David Byrne, Ronald K. Brown, Theater of War and More Set for BRIC OPEN FESTIVAL Next Month in Brooklyn

BRIC, Brooklyn's leading provider of free cultural programs, has announced the inaugural BRIC OPEN Festival, which will activate spaces throughout BRIC Arts | Media House, BRIC's 40,000 sf. home in Downtown Brooklyn, the weekend of April 27 - 30.

The festival will illuminate the power of inclusive, participatory arts and media, testing ideas about the creation and consumption of culture. It will examine how artists and community members engage with each other to shape and enrich cultural programs and how participatory arts expand the voices and stories that sit at the center of artistic creation. The Festival will invite people from all backgrounds to experience culture in new ways.

To maximize accessibility of the Festival, all events are free and open to the public, subject to space availability. Participants will be invited to support the Festival when they submit their RSVPs for events.

The BRIC Open Festival will kick off with Reasons to Be Cheerful, a discussion of current local and global affairs by Oscar-, Grammy-, and Drama Desk Award-winning artist David Byrne, co-founder of Talking Heads, founder of the Luaka Bop record label, and creator of Theater Productions including Here Lies Love and the new Joan of Arc: Into the Fire.

On April 29, there will be a day of community dance classes celebrating movement as free expression for everyone. Among the celebrated artists leading classes are Annique Roberts of Ronald K. Brown/Evidence, A Dance Company, longtime BRIC resident artists that "make you want to get up and dance" (The New York Times), as well as Ballez with Katy Pyle & Jules Skloot, Urban Bush Women and Arielle Rosales.

The shared experiences of five distinct members of the Muslim community living in a time of increasing Islamophobia comprise Ping Chong + Company's Beyond Sacred: Voices of Muslim Identity. Theater of War will enlist singers, activists, police officers and musicians from Ferguson, Missouri, and Brooklyn and Queens, New York, in a theatrical presentation of Dr. Martin Luther King's final speech, "The Drum Major Instinct."

The contemporary art exhibition Public Access/Open Networksserves as the backdrop for numerous activities throughout the weekend-long festival,and community producers from BRIC's Brooklyn Free Speech TV, and artists featured in Public Access/Open Networks exhibition, will take the stage for special live performances of their television show that celebrates the role of Public Access television in the democratization and distribution of visual art and the role it will play in continuing to provide a forum for open dialogue on the internet.

Special guests including Living Colour's Vernon Reid, Tunisian singer Emel, Gregg Allman Band leader Scott Sharrard, and "guitar hero" (Pitchfork) Delicate Steve will join Mark Stewart (Paul Simon, Bang on A Can) for a special edition of Stewart's Guitar Mash: A Campfire Jam, an inclusive music session that gives the audience an opportunity to create music alongside award-winning musicians. Dance parties and special appearances by DJ Geko Jones and DJ Ickarus as well as a BRIC TV Town Hall on the public's trust in the media, #BHeard NOW opportunities and an open supper hosted by Sojourn Theater will also be part of the festival programming, giving long-time local community members and neighborhood newbies the opportunity to offer their own insight into the shape and future of local neighborhood culture.

Leslie G. Schultz, President of BRIC, said "BRIC is known for its expansive and highly inclusive arts and media programs, ranging from the BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn! Festival to #BHeard Town Hall meetings. The BRIC OPEN Festival will reflect the essence of BRIC, with works across performing arts, contemporary art and media that are simply not complete without creative input from the public, or that highlight the essential role that the public already plays in the development of creative and journalistic work. It's a unique twist on a festival, and we are thrilled to add it to the rich landscape of New York City Festivals."

Emily Harney, Deputy Director for Programming Initiatives of BRIC, said, "At BRIC, we've made a commitment to truly opening our doors - to bold and courageous artists and to diverse audiences of all kinds - to come together for shared experiences and meaningful exchange. The BRIC OPEN Festival aims to bring our fundamental values to life."

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2017 FESTIVAL SCHEDULE:

THURSDAY, APRIL 27

David Byrne: Reasons to be Cheerful
BRIC House Stoop | 7:30 PM

Based upon the Ian Dury song of the same title, David Byrne presents a refreshing reminder that there are still "reasons to be cheerful." Despite troubling times, Byrne's interactive presentation will remind participants that there are still many good and inspiring things happening within our local community and throughout the world.

