BRIC announces the cancellation of the annual Celebrate Brooklyn! Festival for 2020.
The outdoor concerts draw over 200,000 people to the Prospect Park Bandshell. This year’s season was to on June 9 with Brittany Howard, frontwoman and guitarist for the chart-topping, GRAMMY Award-winning band Alabama Shakes.
Over its four decade history, the Festival has grown into one of the city’s foremost summer cultural attractions, presenting more than 2,000 artists. Each year, BRIC invites a diverse range of magnetic performers across musical disciplines to kick off its season—including in recent years the legendary Chaka Khan, GRAMMY Award-winning entertainer Patti LaBelle, cultural luminary David Byrne, reggae icon Jimmy Cliff, and pop innovator Janelle Monáe.
BRIC President Kristina Newman-Scott sent this letter to BRIC supporters the following message:
Dear BRIC Community,
For 41 years, we’ve been gathering at the Prospect Park Bandshell to sing along, dance, and revel in show-stopping performances by artists from around the world and around the block. Each year 200,000 people come together to be part of the beautiful and unique community of our BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn! Festival, but sadly this year, we will not be reunited at the Bandshell. This is heartbreaking news for us to deliver to our staff, loyal audiences, members, community of volunteers, funders, small business partners, sponsors, and artists that grace our stage. The impact to our institution is significant as the Festival is our annual marquee event, employer of hundreds of people, a leader in the music and cultural landscape, and a beacon of Brooklyn’s creative future.
We have been working hard to imagine what a remote Festival could look like instead, and we are committed to bringing performances to your home. In the coming weeks, we’ll announce our full plans.
If you purchased a membership or tickets to a benefit concert, our team will be in touch soon about next steps.
In the meantime, stay connected with us, enjoy our BRICxHomeprogramming, and learn how you can help see BRIC and our Festival through this unprecedented challenge.
We look forward to reopening our doors and welcoming you back to our space.
Together,
Kristina Newman-Scott
President, BRIC
