The Summer Music Series at BIP is a program of recurring evening concerts featuring jazz, Caribbean, Latin and folk music on the waterfront plaza of Bushwick Inlet Park. The program will be held on Thursdays at 6:30pm for 8 performances.
We know from local research that currently there is very little music programming in our North Brooklyn parks. We think this program will be a welcome addition to the shared outdoor experience in Bushwick Inlet Park and North Brooklyn. BIP is supposed to serve all of North Brooklyn, but the neighborhoods of Greenpoint as well as North and South Williamsburg were divided by decades of red-lining and disenfranchisement. At the same time, Williamsburg was bifurcated by the Brooklyn Queens Expressway, cutting off access for the Latin communities to the waterfront neighborhoods. To counter these geographic hurdles, we are aiming to create a welcoming program that will be inclusive and attract our neighbors from the SouthSide of Williamsburg and other New Yorkers by forging intentional partnerships to support these goals. Our vision in hosting these concerts is to connect the people from our fractured neighborhoods through cultural sharing, raise visibility and awareness of Bushwick Inlet Park while promoting and employing musicians and providing a venue for the appreciation for jazz, Latin and folk music. Our intended audience includes local residents from North Brooklyn including Greenpoint, Williamsburg and the South Side. We hope to attract casual strollers, as well as people who intentionally visit the park to listen to the artists and even tourists exploring the Brooklyn waterfront.
For our first season, SMS2021, we partnered with our neighbor and local Southside cultural organization, El Puente/ CADRE. El Puente’s mission is to fight for environmental justice and they were key partners in our historic fight for Bushwick Inlet Park. In planning the SMS we welcomed the opportunity to build a new artistic partnership with El Puente and give CADRE’s curatorial agency. We are also in partnership with the Jazz Foundation of America to curate and program the series. For our next season, SMS2022, we plan to build on these established connections but we want to expand the scope to include a traditional folk element by partnering with musicologist and curator, Jackson Lynch. Jackson curated shows at the Brooklyn Rod and Gun Club which was located directly across from BIP until 2014 when it was displaced by a developer. BR&G demonstrated there is a deep appreciation for the traditional roots music that Jackson presented in our North Brooklyn community.
Funding from the Brooklyn Arts Council will help to pay musicians, local youth to help set up and breakdown chairs and tables, signage, poster design and printing, and provide musician meals which will be ordered from local restaurants.
FBIP has a robust program schedule which includes seminars and workshops on garden stewardship, coastal ecology and art.This summer 2021 FBIP successfully programmed and executed its first “Summer Music Series at BIP.” Through grants and sponsorships raised by volunteers, FBIP contracted performers through local and cultural partnerships, secured special permits with the NYC Parks Dept, coordinated with musicians to set up and take down their gear, assembled tents and chairs and provided refreshments for the artists. The FBIP also oversaw the marketing of the SMS series. For SMS 2022 we hope to continue to promote artistic and cultural diversity in a safe welcoming recreational program.
This 6 acre portion of Bushwick Inlet Park sits along the riparian shoreline of the East River. In 2018 FBIP volunteer stewards removed the double layer snow fence which was blocking the shore from park goers giving much longed for access to the waterfront. Since then the “Accidental Beach” has become a beloved spot for New Yorkers to sit and view the sunset, have a family picnic in the fresh waterfront breeze or explore the natural shoreline at low tide. The concert series takes place outside on the paved plaza at the river’s edge under a grove of trees. We set up folding cafe style tables and chairs, banners, information tables about the program and our partners. Every year during the winter we present our spring/ summer season roster of programs which includes the SMS to our North Brooklyn Parks Director to get initial approval and troubleshoot potential issues. With the director’s approval then we apply for permits with the NYC Parks Dept through their online system.
The Summer Music Series at FBIP is curated in partnership with the following organizations who make suggestions and facilitate connections and contacts.
El Puente Academy for Peace and Justice located on the Southside of Williamsburg bridges the worlds of health, education, and the arts with activism and community empowerment and has been a long standing advocacy partner in the fight for Bushwick Inlet Park. We will partner with CADRE (Community Artists’ Development and Resource Exchange) which is their network of primarily Latinx community artists, artisans and cultural workers of color rooted in North Brooklyn.
The Jazz Foundation of America supports musicians through a Jazz & Blues Gig Fund which provides free public performances in parks while supporting employment and providing emergency and medical assistance.
Jackson Lynch curates American folk and traditional music shows: The Premier Monthly mainly. He is a multi-instrumentalist, in various styles of American traditional music. He has studied and played traditional music for 15 years, traveled the country, playing folk festivals for 10 years, including the Brooklyn Folk Festival put on by Jalopy Theatre and School of Music (a traditional music school and venue, non-profit, based out of red hook Brooklyn ).
Friends of Bushwick Inlet Park Summer Music Series 2022 is graciously supported by:
