and National Mental Awareness Month. This screening is part of a month long series of events hosted by the Foster Care Film & Community Engagement Project (FCFCEP) and City Living NY (CLNY) in order to elevate the conversation about mental health within the child welfare community.

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The Underground Sound Project: A Soundwalk By Nikki Lindt

Nikki Lindt is a 2022 Brooklyn Arts Fund grantee. Stay connected via website and Instagram. Photo by Joe Klementovich.

May 14 | 2 PM - 4 PM
Trailhead by Dog Beach, Prospect Park

Did you know deep, resonant sound can be heard inside trees, soils streambeds and even mud? The Underground Sound Project is a series of underground recordings made by artist Nikki Lindt over the course of several years. Via a sign with a QR code at designated locations along the walk, you will be able to experience the corresponding subsurface sounds.

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One whale’s tale presents QUINCE

Performance of Quince. One Whale’s Tale is a Brooklyn Arts Fund grantee. Stay connected via website and Camilo’s Instagram, and Ellpetha’s Instagram. Photo by Catharine Krebs.

June 2 - 19 | Thursdays - Sundays
The Bushwick Starr, Brooklyn

Originally presented as an abridged workshop at the People’s Garden in 2020, Quince is the story of a 15 year-old Chicana confronting her queer identity, family and religion on the eve of her quinceañera. Quice is written and co-created by Camilo Quiroz-Vázquez; directed and co-created by Ellpetha Tsivicos; presented by The Bushwick Starr and One Whale’s Tale in association with ¡Oye! Group.

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Events & Programs

Additional happenings hosted by our grantees and other organizations, collectives, and institutions.

 

Open Call: Arts Gowanus on Atlantic Avenue Artwalk

Arts Gowanus is a Brooklyn Arts Fund grantee. Stay connected via website, Instagram, and Facebook.

Event Date: June 18 & 19
Deadline: May 15

Arts Gowanus has again teamed up with the Atlantic Avenue BID and the Atlantic Avenue LDC to bring you "Arts Gowanus on Atlantic Avenue ArtWalk"! The Atlantic Avenue Artwalk will feature Gowanus artists displaying their work in storefront windows, outdoor spaces and inside of businesses on Atlantic Avenue. Works will remain on display on Atlantic Avenue through June 26th. Every space comes with a small stipend for the artist(s) participating.

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SU-CASA Spring Ping Pong Tournament Party

Women’s Tournament Day: May 4 at 1 PM
Men’s Tournament Day: May 4 at 1 PM
Final Tournament: May 5 at 1 PM

Jay Harama Older Adult Center
2600 Ocean Ave, Brooklyn

Come and view all of the artistic creations from our “Parties & Prizes” Art Class, who have created handmade prizes for our winners, and a custom backdrop for group photos! Coffee and snacks will also be provided on the day of the final tournament.


BAX AIR Spring Performance Series 2022

May 14 & 21 at 7 PM | May 22 at 5 PM

BAX is thrilled to announce the 2022 Spring AIR Performance Series featuring Jessie Young, Shenny de Los Angeles, Yo-Yo Lin, and Andrea Ambam. This is the third installment of works shared by these resident artists over the course of the 2021/22 season. Whether you've followed their creative developments all year, or are just tuning in, join us to celebrate these extraordinary artists and their artistic journeys this year.

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The Arts Center at Governors Island 2022 Public Season

May 28 - October 30
The Arts Center at Governors Island, Building 110 at Soissons Landing

Featuring exhibitions by Amy Khoshbin and Jennifer Khoshbin, Elissa Blount-Moorhead and Bradford Young, and Simon Benjamin. This season's exhibitions center around ideas of healing, offering audiences a range of perspectives related to how we manage our experiences, individual and collective, and how we might find paths of recovery.

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Americans for the arts 2022 ANNUAL CONVENTION

May 18 - 20
Omni Shoreham Hotel, Washington, D.C.

Emerge with the late spring bursts of color punctuated by monuments, history, and memory in Washington, D.C., for the 2022 Americans for the Arts Annual Convention. Converge against the background of what has happened and what possibilities exist on the horizon to gather strength from each other, share strategies, celebrate successes, mourn losses, and take inspiration back to all corners of the country. And carry forward together, leading a country in transformation through cultural change, which must come first, is often hardest, and is always necessary.

Recorded content from this in-person event will also be made available for a fee in a limited time digital on-demand format in June 2022.

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Citywide Dance Party 2022 & Open Street/Plaza Partners

Event: August 6

This summer, NYC DOT will be partnering with the New York Public Library and dozens of other institutions across the city to host a citywide dance party !

