Kassa Overall, Paul Wilson, Torya Beard, Naomi Funaki and More Featured in NY PopsUp Performances This Weekend

NY PopsUp will present an array of performances this weekend from Brooklyn to upstate New York. Performances include the fourth in a series of Jazz Clubs curated by Artist Council Member Cécile McLorin Salvant at a park in Brooklyn; and "The Boogie Get Down," a dance day in the Bronx curated by Artist Council Member Ayodele Casel.

On Friday, May 14, Jazz vocalist and Artist Council Member Cécile McLorin Salvant curates the fourth in a series of Jazz Clubs in a Brooklyn park at 4:30pm ET and 7pm ET. The first performance will be led by Kassa Overall (drums, vocals, electronics), and will feature artists Paul Wilson (synth, electronics), Michael King (piano), and Morgan Guerin (tenor saxophone, bass). The second performance will be led by Johnny O'Neal (piano, vocals), Itay Morchi (drums), and Mark Lewandowski (double bass). Salvant curates a band of the best jazz players in the city for consecutive Friday nights in May. Each week features new players and a new location in a Brooklyn park, but is designed to harken back (and forward) to the feeling of being at one of the city's best jazz clubs. Musicians will play as the sun sets over the harbor.

On Saturday, May 15, NY PopsUp goes to the Bronx where Bronx-born Artist Council Member, tap dancer and choreographer Ayodele Casel curates a day of dance - "The Boogie Get Down" - alongside rising hip-hop dance star, Tomoe Carr. The day will feature artists including Torya Beard, Naomi Funaki, John Manzari, Brian Harlan Brooks, Senfu Stoney, Justin Johnston, Cebo Carr, Noah Catala, Nicole Daisy, Soraya Lundy, Dorien Williams, Errol Wilson, and Daniel Watts.

The performances will be live streamed on the festival's Instagram feed: @NYPopsUp.

NY PopsUp is an unprecedented and expansive festival featuring hundreds of pop-up performances (many of which are free of charge and all open to the public) that intersect with the daily lives of New Yorkers, as announced by Governor Andrew M. Cuomo. ​The series of events is intended to revitalize the spirit and well-being of New York citizens with the energy of live performance while jumpstarting New York's live entertainment sector in coordination with the New York State Council on the Arts and Empire State Development. The programming for NY PopsUp is curated by stage director Zack Winokur, in partnership with a hand-selected council of artistic advisors who represent the diversity of New York's dynamic performing arts scene and artistic communities.

NY PopsUp launched on Saturday, February 20 and will run through Labor Day​, coinciding with the 20th Anniversary of the Tribeca Film Festival and The Festival at Little Island at Pier 55. NY PopsUp is being coordinated in lock step with state public health officials and will strictly adhere to New York State Department of Health COVID-19 protocols and guidelines. NY PopsUp's model for delivering safe performance experiences help​s provide a reopening roadmap for New York's cultural institutions, including Lincoln Center, in the planning of their new outdoor performing arts complex, "Restart Stages."

Please note that, given the impromptu nature and surprise element of the pop-up format, not all performances will be announced in advance. Please follow @NYPopsUp on Twitter and Instagram for the latest.

​Collectively, NY PopsUp, the Tribeca Film Festival, and The Festival at Little Island bring​s a total of more than ​1000 performances to New York State between February 20 and Labor Day, signaling an event unmatched in scale and unrivaled in scope.

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