Today, BRIC, a Brooklyn-based leading arts and media institution, announced the 2021 BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn! Festival will return once again to the Prospect Park bandshell with live, in-person performances. Last year's season of the concert series was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic and reinvented as an award-winning, highly immersive, virtual multi-platform two-day event. For the past 43 years, BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn! Festival has been the summer-long outdoor concert and performance series that celebrates talent from around the world and around the block, presenting global music icons, legendary jazz artists, chart-topping indie bands, gravity-defying dance troupes, large-scale film projects and public art installations. The Festival has become one of the city's foremost cultural attractions and a beloved summer tradition.
The 2021 season of the free festival will kick off at 7:30pm on Saturday, July 31st (doors open at 6:00pm) with R&B singer/songwriter Ari Lennox as the headliner, Brooklyn-based rapper and poet KAMAUU and Jamaican-bred R&B artist Nesta as openers. The first benefit concert of the season was also announced and will feature British rock band Glass Animals, who will be playing the park as part of their Dreamland Tour. The rest of the Festival lineup is still to be announced, but sure to impress following last year's stellar season, which featured GRAMMY award-winning rapper, actor, philanthropist and activist Common, GRAMMY award-winning artist Robert Glasper with Karriem Riggins, DJ and co-founding member of "The Roots" Questlove, GRAMMY award-winning singer/songwriter Lila Downs, Nigerian singer/songwriter, composer and actress Yemi Alade, GRAMMY award-winning singer/songwriter, actress and activist Angélique Kidjo, Caribbean soca group KES, Brooklyn-based singer/songwriter Madison McFerrin, rapper and actress Junglepussy, Puerto Rican pop duo Buscabulla, and Swedish singer/songwriter The Tallest Man on Earth.
"BRIC was proud to bring hundreds of thousands of people the opportunity to connect with artists from across the world, safely from their homes, during a pandemic," said Kristina Newman-Scott, BRIC's President. "But, there's nothing like the energy of Brooklyn when it's filled with friends and family, all gathered for good times and great music. We are elated to be coming back to celebrate our borough, our community, the power of music and summer in New York City! This is going to be a season like no other."
"We are thrilled beyond belief to be back in the Prospect Park bandshell, our home for the past 42 years," said Lia Camille Crockett, BRIC Director of Performing Arts. "During these past 18 months, we have been tested in ways we could have never imagined, and BRIC is so proud of what we've accomplished; we came together in the face of hardship, with music and art, and proved that our community will always do what we do best - show up. Well, we're BACK!"
"We are so excited to see the return of BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn! Festival to the bandshell in Prospect Park," said NYC Department of Cultural Affairs Commissioner Gonzalo Casals. "We look forward to artists and audiences gathering safely together again for the joyous live performances and much needed celebrations as our city continues on the path to recovery. The resurgence of arts and culture are going to help make this the Summer of NYC, and we are overjoyed that BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn! Festival, will be a part of that revival."
"BRIC's Celebrate Brooklyn! Festival has been a summer tradition for more than four decades and we are so elated to see it come back to Prospect Park this year," said NYC Parks Commissioner Mitchell J. Silver, FAICP. "Last year, the pandemic stole our joy but now this celebration of culture and all things Brooklyn is right back where it belongs. I know this event will be filled with excitement and remind us all of the power of gathering and having fun. A special thank you to our amazing partners at BRIC who have put together this action-packed festival and concert series in time for the summer."
Regularly attracting upwards of 250,000 attendees, BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn! is the longest-running, largest free summer music festival in New York City and has become one of the city's foremost summer attractions and a true staple of Brooklyn culture. From its very first performance in the summer of 1979, the mission of the Festival has been to bring Brooklyn together. Despite unprecedented challenges, BRIC reached new heights last year with their groundbreaking virtual experience - BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn! Festival "Live Everywhere." Partnering with global digital production company MediaMonks to deliver memorable performances and inspiring visual artist collaborations, the virtual event attracted hundreds of thousands of attendees, generated over 3M views on YouTube and Facebook, over 20 countries around the world, and reached 500,000 cable households in Brooklyn through its public access cable channels.
As of this month, the BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn! Festival will take place at reduced capacity in accordance with New York State's COVID-19 compliance policy and CDC guidelines. While the Festival will remain free of charge, RSVPs will be required, social distancing will be implemented, and either proof of vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test will need to be shown; however, these terms remain subject to change.
Major Leadership Support for BRIC's performing arts programs are generously provided by Howard Gilman Foundation, Lambent Foundation, and the Rockefeller Brothers Fund. Public support is provided by the National Endowment for the Arts, New York State Council on the Arts, and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs. Additional support for BRIC's performing arts program is provided by Con Edison, Fan Fox and Leslie R. Samuels Foundation, Mertz Gilmore Foundation, Scherman Foundation, Shubert Organization, Inc., as well as support from friends, members and numerous individuals.
Stay tuned for additional details on the 2021 season as they're announced! For more information on artist lineup, tickets and more, visit
bricartsmedia.org/live.
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