On the same day, at dozens of locations across all five boroughs, simultaneous dance parties will bring thousands of New Yorkers out for an afternoon of unfettered mass joy. Parties will happen at libraries across the city as well as at Lincoln Center, Coney Island, Wave Hill, Battery Park, Snug Harbor, Hudson Square, and many more.

Fill out this form to provide programming!


Artist Opportunities

Reliable workshops and funding opportunities from outside collectives and institutions. Keep scrolling for a list of what’s top-of-mind this May.


Professional Development

 

Thrive in Place! by Housing Resource Center + ArtBuilt

ArtBuilt and The Actors Fund are partnering to present Thrive in Place! - a workshop to help creative sector workers understand the relationship between housing choices and their financial wellbeing. Focused on affordable housing, homeownership and building knowledge to improve personal finances, this class uses artist-centric tools and straightforward language to help artists of all disciplines navigate their financial life with creativity, clarity and strength. Build housing security to thrive in place!

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Nonprofit New York: Advocacy and Lobbying for New York Nonprofits

May 10 | 10 AM – 11:30 AM EST
Virtual Event

The nonprofit sector plays a crucial role in the affecting change in public policy. As New York City faces exciting local elections, it is now more vital than ever that leaders comprehend and navigate laws that surround advocacy and lobbying. Join Nonprofit New York for a virtual training to help you successfully understand New York state and federal rules on advocacy and lobbying.

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DCLA Cultural Development Fund Open Call for Panelists

$480 Stipend

The Department of Cultural Affairs (DCLA) is currently seeking nominations for paid panelists to evaluate grant applications for the Cultural Development Fund (CDF), the agency’s open, competitive, application-based process for awarding grants to eligible organizations throughout the five boroughs. Panelists will receive compensation of $480 that includes preparatory time for application review, scoring, and score documentation of 20-30 proposals, as well as participation in one six-hour virtual panel session.

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Camille A. Brown & Dancers’ (CABD) Mentorship Program

Deadline: June 1 at 11:59 PM EST

Camille A Brown & Dancers’ (CABD) Mentorship Program will pair a developing or emerging Black artist with one of CABD’s accomplished Company Members or Alumni – members who have performed concert dance on major stages around the world with Brown and other prominent choreographers, on television, film and Broadway (Fela!, Hamilton), and with leading Pop stars like Rihanna and Beyoncé – for one-on-one mentoring sessions, empowering participating artists on their creative journey and professional path.

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Funding & Open Calls

 

Creative Time Open Call 2022

Deadline: May 17 at 11:59 PM

For the third iteration of the Creative Time Open Call, we are opening applications to artists based anywhere in the United States or the sovereign tribal nations within its borders. Over the years, Creative Time has produced hundreds of public projects that have been truly beyond the ordinary. Now, we want to know what public artwork you would create in New York City. We invite you to tell us what you would do if there were no constraints—if selected, we’ll work with you to make it a reality.

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The Andy Warhol Foundation Arts Writers Grant

$15,000 to $50,000
Deadline: May 18

The Andy Warhol Foundation Arts Writers Grant, administered by Creative Capital, supports emerging and established writers who write about contemporary visual art. Ranging from $15,000 to $50,000, the grants support projects addressing both general and specialized art audiences—from short reviews for magazines and newspapers and in-depth scholarly studies, to art writing that engages criticism through interdisciplinary methods and experiments with literary styles. 

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Edward and Sally Van Lier Fund: Request for Proposals

Deadline: May 20 at 4 PM

The New York Community Trust is pleased to announce the 2022 Request for Proposals (RFP) for the Edward and Sally Van Lier Fund. The Trust's Edward and Sally Van Lier Fellowship Program provides support for talented young people from historically underrepresented populations who are dedicated to a career in the arts. Grants from this fund will provide assistance to organizations that identify, train, and support young artists in their pre-professional years.

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Rauschenberg Dancer Emergency Grants

Robert Rauschenberg, “Untitled [Cunningham dancers],” 1961, Copyright: Robert Rauschenberg Foundation.

Up to $5,000
Deadline: May 20

New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) is proud to partner with the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation to administer Rauschenberg Dancer Emergency Grants, a new emergency grant program for professional dancers in need, who have a dire financial emergency due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Additional funding is provided by the Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation.

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Anonymous Was A Woman Environmental Art Grants

Agnes Denes, Wheatfield – A Confrontation: Battery Park Landfill, Downtown Manhattan – Blue Sky, World Trade Center, 1982. Copyright Agnes Denes, courtesy Leslie Tonkonow Artworks + Projects, New York.

