With the news that actors are on strike, and huddled up with writers who’ve also been in a monthslong boycott with studios, you may wonder how to responsibly support the industries that entertain us most. Unfortunately, the strikers, who work consistently enough to join dues-paying unions, represent the few in a field of constant hopefuls and usually work-for-hire buskers, heeling to the economic whims of their craft. Perhaps if we think of summertime as a new way to prop up the larger arts world: musicians in subway stations, rappers riding between train cars, paint bucket drummers, live sketchers and muralists, studio artists and sculptors rejuvenating parks, we can make do with the art that hasn’t yet hit the screen or been held up by the fine print. This week’s guide will show some of those artists the love they so deserve.
Special Events and Tributes
“Wakanda Forever” Screening
Date - Thurs Jul 13
Location - Fort Greene Park, Fort Greene
Brooklyn Magazine and Paramount+ became unlikely partners in this event to display the kind of licensed material that Brooklynites love. Wakanda Forever is a great piece of visual filmmaking for the young adult in us and an elegiac work that helps rest the franchise’s deceased star, Chadwick Boseman. The night sky may also promote the image of Marvel’s best Black hero watching over you.
Cost: Free
Jazz in July at Brooklyn Botanic Garden
Date - Thurs Jul 13
Location - Brooklyn Botanic Garden, Prospect Heights
This jazz spot comes with free admission to the garden and makes the visit tighter and more relaxed than a usual trip. Instead of grabbing a phone or notebook to write down the names of over 14,000 plants, join the flora during a hypnotizing set and hug your mate and blanket a little closer while a breeze circulates.
Cost: $18 for Garden admission
Parable of the Sower Opera
Date - Thurs Jul 13
Location - Lincoln Center, Wu Tsai Theater at David Geffen Hall, Midtown
Octavia Butler is one of America’s greatest novelists and history reproves it time and again. This opera by Toshi Reagon and Bernice Johnson Reagon means to renew her masterpiece, Parable of the Sower, in a new format and we would line up for that anytime. Irreversible Entanglements and Latasha Diggs will be in the Sound Room that night as well.
Cost: Pay what you want
Speak Easy Vol. 1
Date - Sat Jul 15
Location - Public Records, Gowanus
Our friends at Public Records are using their two-room setup to double the performance flavor. Moor Mother and Hisham Akira Bharoocha look to present a multimedia experience that blends hip-hop music, tangible objects, and displays. This work could belong to a museum someday so get it before the collectors do.
Cost: $25.75
Mike’s Young World feat. Noname, Jay Critch, Georgia Ann Muldrow, Mavi, 454, Akai Solo, Elise
Date - Sat Jul 15
Location - Herbert Von King Park, Bed Stuy
Noname once famously blasted a would-be rap king for not really reading. That’s just one part of her important role in modern message music: calling in the community and changing literacy habits by example. She’s also a laser-sharp MC and will drop in for Mike’s Young World event and a bevy of similar social artists.
Cost: Free
Dead Prez
Date - Sun Jul 16
Location - Herbert Von King Park, Bed Stuy
Dead Prez took up the tradition left by Public Enemy to question everything presented by mainstream politics and government. We’re not sure how effective that was in planting the roots of independent broadcasting or free thought but it did generate healthy skepticism among fans who also want a bass-heavy, caffeinated bop to go with their revolutionary slant.
Cost: Free
Hamlet, Shakespeare in the Park
Date - Thurs through Sun til Aug 8th
Location - The Delacorte Theater in Central Park, Midtown
Ato Blankson-Wood, a Tony nominee, will star in Hamlet this year. His rep as a bending performer (genre and gender) will inhabit the oldest classic play in the West with a New York swag.
Cost: Free