Rachel Lindy Baron

Photography Project 'We, Women' Launches Its First Exhibition At Brooklyn Bridge Park

“As Americans – as human beings – a lot of the information that we receive is through the lens of men,” Laura Roumanos, cofounder of Photoville, one of the two nonprofits behind the We, Women traveling photo exhibition, told Bklyner. This project shifts that perspective.

Gotham Girls Roller Derby

‘Queens of Pain’ Opens Brooklyn Film Festival With Documentary About Women’s Lives and Roller Derby

Queens of Pain – a 75-minute documentary by co-directors Cassie Hay and Amy Winston -- kicks off the Brooklyn Film Festival (BFF) tomorrow with an intimate look at the lives of three New York roller derby players. Winston and Hay, sisters who grew up in rural Texas, hatched the idea for

local artist

Inside~Out: in the Garden Showcases Work by 26 Independent Designers in Boerum Hill

Visitors to Inside~Out in the Garden [https://insideout.show/Live-Show-Inside-Out-in-the-Garden], a new outdoor exhibit from Brooklyn design practice Kin & Company [http://www.kinandcompany.com/info], will find pieces by over 26 independent artists and design studios meant not only to look at, but to touch – and some even to

Tonight, BAM Debuts First Youth-Led, Youth-Focused Program As Part of DanceAfrica 2021

BAM’s DanceAfrica — the largest African dance festival in the country — returned on May 4th [https://www.bam.org/programs/2021/danceafrica] with programming devoted to the dance traditions of Haiti and its resonance as a symbol of Black Liberation. This Memorial Day weekend features a virtual lineup of dance

Arts & Culture

Brooklyn Visual Arts Teacher Receives Recognition for Student Awards

Sarah Grace Holcomb (right) with students. Photo courtesy of Sarah Grace Holcomb.Brooklyn students Brianna Blue and Aleksandra Kwiecień recently received two of the highest honors in the 2021 Scholastic Arts & Writing Awards, [https://www.artandwriting.org/] a nationwide program that recognizes artistic achievement in teens. Both Blue and Kwiecień,

Arts & Culture

Amant Foundation’s Sprawling New Headquarters in East Williamsburg Bring A Massive Space Dedicated To Nurturing Artists

The Amant Foundation [https://www.amant.org/], a non-profit arts organization that debuted in 2020 with its artist residency in Siena, Italy, has made its official home in East Williamsburg. Amant exterior, under construction, April 2021. Courtesy of the Amant Foundation.On June 5th, Amant will open the doors to

Arts & Culture

The Rose Room Comes to East Williamsburg, Offering “Nights of Mystery and Wonder”

Guest Artist Allison Schieler. Photo courtesy of Mister Dusty Rose.The Rose Room, a nightlife variety show coming to queer bar and performance space 3 Dollar Bill [https://www.3dollarbillbk.com/] on May 13th, is here to answer the prayers of live performance-deprived Brooklynites. The queer, inclusive, body-positive experience is

Arts & Culture

Greenpoint Terminal Market Returns to the Greenpoint Waterfront this Sunday

Greenpoint Terminal Market during its inaugural season in 2020. Courtesy of Greenpoint Terminal Market.Greenpoint Terminal Market [https://greenpointterminalmarket.com/], the outdoor flea market that opened on the Greenpoint waterfront last summer, returns this weekend with around 100 vendors as well as live music, food, and ample room – over four

canarsie

A Year Without Knocking: Jehovah’s Witnesses Connect With Neighbors

Like most of the city’s gathering spaces, worship centers for Jehovah’s Witnesses – a group with nearly 10,000 members in Brooklyn alone – closed their doors indefinitely last March. Since then, congregants have done most of the work of being a Witness at home, where they’ve gathered over

Downtown Brooklyn

Learning: After Classes Moved Online, Enrollment Skyrocketed

Students attending a BISR course from 2017. Photo credit: Salome Oggenfuss. Six years ago, Maggie Gerrity — a Manhattan-based artist, bookkeeper, and lifelong student — found herself longing for the academic rigor she’d had in college. She had recently learned about Brooklyn Institute of Social Research [https://thebrooklyninstitute.com/], or BISR,

Arts & Culture

BAM Guest Curator Hanif Abdurraqib Releases Essay Collection on Black Performance

Hanif Abdurraqib. Photo credit: Megan Leigh Barnard. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- In his new essay collection, ‘A Little Devil in America: Notes in Praise of Black Performance [https://www.greenlightbookstore.com/book/9781984801197],’ award-winning poet, cultural critic, and BAM Guest Curator at Large Hanif Abdurraqib [http://www.abdurraqib.com/] examines the history of

Arts & Culture

‘White People. DOING Something’ Wants You to Have the Hard Conversations

Unite NY Rally on Juneteenth 2020. (Photo: Adrian Childress/Bklyner)When Brooklyn couple Aja Davis and Molly Ola Pinney read the imperative, “white people, do something!’ in a piece of online artwork around the time of last summer’s protests, they took it quite literally. In the roughly nine months

Central Brooklyn

Brooklyn Nurses Honored With NYC Health + Hospitals Awards

Megan Alyssa Leyesa with nursing staff. Courtesy of NYC Health + Hospitals/Coney Island.The pandemic has added a new layer of meaning to this year’s NYC Health + Hospitals Nursing Excellence Awards. “Our annual Nursing Excellence Awards, set against the backdrop of the ongoing COVID-19 crisis, honors the tireless work

