BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn! Festival Announces 2021 Season
June 2, 2021
Today, BRIC, a Brooklyn-based leading arts and media institution, announced its artist lineup for the 2021 BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn! Festival, which recently confirmed it will return to the Prospect Park Bandshell with live, in-person performances. For the past 43 years, BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn! Festival has grown to become one of the city’s foremost cultural attractions and a beloved summer tradition. This year’s festival will take place from Saturday, July 31st through Saturday, September 18th with doors opening at 6:00pm for all shows, except the family day performance.
“The opportunities we have been afforded to provide a platform for incredible talent from Brooklyn and around the globe, brings up indescribable joy,” said Kristina Newman-Scott, President of BRIC. “This year’s line-up marks a momentous time for BRIC, continuing our tradition of bringing some of the best talent to the Prospect Park Bandshell stage, which we have called home for 42 years. We can’t wait to see everyone there.”
“After the past challenging year, it is such a thrill to welcome the BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn! Festival back to the Prospect Park Bandshell,” said Sue Donoghue, President of the Prospect Park Alliance. “This is one of our flagship events, and for our community a clear sign of summer. 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.”
The festival will boast an impressive lineup showcasing musical artists from Brooklyn and around the world including: Neo soul phenom Ari Lennox; grandson of the reggae legend Bob Marley and GRAMMY award-nominated singer/songwriter Skip Marley; Global Afrobeats superstar Mr. Eazi; Multi-instrumentalist Trombone Shorty with his notorious brass funk band Orleans Avenue; Brooklyn-bred hip hop powerhouse Junglepussy; folk rock icon and climate activist Buffy Sainte Marie and singer/songwriter/advocate Naia Kete for a special evening dedicated to highlighting the impact of climate change; Latinx alternative multi-lingual quartet Ladama, Haitian born, Brooklyn based multi-instrumentalist Tiga Jean-Baptiste and a set by DJ Ali Coleman for a family-friendly daytime performance; local Jazz artists including rhapsodist Vijay Iyer, vibes innovator Joel Ross, singer and multi-instrumentalist Melanie Charles, and renowned poet/author, and educator Mahogany Browne for an evening in remembrance of the impact of COVID-19 on the Jazz community; Colombian-Canadian singer/songwriter Lido Pimienta; Korean-American Brooklynite Yaeji, who curated a hand-picked lineup for the evening that includes up and coming singer/songwriter/instrumentalist KeiyaA and prolific local writer/rapper/producer, and emcee Nappy Nina; politically conscious rapper and poet KAMAUU; Jamaican R&B singer Gary “Nesta” Pines; Philly-based rapper and producer Ivy Soly; Jamaican-born multi-disciplined musician Tygapaw; celebrated Dominican-born, Puerto Rico-based cult hero Rita Indiana; the GRAMMY award-winning Attacca Quartet and Brooklyn based indie rock collective led by Ellis Ludwig-Leone San Fermin; R&B musician Son Little, and boundary-pushing singer Yendry.
The 2021 BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn! Festival will also offer a movie night featuring the 1973 documentary Wattstax, which highlights the 1972 Watts Summer Festival, as well as an evening dedicated to dance co-conceived by Tatiana and BRIC featuring the Passion Fruit Dance Company with DJ sets by Soul Summit Dance Party and St James Joy. Founded in 2016 with a mission to promote the authenticity and contributions of social dance styles and cultures like street and clubbing, Passion Fruit Dance Company comes to the park for the world premiere of TRAPPED, a brand-new work commissioned by BRIC. After the show, stay for a very special iteration of legendary Brooklyn party Soul Summit. To open the night will be St. James Joy, a streetwise celebration that sprang up in Fort Greene during the pandemic honoring the distinguished history of black house music. Additionally, there will be a ticketed benefit concert with British Rock Band Glass Animals.
In accordance with New York State and CDC guidelines, BRIC is currently planning for reduced capacity within socially distanced pods. While the Festival will remain free of charge, RSVPs will be required to manage capacity, and either proof of vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test will need to be shown; however, these terms remain subject to change. BRIC hopes all music, film, and dance lovers will prioritize getting vaccinated as a step towards bringing back live performances in their fullest form. BRIC will ensure the Festival is accessible to the community at large by creating both a web-based RSVP portal as RSVP by telephone system. RSVPs officially open July 1 for opening night and then every two weeks after that for subsequent performances.