David Byrne is a Scottish-born American musician who co-founded the new wave band Talking Heads. Byrne created the label Luaka Bop whose stand-out artist roster includes Zap Mama, Javelin, Floating Points and Alice Coltrane. Recent projects include Joan of Arc: Into the Fire, a musical about challenging the powerful and believing in the impossible; The Institute Presents: Neurosociety, an immersive production developed with working neuroscientists; Contemporary Color, a live event which paired 10 high school color guards with contemporary musicians; Here Lies Love, a disco-opera about Imelda Marcos authored with Fatboy Slim; Love This Giant, an album with St. Vincent; and How Music Works, a book about shaping music. Byrne has been the recipient of numerous awards, including an Academy Award, a Golden Globe, a Grammy, an OBIE, an Outer Critics Circle Award, three Drama Desk Awards, five Lucille Lortel Awards, and two Theatre World Awards.

OPENing NIGHT Dance Party with DJ Geko Jones
BRIC House Ballroom | 9:00 - 11:00 PM

Geko Jones is a Brooklyn-based Puerto-lombian DJ/Producer and party promoter. He is a founding member of both the New York Tropical and Que Bajo?! party franchises in New York. He is a partner and co-owner of the Dutty Artz record label with producer Matt Shadetek and DJ /Rupture. His mixes span the tropical hemispheres and unite globally sonic hours of dancefloor mayheM. Jones' DJ sets incorporate heavy Afro-Latin percussion mashed up against hard synth lines and global breaks.

FRIDAY, APRIL 28

The People, The Press & The President: A #BHeard Town Hall
BRIC House Ballroom | 7:00-9:00 PM

The government is declaring war on the press and the press is fighting to uphold the journalistic freedom necessary for democracy to function. Genuine news media outlets are discredited at every turn while fake news-the real fake news-seems to be gaining influence. It's no wonder that public trust in the media is at an unprecedented low. The battle is not just between Trump and The New York Times. Everyone's freedom is at stake if the press is silenced and power goes unchecked. Public trust in a free press has never been more vital. This special Town Hall explores how we begin to bridge the divide between the public and the press and keep our government accountable.

Presented in partnership with Columbia Journalism Review (http://www.cjr.org/), this two-hour Town Hall will be moderated by broadcast by BRIC TV, the award-winning Brooklyn-focused non-profit cable channel and digital network, and hosted by Brian Vines, BRIC TV Senior Correspondent.

Additional panelists to be announced.

#BHeard NOW Bar
BRIC House Lobby | 9:00-10:00 PM

The cameras stop rolling at 9pm, but the conversation will continue over drinks in the lobby! Explore the Public Access/Open Networks exhibition in the Gallery and record your own #BHeard NOW segment in the TV Studio.

SATURDAY, APRIL 29

Dance = Freedom Series
All ages, abilities and skill levels are welcome to for this special series of dance classes celebrating movement as freedom of expression for EVERY BODY.

Ronald K. Brown/Evidence Community Class with Annique Roberts
BRIC House Ballroom | 11 AM - 12:15 PM

Evidence, A Dance Company blends traditional African dance with contemporary choreography and spoken word providing a unique view of human struggles, tragedies, and triumphs. This Community Class is rooted in the Company's fusion aesthetic, drawing on traditional African and Afro-Caribbean styles as well as contemporary and house dance styles. The class is open to all ages and levels of experience.

Ballez with Katy Pyle & Jules Skloot
BRIC House Artist Studio | 11 AM - 12:15 PM

Ballez is a dance class that explores the traditionally gender-binaried, exclusive culture of traditional ballet classes, radically re-imagining it as a site of liberatory, joyful, and inclusive queer play. Shifting the focus away from normative ideas of virtuosity, we explore the virtuosity of genderqueer embodiment, practice energetic mirroring, learn inclusive partnering techniques, seek out (and destroy) our culturally constructed biases, and discover new freedom to witness the beauty of one another as we dance to the beats of queer icons!

Urban Bush Women: Dance & Song for Every Body
BRIC House Ballroom | 12:45 PM - 2:00 PM

Urban Bush Women's BOLD (Builders, Organizers & Leaders through Dance) presents:
If you can Talk, you can Sing, if you can Move, you can Dance

This exploration of movement and song embraces the ideas that every individual has a unique and powerful contribution to make, and that our bodies are a powerful source of agency. The goal is for Every Body to find their level of challenge and comfort and partake according to their abilities, and appreciate the groups' diversity as an attribute to their community. Participants will also engage spiritually and emotionally in song and discover historical reference points that increase our understanding of the power of singing in unison. This is a class designed for the community, no prior dance or music experience is necessary.