$20,000
Deadline: June 14 at 5:00 PM EST

The AWAW EAG will support environmental art projects that inspire thought, action, and ethical engagement. This program provides up to $20,000 for projects led by women-identifying artists in the United States and U.S. Territories. 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.


Make Music New York Festival: Open Call

Deadline: Rolling
Concert Date: June 21

The Make Music New York festival celebrates NYC’s local musicians by matching them with host venues to bring vibrancy to our public spaces. This summer, Make Music New York (MMNY) and NYC DOT are calling on all of our partners to play a big role in revitalizing our city by activating our plazas and open streets throughout the five boroughs. Please register to list your public space as a host venue for the Make Music New York festival.

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Cultural Development Fund panelist open call

Deadline: May 16 at 5 PM EST

The pen call for Cultural Development Fund panelists seeks individuals who bring a wide range of experiences, backgrounds, and expertise to the table as funding decisions are made. From June through August 2022, the agency will convene hundreds of panelists - virtually via Zoom - to evaluate over 1,200 applications for City support of cultural programming from groups representing the full breadth of our city’s cultural life.

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Velvetpark LGBTQ+ Visual Artist Residency

Deadline: May 14

Velvetpark Residency is a project based work-studio, awarded through a selection process by open application. It is open to LGBTQ+ writers and visual artists to complete a proposed project. Velvetpark‘s Residency award is for an artist, writer, creator at any stage in their career open to anyone age eighteen and above, who is not enrolled in an academic program.

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Silver Art Projects: 2022 Artist Residency

Deadline: May 22

Participating artists will receive up to 10-months of free studio space at Silver Art Projects in the World Trade Center. Artists in the cohort can devote resources to creating new and different artworks without the impediment of the expense of studio space in New York City.  In addition to the free studio space, artists are connected through Silver Art's programming, to curators, artists peers, mentors, arts professionals, collectors, and thought-leaders.

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The Vilcek Prizes for Creative Promise

Up to $50,000
Deadline: June 10

The Vilcek Prizes for Creative Promise recognize and celebrate the contributions of immigrants to the arts, culture, and society in the United States. The prizes are awarded to foreign-born scientists and artists whose early-career work represents a significant contribution to their field.

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2022 Media Arts Assistance Fund for Artists

Up to $7,500
Deadline: July 1

For individual artists, MAAF provides support for the completion and/or public presentation of new works in all genres of sound and moving image art, including emergent technology. Grant awards assist artists in completing new work, reaching public audiences, and advance artistic exploration and public engagement in the media arts. Women, gender non-comforming people, and people of color are encouraged to apply. MAAF is presented by NYSCA in partnership with Wave Farm.

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Resources

 

Culture + Community in a time of transformation

LaPlaca Cohen is excited to share the new phase of the Culture + Community research in collaboration with Slover Linett and Yancey Consulting. The second wave of this national study includes an even broader frame for culture (from libraries to parks, music venues, and festivals), as well as deeper involvement with small, rural or BIPOC-serving organizations.

Read the Report


Americans for the arts’ CULTURAL EQUITY RESOURCE CENTER

Americans for the Arts recognizes that many existing systems of power grant privilege and access unequally, and that equity is crucial to the long-term viability of both the arts and culture sector and communities-at-large. The Cultural Equity Resource Center is an initiative launched to ensure that everyone has equal access to a full, vibrant creative life, which is essential to a healthy and democratic society.

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What We're Reading

Have you encountered an inspiring or engaging read related to the COVID-19 era lately? Tell us about it at webmaster@brooklynartscouncil.org.

Danny Lewis. "A Brooklyn theater space wants to be the “Netflix for Live Performance." Gothamist, April 2022. Read

Michael Paulson. “Broadway Bets Big on a Spring Rebound. Will the Virus Cooperate?” New York Times, April 2022. Read

Jessica Robinson. “On the Move with Raja Feather Kelly.” Brooklyn Mag, March 2022. Read
*Raja Feather Kelly is a Brooklyn Arts Fund grantee.

Menachem Wecker. “Can an Artwork a Day Keep the Doctor Away? Here Are 5 Ways Scientists Say Art Can Make You Happier and Healthier?,” artnet, April 2022. Read


Cover Image: “Sauce The Gambia” by Nzingah Oyo, 2006. Oyo is a 2022 Brooklyn Arts Fund and Local Arts Support grantee. Stay connected via website and Instagram.


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.

Here you'll find all the latest news and artist stories from the Brooklyn Arts Council community. Do you have a success story about your project or organization? Would you like to share some exciting news with our extended network of art lovers, cultural leaders, and creative institutions? Send us a message today.