Downtown Brooklyn Arts Festival Returns Online, In-Person

DOWNTOWN, BROOKLYN — The annual festival celebrating Brooklyn's arts district will look a little different this year due to the coronavirus crisis.

The Downtown Brooklyn Arts Festival, put on by the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership, will include a mix of virtual and in-person performances for its third year, which kicked off on Thursday.

The festival will continue through Sunday with a mix of performances, workshops, classes, talks, films, family programming, access to archives and exhibitions online.

“Downtown Brooklyn is a thriving cultural hub and every year the festival is a celebration of the creativity and talent our neighborhood has to offer,” Partnership President Regina Myer said. “In these challenging times, we are proud to once again put our world-class local artists and cultural organizations on show for all to enjoy right in the heart of the Brooklyn Cultural District.”

Here's a look at the line-up:

In-person at The Plaza at 300 Ashland:

Saturday, Oct. 17

• Performances by Sunny Jain’s Addiction (dance music featuring the Indian Dhol drum) led by the frontman of Red Baraat, Sunny Jain) and jazz from the Brooklyn Music School, plus more throughout the day.
• Mark Morris Dance Group presents a Family Fun Zumba and Latin Dance Class in honor of Hispanic Heritage Month at 1pm (pre-registration required).

Sunday, Oct. 18

• Performances all day, artists TBA via social media on the day of the event!
• Open Rehearsals on the plaza with Downtown Brooklyn Rehearsal Residency Artists Jamal Jackson Dance Company and ZCO/DANCEPROJECT

All Weekend

• Plein air painting by Brooklyn-based artists

In-person in other locations:

• Saturday: Open Rehearsals with Downtown Brooklyn Rehearsal Residency Artists, Dancewave, De Funes Dance, Artichoke Dance, and BodyRa Movement at MetroTech Commons.
• Saturday: Creative Movement class for children ages 3-5 at the Brooklyn Music School.
• Sunday: Open Rehearsal with Downtown Brooklyn Rehearsal Resident Artists, Batalá New York at Albee Square.
• All Weekend: A.I.R. Gallery and SmackMellon are open all weekend to visitors.
• Arts Gowanus teams up with the Atlantic Avenue BID and the Atlantic Avenue LDC for Arts Gowanus on Atlantic Ave ArtWalk, featuring Gowanus artists displaying their work in 10 blocks of storefront windows and businesses on Atlantic Avenue.

Virtual Festival Highlights:

• Thursday - Saturday: BRIC’s Media Maker Weekend x Home: Creating a New Reality, a virtual conference featuring free workshops, lectures, and panel discussions designed to educate makers on various aspects of media and content creation, from television, film, and podcasting. The weekend culminates in the B Free Awards x Home, a live televised event celebrating local journalism and the community-made stories that air on its Brooklyn Free Speech TV and Podcast Network.
• Thursday: ISSUE Project Room presents Drums, a performance stemming from ongoing research into how to emulate, experiment with, and better understand the performance practices of punk singers, by writer and performer Justin Allen with Savannah Harris.
• Saturday: Roulette presents a solo performance by renowned pianist, composer, and bandleader Matthew Shipp.
• Sunday: Bang on a Can returns with six hours of nonconformist, noncommercial, boundary-smashing music as part of their Bang on a Can Live-Streamed Marathon.

Find out more online.