Arts & Culture

BKLYN Fashion Academy Graduates Debut Their Looks In Virtual Fashion Show

Dominus Sowell working at home. Courtesy of Dominus Sowell.Tomorrow, the soon-to-be graduates of Brooklyn Public Library’s BKLYN Fashion Academy [https://www.bklynlibrary.org/bklyn-fashion-academy] will debut their original collections in a Zoom fashion show, free and fully accessible to the public. This year’s designers – a mix of

Central Brooklyn

Brooklyn Teacher Receives Award for Literacy Education

Rebecca Quiñones. Courtesy of ILA.Rebecca Quiñones, a second-grade dual-language Spanish teacher at Ditmas Park’s P.S. 139, has been named an honoree on the International Literacy Association (ILA)’s 30 Under 30 [https://www.literacyworldwide.org/docs/default-source/communications/literacy-today/ila-2021-30-under-30.pdf?sfvrsn=5279b38e_8] list for 2021.

Arts & Culture

BLM Mural: Capturing A Crucial Moment In Bed-Stuy History

Last June, right after the paint had dried on the giant new D.C. mural sporting the words ‘Black Lives Matter’ on the two blocks leading up to the White House, Bed-Stuy’s Monique Antoine watched from afar as the space sat idle, blocked off from traffic but otherwise completely

Arts & Culture

A New City Point Residency Gives Aerialists and Acrobats A Chance

For aerialists like Kyla Ernst-Alper [https://www.kylaernstalper.com/], life during the pandemic has felt pretty precarious. Kyla Ernst-Alper performing at BKLYN STUDIOS. Photo by Giles Clement. Ernst-Alper, whose job – using her airborne body as a means of visual storytelling – depends on the tight margins of freelance gigs and self-produced

Central Brooklyn

RIP Baba Inde: Court Street Loses a Beloved Friend and Neighbor

Anyone used to passing by the Court Street Trader Joe’s, where these days an interminable line of customers often stretches around the block, may notice someone missing from the small flock of vendors near its entrance. Baba Inde, who would greet everyone and anyone with his famous refrain — “Love

Arts & Culture

After A Year of Chaos, Pioneer Works Residency Promises Artists Some Stability

Left: painting by Alvin Armstrong. Right: installation by Azzah Sultan. Courtesy of Pioneer Works.Artist-run cultural space Pioneer Works [https://pioneerworks.org/] in Red Hook, Brooklyn recently announced its 2021 Visual Arts, Technology, Music, and Narrative Arts residents, a selection of artists whose work spans from paintings that examine the

Business

For Last-Minute Gift Shopping, Buy Local

Hanukkah is almost over, and with Christmas a little less than two weeks away, it’s time to get your gift situation locked in. For our money, food-related gifts are always a safe bet, whether last-minute or not. But before you finalize your Amazon order, consider spending your dollars on

Central Brooklyn

Celebrating the Holidays During COVID: How Brooklyners Are Finding Joy This Year

The winter holidays are going to feel different this year. Celebrations will likely be smaller, quieter, and less travel-heavy. At this point, most of us are probably used to editing our lives to comply with coronavirus safety measures; that doesn’t make it any less of a bummer. Without parties,

Arts & Culture

In a New Installation At City Point, Strangers Spill Their Stories

In a city full of strangers, artist Brandon Doman creates intimate connections between New Yorkers passing by. The Strangers Project [http://strangersproject.com/] is an ongoing participatory art project Doman began in 2009 in his hometown of Ann Arbor, shortly after finishing college. What started as a small experiment, wherein

Food & Drink

Let’s Talk About African Food: A New Book ‘In Bibi’s Kitchen’ Brings Together Flavors & Stories

Author of ‘In Bibi’s Kitchen,’ Hawa Hassan lives in Fort Greene. Credit: Liz Clayman.‘In Bibi’s Kitchen,’ [https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/606399/in-bibis-kitchen-by-hawa-hassan-with-julia-turshen/] a book by Fort Greene resident Hawa Hassan, grandmothers – and their cooking – weave together recipes and stories from eight different East African countries connected

Arts & Culture

Papergirl-Brooklyn’s Location Specific Interactive Exhibits Contemplate Art And Community Across Eight Neighborhoods

Papergirl-Brooklyn installing the Bushwick exhibit at Mayday Space. Courtesy of Lanna Apisukh.The team behind Papergirl-Brooklyn [https://www.papergirlbk.com/], an interactive art project currently on display in six Brooklyn neighborhoods, believe that art needs to be more accessible. The project brings together work by 80 artists from ten countries.

community

Two PLG Residents Pick Up the Slack After City Suspends Compost Programs

Volunteers for Nurture BK collect compost. Courtesy of Nurture BK.For Brooklyn’s robust composting community, the city’s decision in April to suspend curbside compost pickup [https://www1.nyc.gov/assets/dsny/site/resources/press-releases/nyc-sanitation-announces-service-changes-related-to-covid-19-budget-cuts] , and temporarily close Food Scrap Drop-Off Sites, due to COVID-19-related budget cuts was