Unleash Your Duende with Arielle Rosales
BRIC House Artist Studio | 12:45 PM - 2:00 PM

The Unleash Your Duende Workshop is an improvisation-based exploration of physical, mental, and spiritual liberation under the guidance of Arielle Rosales. Elements of Flamenco are introduced with sounds and movements influenced by the African Diaspora and New York City. How can we discover and celebrate our individuality, while supporting one another through the power of a co-existing community? How can we use art to be and how can being become art? Come share this unique experience in a nonjudgmental and loving environment that is open to all!

Arielle Rosales is an interdisciplinary performing artist with over a decade's worth of professional experience as a dancer, choreographer, sonic improviser, actress, and educator. Rosales specializes in Flamenco. Embracing and exploring her experiences as a Mexican-American Jewish Boricua, born and raised in NYC, her current creative and performative process is dedicated to the practice of creative collaboration in the spirit of embracing cultural connection & exchange.

Brooklyn Free Speech Stage
BRIC House Stoop | 11:00 AM - 1:00 PM

Brooklyn Free Speech community producers take the stage for special live performances of their television shows. Details to be announced.

Beyond Sacred: Voices of Muslim Identity
Written by Ping Chong and Sara Zatz, with Ryan Conarro
In collaboration with the performers: Tiffany Yasmin Abdelghani, Ferdous Dehqan, Kadin Herring, Amir Khafagy and Maha Syed
Directed by Ping Chong
BRIC House Stoop | 3:00 PM, followed by a conversation with the cast

Beyond Sacred is an interview-based theatre production exploring the diverse experiences of Muslim communities in the United States. The five cast members of Beyond Sacred vary in many ways, but share the common experience of coming of age in a post-9/11 New York City, at a time of increasing Islamophobia. They are young men and women that reflect a wide range of Muslim identities, including those who have converted to Islam, those who were raised Muslim, but have since left the faith, those who identify as "culturally" Muslim, and those who are observant on a daily basis. Beyond Sacred is part of Ping Chong + Company's Undesirable Elements project, an oral history theater project exploring issues of culture, identity, and difference in the lives of individuals in specific communities. Beyond Sacred was developed through a community-engaged process wherein Ping Chong + Company extensively interviews local participants, who then become the performers. These interviews become the basis of a script that weaves together personal, historical, and political narratives. The goal of Beyond Sacred is to use theater and personal testimony to foster greater understanding among Muslim and non-Muslim communities in New York and beyond.

In Conversation: Jon Rubin and Shaun Leonardo
Moderated by Christina Yang, Director of Education, Public Programs at Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
BRIC House Stoop | 7:00 PM

Jon Rubin and Shaun Leonardo will discuss the process of creating contexts by which ordinary people become active participants in the development of artistic projects that have social impact.

Jon Rubin is an interdisciplinary artist who creates interventions into public life that re-imagine individual, group and institutional behavior. His projects include starting a radio station in an abandoned neighborhood that only plays the sound of an extinct bird, running a barter-based nomadic art school, operating a restaurant that produces a live video talk show with its customers, and co-directing another that only serves cuisine from countries with which the United States is in conflict.

Shaun Leonardo's artwork negotiates societal expectations of gender and sexual identity, along with its notions of achievement, collective identity, and the experience of failure. In his work as an educator, Leonardo promotes the political potential of attention, self-reflection, and discomfort as a means to create awareness, disrupt meaning, and shift perspective. He is the lead teaching artist of Assembly, a public storefront art gallery and arts-based diversion program for court-involved youth, presented in partnership with Brooklyn Justice Initiatives at Recess's Downtown Brooklyn site.

Drag Drink & Draw with Alotta McGriddles, Chris of Hur and DJ Ickarus
Artist Studio | 7:00 PM - 9:00 PM

Bring your paper, pencil, and creative eye for an unconventional sketch night where the models, the fashion, and the music all resist easy categorization and rigid binaries.

Guitar Mash: A Campfire Jam
Led by Mark Stewart (Paul Simon, Bang on a Can), featuring Emel, Scott Sharrard, Delicate Steve, and Vernon Reid
BRIC House Ballroom | 7:00 PM - 9:00 PM, Doors open at 6:30 PM

"Songs shared are bridges built." - Mark Stewart, Guitar Mash Artistic Director

From metal shredders, blues balladiers to acoustic beginners and those that just like to sing along, Guitar Mash creates participatory event for guitarists and music lovers of diverse ages, abilities and backgrounds. Guitar Mash connects people with each other and with some of the greatest musicians in the world. Founded in 2012, the goals of Guitar Mash include the creation of opportunities for people to be actively involved in music and the opportunity to make music with other people. Since its inception, Guitar Mash has gathered hundreds of everyday people together with inspiring musicians - including Nels Cline, Lenny Kaye, Valerie June, G.E. Smith and Dar Williams, among others - around the proverbial campfire. Want to practice up in advance? The evening's playlist, chords and lyrics will be available beginning April 21 at guitarmash.org.

SUNDAY, APRIL 30

Martin Luther King's "The Drum Major Instinct"
Theater of War Productions
BRIC House Ballroom | 1:00 PM

The [...] tragedy of the distorted personality is the fact that when one fails to harness this instinct, (Glory to God) he ends up trying to push others down in order to push himself up. (Amen) And whenever you do that, you engage in some of the most vicious activities. You will spread evil, vicious, lying gossip on people, because you are trying to pull them down in order to push yourself up. (Make it plain) And the great issue of life is to harness the drum major instinct.
-Dr. Martin Luther King, Ebenezer Baptist Church, Atlanta, GA, February 4, 1968

This innovative new project by Theater of War Productions will engage diverse audiences in powerful dialogue about racism, inequality, and social justice by presenting a live performance of Dr. Martin Luther King's final sermon, "The Drum Major Instinct." The performative dialogue will be embodied by prominent actors and supported by a large gospel choir, composed of singers, activists, police officers, and musicians from Ferguson, Missouri and Brooklyn, New York. The performance will be followed by brief responses by community panelists and will culminate in a guided audience discussion.

Featuring The Phil Woodmore Singers, and including the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Choir, Trinity Community Church Singers, and Center of Creative Arts Singers.

With the Voice of Hope Singers from Brooklyn and Queens under the direction of Marcelle Davies-Lashely.

OPEN Sunday Supper
Created in collaboration with Sojourn Theater
BRIC House | 5:00 PM - 7:00 PM

A shared meal and conversation, towards shared action in our community.

BRIC invites all our neighbors to end the weekend with a community-building dinner and discussion. In the current social and political environment, local priorities can feel obscured by urgent national concerns. But change stems from local action first, and local action requires communities to see themselves as unified around shared purpose.

At the OPEN Sunday Supper we'll begin to creatively envision and set expectations for the future of the local community. What actions can we create to imagine the neighborhood we want? And how can we begin to see ourselves as a WE?

Designed and facilitated in collaboration with local artists and Sojourn Theater, this OPEN Dinner will kick off a year of creating action in community, scheduled to culminate at the BRIC Open Festival in April 2018. Open to everyone, a special invitation is extended to long-time residents, neighborhood newcomers, and individuals whose daily work is not art-centered. Limited child-care provided, on a first-come-first served basis. Program starts at 5:00 PM, Supper at 6:30 PM.

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BRIC is the leading presenter of free cultural programming in Brooklyn, and one of the largest in New York City. We present and incubate work by artists and media-makers who reflect the diversity that surrounds us. BRIC programs reach hundreds of thousands of people each year.

Our main venue, BRIC Arts | Media House, offers a public media center, a major contemporary art exhibition space, two performance spaces, a glass-walled TV studio, and artist work spaces.

Some of BRIC's most acclaimed programs include the BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn! Festival in Prospect Park, several path-breaking public access media initiatives, including BRICTV, and a renowned contemporary art exhibition series. BRIC also offers education and other vital programs at BRIC House and throughout Brooklyn.

In addition to making cultural programming genuinely accessible, BRIC is dedicated to providing substantial support to artists and media makers in their efforts to develop work and reach new audiences.

BRIC is unusual in both presenting exceptional cultural experiences and nurturing individual expression. This dual commitment enables us to most effectively reflect New York City's innate cultural richness and diversity.

Learn more at BRICartsmedia.org.

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