Black History Month Events In Fort Greene-Clinton Hill
Black History Month is more than just a token designation here in Fort Greene and Clinton Hill, which has “a rich legacy as a hub for black artistic production,” notes Ali Rosa-Salas, producer of Black Artstory Month, the third annual series of free art exhibits, performances and workshops sponsored by the Myrtle Avenue Brooklyn Partnership.
In our neighborhoods, the month is an opportunity to celebrate that legacy, that shared history, and, as Rosa-Salas notes, “the dynamic ways local creatives and institutions are contributing” to the future.
So here is a running list of events planned in the area in celebration of Black History Month.
If there are any that we missed and you’d like to see added, let us know in the comments or via email at editor@bklyner.com.
- 2/1 (SUN, 4-6PM) – Black Artstory Month Artwalk + Opening Party (Visual Art & Music):
Artwork by over 25 Brooklyn-based artists will be on view at over thirteen small businesses along Myrtle Avenue between Carlton & Classon Avenues. The art at each location is curated by the following independent curators: Remi Onabanjo, MoCADA, SONYA, Freecandy, Jessica Lynne, Naimonu James, Rasu Jilani, Pratt Institute’s BAKO Tribe and Daonne Huff. Artwork can be viewed during the Artwalk (Feb 1, 4-6pm) and also during regular business hours. For a complete listing of all events, featured artists, programs and venues, please visit: www.myrtleavenue.org/blackartstory - 2/7 (SAT, 3PM) – Irish Arts Center Presents: Hammerstep on Myrtle (Dance):
In the late nineteenth century, Fort Greene—home to over half of Brooklyn’s African American population— also became widely known as ”Young Dublin” for the large Irish population that settled on what is now Myrtle Avenue. Black Artstory Month explores the intersecting histories of Irish and African American communities in Fort Greene with an unforgettable performance by Hammerstep, a Brooklyn-based contemporary dance company whose cutting-edge choreography melds traditional Irish dance, tap and hip hop to address contemporary social and political issues.
Location: Ingersoll Community Center, 177 Myrtle Avenue at Prince Street - 2/13 (FRI, 8PM) – Remembering: Stories of the African American Experience
Performed by Creative Outlet and the Dance Theatre of Brooklyn. $10 per person. For tickets call/text 917-500-8774.
Location: Mount Pisgah Baptist Church at 212 Tompkins Avenue. - 2/15 (SUN, 6-8PM) – Slide Hampton Jazz Jam (Music)
Enjoy an evening of live jazz in honor of legendary trombonist and Fort Greene resident Slide Hampton, whose home on 245 Carlton Avenue hosted world famous jazz musicians and groundbreaking jam sessions for over two decades. Curated by renowned jazz bassist and Fort Greene resident Bill Lee.
Location: Splitty, 415 Myrtle Avenue between Vanderbilt & Clinton Avenues - 2/17 (TUES, 3:30-4:30PM) – Black History Kaleidoscopes Arts and Crafts
Arts and crafts for kids aged six and up.
Location: Bedford Library at 496 Franklin Avenue - 2/17 (TUES, 3:45-4:45PM) – The Black Experience in Poetry for Young People
Poetry readings about the experience of black people in America as children are asked to draw what they hear and feel.
Location: Walt Whitman Library at 93 Saint Edwards Place - 2/19 (THURS, 4:30-5:30PM) – Black History Month Book Talk: “Stokely: A Life”
Stokely A Life analyzes the most dramatic of the charismatic Civil Rights leaders, an organizer, youth leader, speaker, and finally an African expatriate repatriating back to the continent.
Location: Walt Whitman Library at 93 Saint Edwards Street - 2/19 (THURS, 8PM) – Justin Hicks: The Odetta Project
The piece explores musical, social and political legacy of Odetta Holmes (1930-2008), the legendary singer, actress, guitarist, songwriter, and activist, known as “The Voice of the Civil Rights Movement.”
How much: $12 in advance; $15 at the door
Location: JACK at 505 1/2 Waverly Avenue - 2/20 (FRI, 6-8PM) – Remembering Rodeo Caldonia | Lisa Jones + Alva Rogers in conversation with Culture Critic Greg Tate
Take an insightful look at women artists of the black Brooklyn renaissance of the 1980s and 1990s, as profiled in Brooklyn Boheme, the recent HBO documentary by Nelson George. Writer Lisa Jones and writer/composer/performer Alva Rogers discuss the black women’s Fort Greene arts collective Rodeo Caldonia in a conversation facilitated by cultural critic Greg Tate.
Location: Pillow Café, 505 Myrtle Avenue between Ryerson Street & Grand Avenue - 2/20 (FRI, 8PM) – Justin Hicks: The Odetta Project
The piece explores musical, social and political legacy of Odetta Holmes (1930-2008), the legendary singer, actress, guitarist, songwriter, and activist, known as “The Voice of the Civil Rights Movement.”
How much: $12 in advance; $15 at the door
Location: JACK at 505 1/2 Waverly Avenue - 2/21 (SAT, 3-5PM) – FOKUS presents: Making “The Dance” (Family Workshop)
Join art educators from FOKUS for a youth and family workshop celebrating the acclaimed visual artist and former Fort Greene resident Emilio Cruz. Participants will reinterpret Cruz’s 1962 painting “The Dance” by creating their own abstract artworks, as well as take a journey through popular social dances of the last 5 decades. Come ready to move!
Location: Ingersoll Community Center, 177 Myrtle Avenue at Prince Street - 2/22 (SUN, 4-5PM) – Jazz Vespers
Featuring: Lance Bryant Quartet. Doors open at 3:30pm.
Location: Lafayette Avenue Presbyterian Church at 85 South Oxford Street - 2/24 (TUES., 5:30PM) – Brooklyn District Attorney Kenneth Thompson’s Black History Celebration
RSVP to rsvp@brooklynda.org or by phone at 718-250-3392/718-250-4873.
Location: Brooklyn Law School at 205 State Street - 2/28 (SAT, 8-11PM) – New Negress Film Society presents: “I Cried, Power!” On the Limits & Possibilities of Black Life
The New Negress Film Society presents an evening of digital media and live sound installation that re-imagines the concept of Afrofuturism in the wake of recent police violence in New York City and beyond. For our closing event, female-identified video and sound artists consider the realities of resistance and how revolutionary social movements can be built and sustained.
Location: The Emerson, 561 Myrtle Avenue between Emerson Pl & Classon Avenue